HITS

Gaming powerhouse Activision Blizzard has turned to Google Cloud to be its preferred provider for its game hosting infrastructure, and will additionally look to Google-owned YouTube as its exclusive streaming partner (everywhere in the world expect China), to host live broadcasts of its eSports leagues and events.

Google Cloud was chosen due to its ability to deliver low-latency player experiences, because of its global footprint, advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, and because Google Cloud is open to creating a platform for building future gaming innovations, Activision said in a statement.

Activision Blizzard will use Google Cloud’s AI tools to offer curated recommendations for in-game offers, along with differentiated gaming experiences.

“We’ve worked closely with Activision Blizzard for the past few years across mobile titles to boost its analytics capabilities and overall player experience,” said Sunil Rayan, head of gaming for Google Cloud. “We are excited to now expand our relationship and help power one of the largest and most renowned game developers in the world.”

YouTube will host live broadcasts of Activision Blizzard’s eSports leagues and events — including Call of Duty League, Overwatch League and Hearthstone eSports — immediately. All competitions will be livestreamed on each league’s YouTube channel and will include archived and other content.

“With more than 200 million gamers a day watching more than 50 billion hours of gaming content per year, YouTube provides gamers and their passionate fans with the most popular video gaming platform in the world,” said Ryan Wyatt, head of gaming for YouTube. “Both the Overwatch League and Call of Duty League are the quintessential examples of world class esports content. As a former Call of Duty esports commentator myself, I couldn’t be more excited for Activision Blizzard to choose YouTube as its exclusive home for the digital live streaming of both leagues. This partnership further demonstrates our dedication to having a world class live streaming product for gaming.”

Jacques Erasmus, CIO for Activision Blizzard, added: “We’re excited to partner with Google to drive the next generation of gaming innovation for the industry. Google Cloud’s best-in-class infrastructure gives us the confidence to deliver great entertainment to our fans around the world.”