At the press conference held at SK Telecom headquarters, senior executives of both companies – including Ryu Young-sang, SK Telecom’s Vice President and Head of MNO Business, and Kareem Choudhry, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Project xCloud – explained in detail their business cooperation and introduced Project xCloud.

Project xCloud is Microsoft’s game streaming technology that allows gamers to play games on mobile devices while connected to the internet. Supported by SK Telecom’s 5G network, which is marked by super-fast speed and ultra-low latency, cloud gaming services can offer a more immersive and seamless experience to gamers.

Korea has the fourth largest gaming market in the world with mobile gaming enjoying high popularity. According to the 2018 White Paper on Korean Games published by the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA)* early this year, the domestic game market in 2017 was calculated to be worth KRW 13.14 trillion and the mobile game market took up 47.3 percent of the total game market.

*KOCCA is a governmental agency that oversees and coordinates the promotion of the Korean content industry.

SK Telecom will be an exclusive operating partner of Microsoft’s cloud gaming service in Korea. Based on this relationship, SK Telecom is expected to help Microsoft strengthen its position in the mobile gaming market by leveraging its world’s leading mobile infrastructure including 5G and LTE; the largest mobile subscriber base in Korea including over 1 million 5G subscribers; cutting-edge ICT such as augmented reality, virtual reality and artificial intelligence; and extensive experience in diverse streaming services.

As joint operating partners, SK Telecom and Microsoft plan to test and learn more about game streaming in the Korean market to ensure they are delivering the best experience to all the customers. To this end, the two companies will start public preview for Project xCloud in Korea in October 2019 for selected SK Telecom’s 5G/LTE subscribers.

In May 2019, SK Telecom and Microsoft signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen comprehensive cooperation in cutting-edge ICT fields such as 5G, artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Following this MOU, the two companies inked a MOU for a joint 5G-based cloud game business in June 2019.

“SK Telecom is pleased to announce this meaningful business cooperation with Microsoft,” said Ryu Young-sang, Vice President and the Head of MNO Business of SK Telecom. “We expect to take customers’ mobile gaming experience to the next level by combining SK Telecom’s 5G competitiveness and Microsoft’s strength in cloud and gaming.”

“Microsoft’s approach to game streaming combines nearly 40 years of gaming experience with investments and resources from Azure, Microsoft Research, and other business groups across the company, allowing us to reach gamers around the world,” said Phil Spencer, Executive Vice President, Gaming at Microsoft. “Partnerships, like the one we announced with SK Telecom today, are critical to continuing that trajectory and moving the gaming industry forward, starting with the incredibly engaged gamers and game studios in South Korea.”

“We’re thrilled to partner with Niantic to leverage the Niantic Real World Platform to help showcase the best of DT’s 5G Network and MobiledgeX Edge infrastructure to help deliver scalable end-user experiences,” said Alex Jin-Sung Choi, Senior Vice President Research and Technology Innovation at Deutsche Telekom.

Niantic’s Real World Platform bridges the physical and digital worlds with advanced functionalities including real-time mass multiplayer experiences, persistence and visual occlusion, through contextual computer vision. These advanced features will take full advantage of Deutsche Telekom’s ultra low latency network technology to provide seamless customer experiences, including the Edge infrastructure being built through decentralized cloudlets.

“We’re hard at work on technology that bridges the physical and digital worlds to pave the way for new entertainment experiences, advanced robotics and scaled adaptive computing,” said Michael T. Jones, Senior Executive, Niantic. “We’re excited to partner with Deutsche Telekom and MobiledgeX to access ultra low latency networks and develop systems that would enable the full potential of our Real World Platform.”

Niantic will begin to integrate its Niantic Real World Platform through the Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) of MobiledgeX on Edge servers. The partnership will jointly demonstrate the capability of this new network technology to enhance high-speed synchronous multiplayer AR interactions in a shared environment. This will open up new dimensions for shared experiences and introduce lower friction access networks for Niantic’s AR Cloud, part of the Niantic Real World Platform.

“We are very excited to work with Niantic Inc, the world leader in Augmented Reality gaming. As a wildly successful company that creates uniquely collaborative gaming services, they recognize and are ready to harness the benefits of edge solutions today. Their needs of spatial understanding, real-time responsiveness and multi-player collaboration are a proxy for many other companies’ use cases and edge dependent experiences,” said Jason Hoffman, President and CEO of MobiledgeX.

About Niantic, Inc.
Niantic, Inc., builds mobile real-world experiences that foster fun, exploration, discovery and social interaction. The company’s immersive real-world mobile games Pokémon GO and Ingress are currently available on the App Store and Google Play. Harry Potter: Wizard’s Unite is Niantic, Inc.’s third game and is being co-developed with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Niantic has also developed its industry-leading Niantic Real World Platform which allows unprecedented ways to model, understand, and share reality. Originally incubated within Google, Niantic, Inc., spun out in 2015, with investments from Google, The Pokémon Company, and Nintendo. More recently, Niantic was valued at over $2 billion with Series-B funding led by Spark Capital, NetEase and other investors.
For more information on Niantic, visit www.nianticlabs.com.

About MobiledgeX
MobiledgeX Inc. (MEX) is building a marketplace of edge resources and services that will connect developers with the world’s largest mobile networks to power the next generation of applications and devices. MobiledgeX is an edge computing company founded by Deutsche Telekom AG and headquartered in Menlo Park, California.

While the initial markets of these games were limited, both by host technology and software sales viability, recent trends have shown Japan on course to become one of the world’s largest and most profitable software developing nations, growing 15.1% in 2017 for a total predicted worth of $19.2 billion in 2018 alone.

This information comes from market research firm Newzoo, and appears in line with long-term trends of Japanese involvement within the greater gaming industry.
Basis in Game Development

Part of this owes to the significant legacy which Japan has when it comes to digital entertainment. In the established video game market, there is a tendency to separate the different cultures into the East and West. When the term East is used, this almost entirely applies to the market and history of Japan. This is because Japan has held two of the strongest video game console systems under their purview for decades with the Sony PlayStation and Nintendo line of systems.

“Sony PlayStation at GDC” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by hyku
Not only has the history in this area already proven immensely profitable, it also created a supporting culture in terms of both experience and design philosophy which enables an agile approach to creating new games and taking advantage of new systems.

Growing Trends
With the legacy of Japan’s history in video game development standing as one of the most respected in the world, it should also be noted that diversification is also a key component of modern profit. While the traditional video games still perform very well, it is the shift into other game-types which has enabled Japan to reach its current status as the third most profitable mobile gaming development nation in the world, after China and the United States.

“Clash of Clans 3” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Themeplus
Most commonly, this is seen in adaptions of similar popular styles, such as the Clash of Clans series and types of games, more localized versions of which still stand as some of the most successful. Less traditional, yet no less popular, are the systems which focus on casinos games, like the slot games at William Hill Japan. Evidence of this is the creation of licensed games like Batman v Superman – this proves their profitability and popularity. Both of these markets have seen considerable growth owing to the general simplicity of the gameplay types, and the experiences which are purposely developed for efficient short or long-term play.

Future Growth
There has been considerable discussion in the video game world recently over the potential directions of the next generations of video-game consoles and handhelds. One of these directions, as indicated by the popularity of the Nintendo Switch, is a greater emphasis on mobile play, and better integration of gaming companies with mobile devices as a whole. The upper limit of this growth is not yet understood, though corresponding growth is only expected alongside the continual growth of the mobile device market and its related technologies.

In an unbroken run of wins, Evolution Gaming has retained the top Live Casino Supplier award every single year since the EGR B2B Awards began in 2010.

Speaking after the award presentation, Marcus Huber, Head of Key Account Management said: “Once again, this has been a remarkable 12 months for Evolution. In an increasingly competitive Live Casino sector we have further underlined our leading position with a host of innovative new products. New Evolution games launched during this period included Ultimate Texas Hold’em, Baccarat Control Squeeze, Speed Baccarat, Caribbean Stud Poker with Progressive Jackpot and our Dream Catcher money wheel.

There were also the first UK installations of our on-premise Dual Play Roulette at the prestigious Ritz Club and Hippodrome casinos in London, and another new studio the first in Romania at the Grand Casino Bucharest. In parallel we have made continual improvements to the mobile gaming experience, including the addition of portrait view to our Live Lobby and to Live Roulette.”

He added: “I thank all of our staff, our licensees and our players for this award. To win it once is an honour. To win it eight years in a row is astounding — and it’s testament to the world-class quality of our B2B Live Casino solutions and the quality of operational excellence we deliver for our licensees and their players year on year.”

About the EGR B2B Awards
The annual EGR B2B Awards, which began in 2010, reward and celebrate the best service providers and B2B operators in the online gaming industry. The awards recognise the achievements of suppliers from all major egaming disciplines including betting and gaming software, networks, mobile, payments, recruitment,marketing, IT and infrastructure. The awards event is attended by over 500 egaming supplier and service provider professionals.

For trade press and media enquiries, please contact:

Amy Riches,
Head of Marketing,
ariches@evolutiongaming.com

For investor enquiries, please contact:
Jacob Kaplan, CFO,
ir@evolutiongaming.com

Released in the Korean market in January 2017, the game has recently added over 80 new Pokémon.Under the joint marketing agreement, SK Telecom’s approximately 4,000 authorized retail stores will become PokéStops or Gyms.

Moreover, new and existing SK Telecom customers can get free and unlimited high-speed data for Pokémon GO gaming* in Korea until the end of June 2017. This will particularly benefit the youth customers, the main players of the game, as most of them are not subscribed to unlimited data plans and thus are more sensitive to data consumption.

*Free data does not apply to the Pokémon GO app download and updates.

Through the agreement, SK Telecom becomes the only Korean mobile operator to establish an official partnership with Pokémon GO. The local marketing activity will be supported by the subsidiary of The Pokémon Company, Pokémon Korea, Inc.

SK Telecom has been developing and investing in core AR technologies – including ‘T Real AR Platform’ – to build an enriched AR ecosystem. The company recently held a meeting with Niantic to discuss cooperation for the future technologies in the areas of AR and indoor positioning.

“Partnering with SK Telecom will benefit all Pokémon GO Trainers across Korea, adding 4,000 new places for them to play the game,” said John Hanke, CEO of Niantic. “We’re happy to be working with a telecom provider who is so connected with games and understand the needs of local players.”

“SK Telecom is excited to enter into a meaningful partnership with Niantic, a leading gaming app developer in the world,” said Lee Inn-chan, Executive Vice President and Head of Service Innovation Division of SK Telecom. “Starting with this partnership, SK Telecom will join hands with more companies across the globe to collaborate in advanced technologies to provide customers with differentiated value and experience.”

About Niantic, Inc.
Niantic, Inc. builds mobile real-world experiences that foster fun, exploration, discovery and social interaction. Originally incubated within Google, Niantic, Inc., spun out in 2015, with investments from Google, The Pokémon Company and Nintendo. The company’s immersive real-world mobile game Ingress has been downloaded more than 15 million times and is played in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. Niantic, Inc., also developed and published Pokémon GO, the real-world Pokémon game for iOS and Android mobile devices that has been downloaded more than 650 million times. For more information on Niantic, please visit www.nianticlabs.com.

About The Pokémon Company
The Pokémon Company (President and Chief Executive Officer, Tsunekazu Ishihara) was established in 1998. Headquartered in Tokyo, The Pokémon Company’s operations span four key areas: video game production and development, trading card game business planning and promotion, licensing and quality control, and management of all official outlets selling Pokémon-related merchandise in locations throughout Japan. Upholding the brand through strict product evaluation and support for licensees, it ensures that the role-playing world of Pokémon remains a fresh, fun, and exciting connective medium for players around the globe who enjoy collecting and exchanging the unique characters, which have grown in number to more than 700 since the release of the first video game in 1996.

About Pokémon Korea, Inc.
Pokémon Korea, Inc., a subsidiary of The Pokémon Company in Japan, manages the property of Korea and is responsible for brand management, licensing, marketing, the Pokémon Trading Card Game, the animated TV series, home entertainment, and the official Pokémon website.Pokémon was launched in Japan in 1996 and today is one of the most popular children’s entertainment properties in the world.

About SK Telecom
Established in 1984, SK Telecom is the largest mobile operator in Korea by both revenue and number of subscribers. As of December 2016, the company holds around 50 percent of the market, with 29.60 million mobile subscribers including 21.1 million LTE subscribers. It has reached KRW 17.092 trillion in revenue in 2016.

SK Telecom has led the advancement of mobile technologies ranging from 2G to 4G, and is currently setting important milestones in its journey to 5G. The company is not only leading innovation in the field of mobile network, but also providing IoT, media, home and platform services.

SK Telecom is determined to play a significant role in the Fourth Industrial Revolution by achieving innovations and promoting shared growth with other players in the industry.For more information, please visit www.sktelecom.com/en or contact skt_press@sk.com.

Debuted in May 2014 and based in Dubai, Wakti is the dedicated gaming and application platform of Huawei Kuwait. Wakti has become a world leading android app store, committed to providing quality applications, tailored to the needs of the user.

SLA Mobile will connect Huawei Kuwait to Zain Kuwait subscribers through Direct Operator Billing. Direct Operator Billing, also known as Carrier Billing, will allow Zain’s subscribers to purchase digital content from the store by charging the amount to their prepaid credit or monthly bill. It is widely regarded as one of the safest digital payment options as there is no need for bank or credit card details.

Gaolibin, Director of Carrier Software business of Huawei Kuwait commented, “At Huawei Kuwait, we are committed to providing our customers with a one stop shop for applications. By partnering with SLA Mobile we are able to further distinguish our offering by giving Zain subscribers the opportunity to purchase applications using Direct Operator Billing.”

Amelia Power, Head of Sales and Marketing at SLA Mobile said, “Partnering with Huawei Technologies – Kuwait delivers another lucrative merchant to Zain Kuwait subscribers.” Amelia added, “The partnership presents Huawei technologies – Kuwait with the opportunity of a new channel to market as Zain subscribers can rest assured that by using Direct Operator Billing their payments will be secure.”

The post Huawei Technologies and SLA Mobile Sign Agreement to Bring Direct Operator Billing Services to WAKTI App Store with Zain Kuwait first appeared on Tele Info Today.]]> https://www.teleinfotoday.com/press-releases/huawei-technologies-and-sla-mobile-sign-agreement-to-bring-direct-operator-billing-services-to-wakti-app-store-with-zain-kuwait/feed 0 https://www.teleinfotoday.com/gaming-computing/playstation-4-vs-xbox-one-the-console-war-that-turned-into-a-love-story https://www.teleinfotoday.com/gaming-computing/playstation-4-vs-xbox-one-the-console-war-that-turned-into-a-love-story#respond Fri, 18 Jul 2014 18:30:00 +0000 http://www.teleinfotoday.com/2014/07/19/playstation-4-vs-xbox-one-the-console-war-that-turned-into-a-love-story/ Executives from Sony and Microsoft are battling it out over who can be nicer about the rival games console. Are we ready for this new era of kindness? The new era began at 2pm on 15 November 2013; the day that PlayStation 4 arrived in North America. A message went out from the official Xbox […]