【英语阅读】经济学人 | 流媒体已经改变了音乐和影视，现在轮到电子游戏了

Entertainment
娱乐

• Entertainment n.娱乐;消遣;款待

Mortal kombat
殊死格斗

• Mortal adj.凡人的;致死的;终有一死的;不共戴天的 n.人类,凡人
• Mortal kombat 格斗之王(电影)

Streaming has changed music, film and TV. Time for video games
流媒体已经改变了音乐和影视，现在轮到电子游戏了

THE LAUNCH in 2018 of “Red Dead Redemption 2” was a huge event in the history of entertainment. It raked in $725m in its first three days, behind only “Avengers: Endgame”, a recent superhero flick, and “Grand Theft Auto V”, a game from 2013—and that despite being available only to owners of pricey games consoles. On November 19th it became available to an even wider audience with the launch of Stadia, Google’s game-streaming service.
电子游戏《荒野大镖客2：救赎》（Red Dead Redemption 2）在2018年发布，是娱乐史上的一个重磅事件。尽管只面向拥有昂贵游戏主机的玩家，该游戏推出三天便大卖7.25亿美元，仅次于今年上半年上映的超级英雄电影《复仇者联盟4：终局之战》及2013年推出的游戏《侠盗猎车手5》。随着谷歌的游戏流媒体服务Stadia于11月19日上线，更广泛的人群玩上了这款游戏。

• raked adj.倾斜的
• Endgame n.最后阶段;尾声;残局,终局
• flick n.弹开;快速的轻打;飞快翻阅;电影 v.轻谈;忽然摇动 ;轻轻拂去
• despite prep.即使,尽管 n.侮辱,伤害;轻视 v.故意使烦恼,故意伤害
• pricey adj.高价的,过分昂贵的
• consoles n.控制台;支柱 v.安慰;慰问
• audience n.观众;听众;读者;接见;拜会
• Stadia n.视距;视距仪

Google is not the only tech titan to bet that streaming will prove as transformative for the $150bn video-game industry as it has been for music, film and television. Last month Microsoft announced new games for its experimental xCloud service, which is due to launch in 2020. It will work with Xbox Game Pass, an existing download-based subscription service that offers more than 100 titles. Amazon is widely assumed to be working on something similar. Big Tech will be battling second-tier players, including Nvidia, a maker of gaming-focused computer chips, and Electronic Arts (EA), a games publisher. Sony, which makes consoles, already offers streaming through its PlayStation Now service.
谷歌押注流媒体服务会像它变革了音乐和影视那样，变革价值1500亿美元的电子游戏产业。它可不是唯一这么认为的科技巨头。微软上月发布了为其试验性云游戏服务xCloud打造的新游戏。定于2020年上线的xCloud将与现有的订阅服务、提供100多种游戏下载的Xbox Game Pass配合使用。外界普遍认为亚马逊也在开发类似的项目。各大科技巨头将对垒二线玩家，包括游戏专用芯片制造商英伟达（Nvidia）和游戏发行商艺电（EA）。也制造游戏主机的索尼已通过其PlayStation Now平台提供了流媒体游戏服务。

• experimental adj.实验的;根据实验的;试验性的
• subscription n.捐献;订阅;订金;签署
• publisher n.出版商;出版者;发行人

Streaming lets anyone with an internet connection play any game by farming out the computational heavy lifting required to run gaming software to cloud servers. It will not replace consoles overnight; both Microsoft and Sony are launching new machines next year. But by offering the option to play blockbuster games like “Red Dead Redemption 2” without paying upfront for hardware, it could lure owners of comparatively feeble devices such as smartphones, tablets and TVs to cutting-edge games.
流媒体技术把运行游戏软件时繁重的计算工作外包给云服务器，这样人们就能通过互联网畅玩各种游戏。云游戏服务不会在一夜之间取代游戏主机：微软和索尼都计划在明年推出新款游戏机。但既然现在无需先购入游戏硬件就能玩到《荒野大镖客2》之类的大热游戏，自然会吸引仅拥有智能手机、平板电脑和电视等性能相对较弱设备的玩家去玩这些新款游戏。

• computational adj.计算的
• software adj.必须的;必修的 v.需要;要求
• blockbuster n.轰炸;巨型炸弹;一鸣惊人者
• upfront adj.预付的;在前面的;正直的,坦率的 adv.在前面;提前支付
• hardware n.计算机硬件;五金器具
• lure n.诱惑;饵;诱惑物 vt.诱惑;引诱
• comparatively adv.比较地;相当地
• feeble adj.微弱的,无力的;虚弱的;薄弱的
• cutting-edge adj.领先的,最新的;先进的,尖端的

Catherine Gluckstein, one of the Microsoft executives in charge of xCloud, points out that of the 5bn people who own smartphones, about half dabble in cheap-and-cheerful mobile games. Next year xCloud tests will be expanded to India, where consoles remain a luxury but internet no longer is; more than 500m Indians enjoy access to the web, mostly on their phones. Michael Pachter of Wedbush, an investment firm, thinks streaming’s worldwide expansion could triple the size of the gaming market to nearly $500bn by 2030.
负责xCloud项目的微软高管凯瑟琳·格鲁克斯坦（Catherine Gluckstein）指出，在拥有智能手机的50亿人口中，大概一半玩过一些便宜有趣的手机小游戏。明年，xCloud的测试将扩展至印度，游戏主机在那里仍然是奢侈品，而互联网已不再稀罕——超过五亿印度人能够上网，大多是通过手机。投资公司Wedbush的迈克尔·帕切特（Michael Pachter）认为，到2030年，流媒体的全球扩张可能令游戏市场扩大三倍，达到近5000亿美元。

• executives n.高管们;主管们;执行管理者
• dabble vt.溅湿;浸入水中 vi.涉猎;涉足;玩水
• luxury n.奢侈,奢华;奢侈品;享受 adj.奢侈的
• triple adj.三倍的;三方的 n.三倍数;三个一组 vi.增至三倍 vt.使成三倍

If, that is, the companies can pull it off. Streaming a film or a song is straightforward. Data can be downloaded ahead of time to smooth out connection hiccups. Not for games, which must react instantaneously to players’ moves and vice versa. Even with a rock-solid connection (which most mobile ones are not) commands take time to travel from the controller to the data centre and back. This can introduce annoying delays. And distributing games the old way, via physical disks or downloads, is cheap, whereas providing high-end, game-capable computing in the cloud is not, notes Piers Harding-Rolls, an analyst at IHS Markit, a research firm. A decade ago early attempts at game streaming flopped precisely because of high prices and iffy technology.
这一切的前提是这些公司能成功推广这类服务。流媒体播放电影或歌曲很简单，可以把数据提前缓存下来以防连接不畅。游戏不一样，必须根据玩家的操作做出即时反应，反之亦然。即便网络连接稳如磐石（大多数移动设备都做不到），指令从玩家的控制器传给数据中心而后再返回也需要时间。这可能导致恼人的延时问题。研究公司IHS Markit的分析师皮尔斯·哈丁-罗斯（Piers Harding-Rolls）指出，用实体磁盘或下载等传统方式分销游戏成本低廉，相比之下，提供高端的游戏云计算服务并不便宜。十年前，游戏流媒体的早期尝试正是由于价格高昂和技术不足而告败的。

• straightforward adj.简单的;坦率的;明确的 adv.直截了当地;坦率地
• hiccups n.打嗝
• instantaneously adv.即刻;突如其来地
• vice n.恶习;缺点;老虎钳 prep.代替 vt.钳住 adj.副的;代替的
• rock-solid adj.坚如磐石的;绝对可靠的
• annoying adj.讨厌的;恼人的
• flopped v.沉重下坠,笨拙移动;扑通坐下 n.彻底失败,不成功;沉重 adv.正好地,恰巧地
• precisely adv.精确地;恰恰
• iffy adj.未确定的;富于偶然性的;可疑的

All eyes are now on Google. Like Amazon and Microsoft, it owns a worldwide network of cloud-computing data centres, which could help surmount technological niggles. But unlike Microsoft or Sony, it lacks deep roots in gaming. And in contrast to Amazon, whose 100m Prime subscribers could, Mr Patcher thinks, be offered games as part of their membership, it must build a customer base from scratch.
现在所有目光都集中在谷歌身上。跟亚马逊和微软一样，谷歌拥有遍布全球的云计算数据中心网络，这可能有助于克服技术上的小缺陷。但和微软或索尼不同的是，谷歌在游戏方面的根基不深。帕切特认为，亚马逊可向其一亿Prime付费会员提供游戏服务，而谷歌必须从零开始建立客户群。

• surmount vt.克服,越过;战胜
• niggles vi.拘泥小节;为琐事费时;挑剔 vt.小气地给…;玩忽
• Patcher n.补丁包;补丁更新程序
• membership n.资格;成员资格;会员身份

Stadia’s debut could have gone better. Promised features have been delayed. Prices remain high: early adopters must pay 129 for a controller and $10 a month for a subscription, and then fork out some more for individual games. (A subscription-free option, with less fancy graphics, will launch in 2020.)
谷歌Stadia平台的首发本可以做得更好。但有些承诺的功能延后推出了。价格依然很高：早鸟玩家必须花129美元购买控制器，支付每月十美元的订阅费，再为单个游戏额外付钱。（无需订阅费的低画质版将于2020年推出。）

• graphics n.图像;图样;制图法

Most worrying, Google has struggled to convince publishers to sign up. Just 22 games were available at Stadia’s launch. The test version of Microsoft’s xCloud features over 50. Sony’s PlayStation Now has over 650 games (although some are over a decade old and the service is available only on PCs and the PlayStation). For all its heft elsewhere, in gaming Google continues to look like a bit player.
最令人担忧的是，谷歌难以说服游戏出版商加入自己的平台。Stadia上线时仅有22款游戏上架。微软xCloud的测试版就有50多款游戏。索尼的PlayStation Now有超过650款（不过有些游戏已有十多年的历史，而且该服务只能在个人电脑端和PlayStation上使用）。尽管谷歌在其他方面举足轻重，在游戏领域它还是个小玩家。

• elsewhere adv.在别处;到别处

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原文来自田间小站