Tech News Roundup for September 21, 2020
Here are a few of the things I found interesting over the weekend
Bans on Tik Tok and WeChat Temporarily Delayed for Different Reasons
After the bans on WeChat and Tik Tok were announced on Friday, by Sunday, the day they were due to take effect, both had been delayed. The WeChat ban has temporarily delayed by a federal judge in the United States, with the stay indicating that banning it may violate the United States first amendment. This is a temporary stay only in effect until the full lawsuit against the US government can be heard.
The ban on Tik Tok was delayed by one week by the US Commerce Department after President Donald Trump stated his approval “in concept” of the deal for Oracle and Wal-Mart to partner with ByteDance to create a new US based business for Tik Tok. We will see where this goes.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/09/court-blocks-trumps-wechat-ban-from-taking-effect-today/
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/09/trump-reportedly-approves-oracle-tiktok-deal-in-concept/
Oracle and Wal-Mart Claim ByteDance Will Have No Ownership Stake in Tik Tok Global
This continues to get more confusing. Oracle has stated that after the new “Tik Tok Global” company is established, ByteDance, the current owner of Tik Tok, will not have any stake in the new company.
It remains hard to see how this could happen, as the Chinese government has placed export restrictions on the technology that power the Tik Tok platform that are widely believed to block the sale of Tik Tok to a US company. This is why the original reporting on the deal with Oracle was that it would become a “trusted partner” that would host Tik Tok’s data, while ByteDance remained in control of the platform.
This is an absolute mess.
Microsoft Announces Purchase of Bethesda’s Parent Company ZeniMax
In a move that is causing shockwaves in the video gaming world, on Monday morning Microsoft announced a deal to purchase ZeniMax, the owner of Bethesda Softworks. The deal is worth $7.5 Billion USD in cash. Bethesda is one of the largest video game developers on the planet, with it and its subsidiaries including franchises like Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, DOOM, and Wolfenstein, among others.
The company has already publicly stated that it will honour previously announced Playstation exclusive games, but that going forward releasing games on platforms outside of Microsoft’s will be on a “case by case basis”. This will likely lead to several of these large franchises becoming exclusive to Microsoft’s own consoles and services, and It almost certainly means that Bethesda games will be on Xbox Game Pass going forward.
This deal is a huge win for the Microsoft ecosystem, and a big blow to Sony.
https://www.thurrott.com/games/241374/microsoft-to-acquire-bethesda-for-7-5-billion
Microsoft Releases Redesigned Xbox App for Android with Remote Console Play
The other big announcement from Microsoft today was that it’s Xbox Mobile App for Android has received a complete redesign. Beyond the standard claims of better performance and a fresh look, this app includes a new feature that allows users to stream games from an Xbox console to that device. This is similar to but different from the new cloud gaming features in Xbox Game Pass. Cloud gaming in Game Pass allows users to play a selection of games from the Xbox Game Pass catalog from anywhere with an internet connection as part of a subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. This remote play feature in the Xbox app for Android allows users to stream games from a local Xbox console to an android phone for free. This should work with any game installed on an Xbox console, and does not require a subscription to Xbox Game Pass.
Microsoft has offered this capability on Windows 10 for years, and I’ve always found it buggy and unreliable to the point where I don’t use it. I’m interested to try this to see if the experience is any better.
https://mobilesyrup.com/2020/09/21/xbox-app-update-xbox-one-games-stream-to-android-free/