Fortune tech staffers debate whether certain tech trends will take off or fall flat

Tech Debate

And what the landmark court case tells us about how the crypto industry has operated in the last three years.

The biggest bombshells from Sam Bankman-Fried's trial so far

Fortune_Crypto

Welcome to, let's discuss where we discuss some of the hottest topics of the week. I'm Leo Schwartz. I'm joined here by my colleague, Ben Weiss. Uh We spent the better part of the last three weeks at the Sam Bateman free trial. Yeah, I mean, we've pretty much seen the prosecution's entire case. Uh They started with their first witness which was a victim who lost about $100,000 on FTX when it collapsed in November 2022. And since then, they've rolled out a suite of other witnesses to testify against Beman Fried, including the three star witnesses in the case, Gary Wong, then Caroline Ellison and then Masha say, Leo, what do you think has been the biggest bombshell to come out of the trial so far? So as you mentioned, the prosecutors have brought up their three star witnesses who were all members of Sam Bakeman Fried's inner circle. We knew they were going to testify. But I still think seeing them up on the stand basically saying definitively that they committed crimes, they took customer funds for their own purposes and it was the direction of their former friend, Sam Bateman Fried has been pretty stunning. We've seen a lot of very raw emotional moments. I think a climax of the trial has been Caroline Ellison crying on the stand discussing the crimes that she did commit. Nasha Singh described the actions as evil. It's been pretty shocking even expecting what was going to happen. Ben, I'm curious, how do you view the impact of the trial on the crypto industry the way I was thinking about this trial is, it's essentially a look under the hood of how the crypto industry pretty much interacted with each other. Um, from 2020 to 2022 there's been looks into these crazy lending practices between these big firms and trading firms. Um And there's also been pretty explicit declarations that um, some tokens like, you know, F TT or B and we are essentially equity like instruments. Um So, and I think there's probably more to come. So the prosecution has pretty much presented its entire case with its three star witnesses. Next, we'll see the defense come up. They're expected to take around a week, a week and a half. The big lingering question is whether Sam Bakeman Fried himself is going to testify. That's still unknown. We should know that by end of October early November and then the case should wrap up. That's all the time we have for today. This has been, let's discuss. Please go to fortune dot com for more

Fortune Crypto’s Jeff Roberts and Leo Schwartz discuss possible outcomes of the year’s biggest court case.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial date—here's what could happen as the FTX crypto king turned con man goes to court

Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial date—possible outcomes as the FTX crypto king turned con man goes to court

Hello, everyone and welcome to let's discuss where we break down the hottest news topic of the day. Today, we're here to talk about the trial of Sam Beman Fried, the crypto con Man extraordinaire with me today. I have Leo who's been covering the case very closely for fortune. So just give us a quick reminder. Why is Sam Fried going on trial? When does it start? How long will it last? So Sam Beckman Fried is the founder of FX at one time, the largest or one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world until its spectacular collapse in November. So federal prosecutors have charged him with a number of counts related to the collapse, including using customer funds for his own purposes from covering up holes in the balance sheet to political donations and personal expenditures. So that trial is set to start on October 3rd will likely last around six weeks, right. In effect, he's being charged with taking customer money and spending it on, you know, trading, gambling, political bribes, all sorts of things. Yeah. Yeah. So this was an exchange that was handling billions of dollars of trades. Basically, they were taking customer money using it for their own purposes. Right. And the charge I believe is what fraud, money laundering things of that nature. Yeah, there's a handful of charges and there will also be a later trial for even more ones, including bribery of a Chinese official. Oh, my goodness. He sounds like he's in deep trouble. I guess. One thing I, you know, you have been closer, you're out in the Bahamas, you saw this, you know, unfold in real time. But what I'm curious about is, I mean, he seems guilty six ways to Sunday. I mean, yes, he's presumed innocence and I'm not saying he isn't. But you know, what is his defense? I mean, he's got all his former lieutenants, his girlfriend is testifying against him. So how does he think he's going to get out of this? Yeah, I mean, the big issue is that a number of his inner circle has turned against him and cooperated with prosecutors. Basically, his defense is going to be one thing called advice of counsel, which is basically that his lawyers give him bad advice. The other is basically saying crypto is filled with things like this. You know, what we were doing wasn't that bad compared to everyone else. Not a good look for him or the crypto industry. But what does it mean for crypto more broadly? This has not been good for its reputation, right. Yeah, I mean, it's terrible from a pr perspective for crypto I think right now this being really the trial of the decade, it's pretty inescapable to connect the crypto industry with samba and fried. Yeah. And let's talk about like with the term he could face, I was talking to one lawyer said this is a once in a decade thing. There was Enron, there was Bernie Madoff 10 years later. And now we have this, you know, what's your impression? Is there a chance he could go away for a very long time? Yes, this is billions of dollars of customer money we're talking about. So it does seem like decades of jail time could be in play. Right? And just to recap, when are we going to hear a verdict? Do you think? So? The trial starts October 3rd with jury selection, prosecutors have said it should take around six weeks. Ok. Well, Leo, obviously a lot coming down the pike but you know, to boil it down, what's your over under on whether he goes to prison? Well, you're the lawyer, but given the amount of people who have turned against him, it seems pretty likely he'll be found guilty. That seems like a pretty good bet to me. I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more about Mr Baman Fried soon. Thanks for tuning in to let's discuss.

While the lawsuits could be an existential threat to these crypto giants stateside, Fortune reporters point out that the price of Bitcoin is yet to take a hit.

Is SEC's attack on Binance and Coinbase the end of crypto in the U.S.?

Are SEC's Binance and Coinbase suits the end of U.S. crypto?

Welcome to, let's discuss, we fortune reporters talk about the most important news stories of the week in two minutes. I'm Jeff Roberts here with my colleague Leo Schwartz. And this week we are going to discuss the S ECs ruthless campaign against crypto Leo. What is the latest? Yeah, so this week, we saw two very long awaited lawsuits by the S E C led by Gary Gusler against two crypto giants, one against finance, the other against coin base. The B one was certainly more serious in that the S E C alleged that they were mishandling customer funds along with other charges that also went to base, which basically stated that their entire business model is not legal in the US under the S E C interpretation, including that many of the cryptocurrencies that they list are unregistered securities and therefore should not be available, uh which obviously would pose a pretty existential threat to the industry here. So Jeff I'm curious what you think that means for us crypto. Yeah, this is serious. I mean, I spoke to a long time crypto lawyer this week and wrote a story to the fact that he believes that there's about a one third chance Coinbase won't even be in the US in five years. And this, of course is, you know, the flagship crypto company. So I think the threat is very real. However, there's something else going on, namely the price of crypto Bitcoin hasn't budged. You know, I mean, this is sort of the an apocalyptic regulatory action it feels like, but the market is totally shrugging it off, not the case, the coin base shares are down. But I do think this sort of, you know, is a testament to the fact that crypto is now much more global and can survive a regulatory onslaught from the US. What's your take? Yeah, I hear that all the time from sources outside the US where basically a lot of the events that are seismic in the US like the collapse of F T X don't register as much for companies or even uh investors or consumers overseas. So I think you see that reflected in finance or in the price of Bitcoin, obviously that can change if some of the allegations against finance proved to be true, including the mishandling of customer assets and maybe even their capacity to withdraw. And don't forget there's other issues to draw up. A lot of people are telling me criminal charges are coming from the justice department from a sanctions busting. It's gonna be pretty serious, but it all comes down to whether finance is solvent and so far as far as they are, but stay tuned, this is far from over. This has been let's discuss. Thank you for tuning in for more. Please go to fortune dot com.

Developers combined 2,000 hours of Caryn Marjorie's YouTube content with OpenAI's GPT-4 to create a "virtual girlfriend" version of the influencer.

This influencer will be your A.I. girlfriend for $1 a minute

Tech

Watch: This influencer will be your A.I. girlfriend for $1 a minute

Welcome to, let's discuss where we talk about the hottest topics in news in two minutes or less. I'm joined by my colleague Alexei Oreskovic and we are going to talk about something I'm really excited about, which is this story I've been working on, on a social media influencer who has been turned into an A I girlfriend using 2000 hours of her video content and the capabilities of open A I. This is going to be available to users on the app telegram in both voice and text. Wow. So Alex, this is really fascinating and you've actually played around with this. I mean, how good actually is it? Are we talking? Is it just like Siri basically or is it more like you know her, like the science fiction movie, I'd say somewhere in the middle, she can do a whole lot of stuff from um counseling on family relationships to suggesting recipes and being an emotional companion. Since chat GP T came out, we've seen a lot of chat bots uh in kind of a search context. Microsoft Bing introduced it. Google is doing it with, but they, they try to make clear that they're not really human people, they're just, you know, kind of like, it's another tool whereas here, um it seems like they, they're kind of like pushing the envelope, not necessarily in the capability, the technical capability, but just in terms of the kind of like how they're presenting it as a virtual girlfriend that you're supposed to confide in. And, and of course, that raises all sorts of ethical questions. If you have a relationship with this person, can you have a normal relationship in real life? Uh, is it like cheating if you're having a relationship with, uh, this virtual girlfriend and you're married? No. What, what do you think, or what have you found, Alex? Um, I've talked to a number of experts on this. I think the jury is out on a lot of it just because we haven't exactly seen how this technology works, um, in the long term. But I'd say, you know, you could break it down into buckets that are, uh, ethical concerns with data, with the influencer herself. Um, and then with the technology and its capabilities. So, like how much does it actually cost to use this, uh, this product? It's a dollar a minute for a voice response and then 60 cents for a text. Oh, wow. Ok. That's a pretty penny. Yes, it is. And that is all we have time for, for more. Let's discuss. Head to fortune dot com.

A University of Florida study showed that ChatGPT demonstrated the technology’s potential to predict stock market returns based on news headlines.

Can ChatGPT help you invest in the stock market?

Welcome to Fortune Tech debate where we discuss the topic of the day in two minutes. I'm Nick Lichtenberg, an executive editor here at Fortune. I'm joined by my colleague, Will Daniel, a reporter on economics and markets. And well, all the stuff that we want to talk about today really, which makes him the perfect person to talk to this recent study from the University of Florida. Researchers prompted chat GP T to pretend to be financial expert and interpret corporate news headlines and they found that the tech was able to correctly uh parse the implications of, of, of the headlines. And so that inspired us to ask, is this gonna go mainstream? Absolutely. I mean, I think A I is already mainstream in investing. You know, if you look at big hedge funds like a QR which is a fund, they already use A I technology in both stock selection and risk management. And then there are big papers that have been released, including one from Stanford that found that it's a robot. A I could outperform even the most aggressive of V T F. So I think it's already happening. The question will be whether it goes mainstream towards retail investors and wealth managers or if it stays in the realm of hedge funds and then which A I S will be used large language models like T G BT or other more models. So, wait, let me rewind that for a second because my assumption is that open A I huge leader in this space, I mean, T G BT exploded a few months ago. It's the quickest uptake of any technology in history. And I assumed that Chat G BT would be the thing that uh financial firms use that open A I would be the kingmaker here and they're going to clean up. So you don't think that's gonna happen. I don't think so. I think large language models will be used. But there are also other types of models like the stock bought model which look back at historical data, stock price movements. And I think those will also be valuable. So it's gonna be, you know, and other large language models could be a piece of what investors use to predict market movements, but it's not going to be all of it, right? So the difference there is that T BT is A L L M large language model that looks at, you know, text, uh media, news articles, but a stockpot looks at different things, it looks at data and it, and it makes a prediction from there. So you don't think G BT technology is directly transferrable to what the funds are gonna need to do. It is transferrable but it, it doesn't fill the whole, it doesn't fix the whole situation. So it's only a partial fix for what they're looking for. But it will, it will definitely be a part of what they do. That. I mean, I wish we could go on but that's all the time. We have so more tech debate go to fortune dot com and I'll talk to you at work. Well.

Since Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, users have flocked to the alternative social network.

Can Mastodon dethrone Twitter?

Welcome to Fortune tech debate where we debate the topic of the day in two minutes today, we're talking about twitter and mastodon. I'm here with David Mayor David, I'm wondering, do you think that mastodon can overtake twitter and popularity? Well that's certainly the ambition that was expressed to me by Eugene, Roscoe, mastodons founder when I interviewed him last week And certainly he's got reason to be bullish mastodons grown from 300,000 active users to more than 2.5 million in the months since Elon Musk took over Twitter. So clearly there are a lot of Twitter users who are leaving for Mastodon or at least tentatively setting up there a lot of academics, but I think there's probably a bit too much technical friction for the average person to, to shift over anytime soon. I agree it was hard for me as a tech reporter to even sign up, so I agree that the general population is gonna have a hard time making that switch to something that's a little less easy to use on twitter and I think twitter has that draw of being very dramatic right now, it's in the news, everyone is drawn to see what everyone else is talking about. So I think it's gonna be hard for people to leave twitter to begin with. I don't think any of these platforms that we're seeing right now, like we had a hive post news uh, mastodon, I don't know if any of these platforms are gonna be able to overtake twitter right now. Yeah, and I think there's nothing wrong with that necessarily. I think people might just hive off to different high above two different social networks where they've got perhaps different vibes, perhaps twitter will change. Perhaps the bible change there as well. There's all sorts of regulatory issues that it's, it's going to be facing if it carries on the path it's on now and if Elon gives up sells it may be the new owners would decide. Let's change the vibe here. If he sells it to effective management who see the potential twitter has, which it does have tons of potential obviously. Um we'll see if it can bounce back. But at its current rate it's a lot of people are leaving. I don't think everyone's gonna leave but I think that as you said that a lot of people are gonna be straddling these different forms, these different platforms and giving their user names early on these platforms um trying them out. But unfortunately we are out of time for today. So if you want to see more to activate, please go to Fortune dot com

So far things aren’t going so well for the platform under Musk’s leadership.

Does Elon Musk have a Twitter long game?

Welcome to fortune tech debate where we discussed the topic of the day in two minutes. I'm data sheet writer Jacob Carpenter here with news reporter christian headliner today. We're discussing what else but Elon musk and twitter, so christian, how do you think it's gone so far? Not well, whether we're talking about an increase in hate speech or advertisers threatening to pull out, um, there hasn't been a lot of evidence to suggest things are moving in the right direction that said, uh, Elon Musk, I think it was also more or less forced into this deal since the court effectively, uh, you know, required him to move forward on his $44 billion dollar contract. Yeah, I think part of what's strange is it just doesn't seem like there's a coherent plan here. I mean we've seen, you know, some discussions and proposals around things like charging for verification around rebooting vine, creating an only fans type of system where creators can charge to view a video and so it just doesn't feel like there's a plan. Um, but what do you kind of you as a long term prospects here? Well, I think, you know, like I said, that is a result of him basically been forced to do this deal at the last second. He wanted to pull out? I think in the, in the meantime you sort of come out with this idea that it should be arrival to china, we chat, which pretty much everyone in that country at some point in their day uses. I think that's a sensible business plan. I think there's a lot of support for that from certain parts of the U. S. Community. But ultimately, you know, this would take years before it could create something like that. Well, and that's the one thing you can say about Elon musk is that he's not afraid to try different things. He's certainly not afraid to shake things up, especially given all these layoffs. And so the guy will innovate, the guy will try something different. The question is whether he can execute on that. Yes, absolutely. I think part of the problem is that he's been encouraged by far too many people in the Silicon Valley community that whatever he touches turns to gold and this is fundamentally different business from Tesla or from SpaceX. This is a software, this is a social media platform you can't compare it to. Well that's all the time we have today. Head to Fortune dot com for more tech debate.

Kardashian was sued by the SEC for promoting a cryptocurrency security without disclosing her payment amount. Is it a publicity stunt, or will it change crypto?

Kim Kardashian's crypto scandal was a clear warning from the SEC. Will it last?

Will Kim Kardashian’s crypto scandal send a lasting message?

Welcome to Fortune tech debate, where we discuss the topic of the day in two minutes today, we're talking about the sec finding kim Kardashian for touting a crypto security without disclosing payment. Obviously, the question is whether this will have any broader impact or implications. I think from a crypto regulation standpoint, the sec is making a clear signal that everyone should be wary of crypto advertising. This is clearly a publicity stunt in that sense that there going for maximum audience. It also fit in with their broader regulation tactic, which is regulation by enforcement of saying that pretty much every crypto is security. And that's why this specifically was under their mandate, but probably doesn't have any bigger implications for sponsored content. Interested to hear what you think Alex Yeah, as someone who often covers publicity stunts. Um as a tech reporter covers creators. Um I think that this is, you know, it's obviously a headline generating thing, but I don't think it really has any broader implications. I mean, you're not really gonna see the sec is definitely not the FTC. Um coming after creators who are mis labeling, they're con they're sponsored content, which is traditionally been, you know, it's the Wild West. It's a really good point and I think this is really just a crypto specific issue where the sec wants to make an example out of someone and it's continuing this tactic which is having reactive measures against what happened during the crypto boom. Obviously, celebrities aren't really doing advertising now. So it's anybody's guess whether this will have broader warnings down the road. Yeah, I would group, um this, you know, this Kim Kardashian crypto stunt happened in 2021. I really don't think you're gonna see any celebrities pushing um crypto these days. It's just um, it's just controversial. Um, I would group it with politics as things that are not super cool to talk about. No offense leo I know that's what you cover. No, no offense taken. I think it's a good thing moving forward that maybe the public shouldn't look to kim Kardashian or Larry David for their crypto investing advice. Uh, well, that's all the time we have today. Thanks so much for watching and make sure to go to Fortune dot com for more Fortune tech debate.

Fortune’s Chris Morris and Will Daniel discuss on Tech Debate.

Elon Musk doesn’t want Twitter, but what would the platform look like with him in charge?

What would Twitter look like with Elon Musk in charge?


Elon Musk doesn’t want Twitter, but what would the platform look like with him in charge?


Hey, welcome to Fortune tech debate where we discuss the issues of the day in two minutes today we're talking about twitter, Elon musk is facing a court battle that may force him to buy the social media company even though he says he's not interested in doing so anymore. Well assuming that happens, what do you think the new twitter looks like? You know, interestingly enough, musk has said that he's considering making twitter into a quote accurate, relevant and not totally depressing news source, but you know, his comments kind of leave more questions and answers really because we pay reporters to create content for twitter and and if he does, does that open them up to lawsuits under the section 2 30 of the communications decency act And you know, other social media giants have fought for years to keep their uh companies considered as platforms rather than publishers. So I just ultimately, I think musk is stuck in a situation of buyer's remorse and he's just gonna struggle to turn twitter into a profitable firm. I think one of the things that you have to consider though is that trust in major media and news outlets is declining these days. Uh Abc Fox CNN all of them are lower in the recent survey by the american customer satisfaction index. Twitter though is up 11%. It had the biggest gain of any company. So there might be something into combining the two schools of thought. Yeah, I mean I think you made a good point like seven and 10 twitter users in the United States said they got their news from the platform according to a 2021 Pew Research poll. So there's definitely a market there. But I wonder with ad spend slowing and the economy moving into recession. If it's really the right move for twitter to turn to becoming a content publisher. Yeah, well no one has ever gotten rich at least recently owning a media company and Elon musk hasn't really shown a lot of patience for things like that. There is one more thing that we need to think talk about and that is Elon musk himself. He hasn't shown a lot of patience for opposing viewpoints and we saw that at SpaceX, Could that be a problem here? Yeah, I mean I think any time the ceo of a publisher is criticizing politicians or economists publicly then it's going to be an issue for your objectivity. So yeah, it'll be interesting to see how if twitter does become a publisher, how objective they can be. Yeah. Alright, well that's gonna have to leave it there, that's all the time we have today. Come back to Fortune dot com for more tech debate

It's a huge opportunity, but will it be successful? I think that it has a very good chance of succeeding. They're putting a billion dollars down. Place a billion dollar bet down on here, and they've also poached two Sony executives to lead the effort. They're going to make as many as ten shows. And honestly, all they need to have is one hit, and things can take off for them .>> Yeah, but Apple has a long history of poaching big name execs who then spin out and aren't successful at the company. It has very specific culture and part of that is hardware DNA not software. Apple software is pretty much terrible. Nobody likes using iTunes and we all know that. And they have no content and media DNA and I think that much is clear. If look at the show that they've already launched including Planet of the Apps, which is pretty much a joke, and Carpool Karaoke, which has gotten really terrible reviews They haven't made one of those zeitgeisty shows that you really need to put yourself on the map. All right, all right. So, maybe their shows aren't doing so well. They're terrible. They're terrible. But they got these guys in the pipeline, and honestly, they've got a really really big opportunity here. They've got declining market share when it comes to iTunes. Like you mentioned, maybe it's not the greatest interface. Mm- hm. But they wanna win people back, and Apple is trying to grow its services business Double to it $ 50 million and honestly like this putting this a little bit of money in this area, it seems like a wise idea for them. Yeah but. The potential up side. I think what you're saying here is a little bit of money. Apple has $ 250 billion dollars on its balance sheet and there's always running a billion to me that tells me. That they are not that serious about that. But this is kind a look a contingency plan, and sure if it works out okay. And like Netflix this is do or die for them. They're competing against the company that is like this is their core thing. And then so I that's another reason why I don't think Apple is going to be succesful as a content producer. That's fair. But if we look at HBO, I mean HBO spends of, $ 2 billion a year, so Apple's gonna spend half of that. But they really only need to get a Game of Thrones- like success. I mean HBO has Game of Thrones and everybody watches that, literally everyone. But if you're Game of Thrones do you wanna go to HBO or do you wanna go to Apple? [ SOUND ] Well, maybe Apple. All right, we are out of time. Come to fortune. com for more tech debate. [ MUSIC ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

Apple Should Invest More Than $1 Billion in Original Content

That’s not enough to compete with Netflix and HBO.

Apple Will Invest More Than $1 Billion in Original Content

Apple announced that it will invest $1 billion in original video content, but that’s not enough to compete with Netflix and HBO.

[ MUSIC ] Welcome to Fortune Tech Debate, where we discuss the issues of the day in two minutes. Today we're talking about what will be the biggest tech stories of 2020. Andrew, will it be? Well, so, Lisa Marie, I've been catching up on my Silicon Valley and I gotta say this season has been all about tethics, their term for tech ethics. And I just That is the thing that we have been talking about so much and we're gonna continue talking about into 2020, the notion of what companies are doing with our personal data and are they doing right by us and all that kind of stuff. I think, especially coming to the for next year will be facial recognition and what happens with our face data, that to me is really what's happening next year. Call me a cynic but I think that all of the news we've been saying about How our data is being stored and used and how pervasive the problem is. Actually is people feeling defeated. They feel like they can't do anything and their anger is turning into apathy. So I think the privacy story of 2020 Will actually be why we all stopped caring about our privacy. Well, I care a whole lot and but I'll say this one thing that people are really gonna care about next year is 2020. After all is the US presidential election. People are really fired up about it already, of course. And I think election security, just as it was during the last presidential election, is gonna be a real big topic of discussion. Whether that's at the ballot box or whether foreign nations are waging disinformation campaigns. There's certainly a lot to cover. You've got bots on social media, misinformation on social media as well, and just protecting those votes. Yes. But I wanna switch to a lighter note. Okay. And I wanna talk gaming. So the next consoles are coming out in 2020. But I don't think the conversation is just there. It's also on streaming. It's on 5G, It's on being able to do things like game pass and just download and play and play lots of games. And this is really interesting to me because I have a dusty old Xbox 360 sitting on my dresser but you know what streaming is what I do all day long with music and And frankly, every other medium and it seems like they could maybe pull me back in in this new format. Maybe I know that when Xbox first pitched the Xbox One as a diskless Digital future people weren't having it now. The market Come 2020 has finally product. It is. Well that's all we have time for come to fortune calm for more tech debate. [ MUSIC ]

Predicting the Biggest Tech Headlines for 2020

Fortune’s Lisa Marie Segarra and Andrew Nusca discuss.

[ MUSIC ] Welcome to Fortune Tech today, where we discuss the issues of the day in two minutes. Google has released Stadia, its Cloud gaming service. It's off to a rocky start. But is it the future of gaming? Lisa Marie, what do you think? Definiately not. In terms of the future, I don't think we're even going to see this product on the market in a couple of years from now. I think it's actually going to be just like Google Glass, where Google plays around with this new technology. It doesn't pan out, no one buys it and then they drop it. If we don't have companies that are willing to invest long term, which I don't think Google is, I definitely don't see it in the future of gaming. Google feeling very attacked. There's some really appealing propositions though here. Let's say for example, I want to play a PC quality game on my phone. I love that idea. And 5G is just around the corner, so you've got really high speeds that can make streaming work. Okay, but 5G isn't even here yet. And not every phone is able to have that power to really bring those graphics, and what gamers expect. But I think most importantly, the 5G, the Internet speed connection is really important. A lot of Places just don't have that technology and that bandwidth and if we want mainstream buying it's just not going to work for all those people. But mainstream is exactly the point, right? Now if you wanna play let's say a PC game or a even a console game, there is a lot of money involved. You get to put down $ 400 for a PC 4, you have to put down a $ 1, 000 for a PC With a couple of big screens. Google Stadia you pay a few bucks a month for a subscription. Maybe you buy a couple of games. Very low barrier entry here. Yeah but let's be honest if I already have a computer and I'm a pretty casual gamer I'm not going to buy anything else. If I'm a hardcore gamer, then I want to invest in that gaming PC with multiple monitors, I will. And same for consoles. But you don't have to do that, and there's a lot of flexibility already. So okay, what about the technical challenges? Some people can't even get a game to install properly on their desktop or laptop. Okay, if we're talking about having trouble downloading, imagine how hard it will be trying to play online and dealing with lag I just don't see it happening. Well, that's all the time we have. Join us at fortune. com for more debate. [ MUSIC ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

Is Google Stadia the Future of Gaming?

Entertainment

[ MUSIC ] Welcome to Fortune Tech Debate, where we discuss the issues of the day in two minutes. Today we're talking about WeWork, a company that is in deep financial distress. They've lost their CEO, they've put their IPO on indefinite hold And what might be in store for them next? [ UNKNOWN ] where is this company headed? Honeslty I htnk this company is headed to the ground, I just don't see a future for them I think the time has come for Wework. Well okay, I will agree these are dyer circumstances for the company. They've got a lot of debt obligations, they've got enough money on had to last for another year. But there are some glimmers of hope, you know, it is now stripping away all of its ancillary businesses. You know, they were running a school at one point, they're getting rid of that they're focusing on their core operations. So there might be some, you know, element here where the company could survive maybe as a ghost of its former self but it could continue to hum along. Yeah, I think it's just a little too little too late. You know? Guess if they're stripping down the we family, but at this point to go back to where it started just isn't an option. Are they moving forward? Are they growing? Are they not and their fact is that they are not and I don't see a future for them. This is a company that needs money. They need cash if they're going to survive. And Masayoshi Son, the head of SoftBank and who has put so much money into this company through his vision Fund, which was 100 billion dollars. He needs this thing to succeed if he realizes all the losses on this right now, it is not gonna look good. He's in the process of raising another fund right now. SoftBank itself has taken on a ton of debt. They need, We Work to continue going. So I think he's just gonna put more money in. All right. What's worse than losing some money, losing more money by continuing to pump money into a failing business. Think it's time for SoftBank to finally cut its losses, say, this one was an nvestment. It didn't pan out. That's not ideal but we have to take what we got. It didn't work and I think they should move on, I think they're going to realize that too. The definite possibility but look this is a company that has so many other companies inside of their, you know they rent office space to so many things it's a key part of the real estate across so many different places. This thing has to keep going on. I don't think it does, I think that there will be no bailout for work, I think the real estate market will move on. [ SOUND ] Well that's all we have time for. Come to Fortune. com for more tech debate. [ MUSIC ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

There's Only One Way to Salvage WeWork

Finance

[ MUSIC ] Welcome to fortune tech debate where we discuss the issues of the day in two minutes. Today we are talking about we work and its efforts to IP. David, do you think that they will finally get this off the ground. I think they've really improved their position. They got Adam Newman out the door who's a little bit of a loose cannon. They've got two new CEOs now, and hopefully they'll get their act together. I do think that there are enough adults in the room at this point to say, clearly, there's an issue. Let's replace him, and get everything in line. They've also got a $ 6 billion credit line that is contingent on them IPOing by the end of the year. So yes, I think the IPO will go through. But in terms of a company being successful, they have too many red flags and I just don't see it happening. Yeah, I mean, certainly, they are less of a company that Adam Neumann dreamed of them being. They're gonna, probably, be at a lower evaluation, we've already heard that. But they do have an interesting business if you shrink it down. They're catering to startups. They're providing workspaces for flexible companies around the world. You at least have a business there. Yeah, that's also the thing. They don't really know how to define their business. Adam Newman especially was very big on purporting them to be a tech company. Let's face it, they are a real estate company. We've heard that line being towed before by other companies like Uber. And the fact that they don't have a clear vision, especially with Adam Newman gone, who was really the visionary behind the company. I'm not that confident that they're gonna be able to pull through they actually listed. Did his possible departure as a risk factor and now he's gone before the ipo was even out I would say I adam newman was the one who lacked vision he had too much vision he wanted it to be an education company you want it to be a community company it's a real estate company they rent offices and now we have people who are going to actually focus on that Adams wife is gone now as well who was running the education wing of the week company. So it's going to be streamlined it's gonna be smaller the volume valuation will probably less than they were hoping for. We already know that And it'll happen but what happens after that? We'll see. That's the thing. I think like I said they'll make it to IPL but after that, I think that they don't have a very lengthy future. But that's all the time we have for today. Come to fortune. com for more tech debate.

Will WeWork Succeed in Launching Its IPO?

 Welcome to Fortune Tech Debate, where we discussed the issues of the day in two minutes. Today we are talking about Facebook's newly relaunched Portal product and whether they should be getting into hardware at all. Robert, is there a market for this? So Facebook is going to fight an uphill battle here because they've got lots of privacy issues and stuff like that. But the smart display category of devices, there's no clear winner there yet. We've seen the smart speakers. There are companies, Amazon, Google, they have smart speakers that a lot of people own. But smart displays, no tech company has owned that category yet. So Facebook actually does have an opportunity here. It's a bit of a green field if they can get in and move. So the thing is that there is not a clear winner. But there are products out there already, which suggests that there just isn't a market for it. You have the Echo Show from Amazon. You have the Google Home Hub. And the fact that people aren't buying it kind of proves people don't want it. So why should Facebook come in all of a sudden with no hardware experience and suddenly be able to take over? Look, Facebook actually has some advantages over some of those other products that you mentioned, like Amazon's Echo Show. Amazon, what do they have? They're going to try and make you buy stuff from Amazon or watch Amazon Prime TV shows and things like that. Facebook, they know your social graph. And it's where a lot of people converse and have conversations. And by knowing that, that actually gives them an advantage. There's actually a utility there for Facebook. I kind of don't see that as an advantage. Honestly, the fact that Facebook knows so much about me makes me not want their product in my home at all. The last thing we need is a company that's already gotten in trouble for data collection to be in our home with a screen and a microphone, honestly. I agree. Personally, this is not a device for me. But there are demographics I see that could potentially like this-- elderly populations, who might not know how to use a phone and FaceTime people at the drop of a hat. If they had a dedicated device and, all of a sudden, hey, I'm talking to grandma, that's not so bad. That sounds good in theory. But if they're having trouble with phones, I don't know if that's exactly the demographic to now pick up a whole new product. Maybe a couple people will. I don't want to generalize. But it's not enough to really make this a big seller truthfully. That's all the time we have. Come to fortune.com for more tech debates. 

Is There a Market for Facebook's Portal?

Welcome to Fortune Tech debate. Will we discuss the issues of the day in two minutes? Today we're talking about Facebook's newly relaunched portal product and whether they should be getting into hardware. All Robert, is there a market for this? So I mean, Facebook is gonna fight an uphill battle here here because they've got lots of privacy issues and stuff like that. But the smartest, splay category of devices you know, there's no clear winner there yet. We've seen the smart speakers. There are companies, you know, Amazon, Google. They have smart speakers, a lot of people own but smart displays. No tech company has owned that category yet, so Facebook actually does have an opportunity here. It's a bit of a green field that they can get in on move. The thing is, there's not a clear winner, but there are products out there already, which the just they're just is in the market for it. You have the echo show from Amazon. You have the Google home hub and the fact that people aren't buying it kind of proof people don't want it. So why should Facebook come in all of a sudden with no hardware experience and suddenly be ableto, you know, take over. We'll look. Facebook actually has some advantages over some of the other products that you mentioned like Amazon's Echo show. You know, Amazon, what do they have? They're gonna try and make you buy stuff from Amazon or watch Amazon prime TV shows and things like that. Facebook. They know your social graph, and it's where a lot of people converse have conversations on by knowing that that actually gives them an advantage. You know that there's actually a utility there. I kind of don't see that as an advantage. Honestly, the fact that Facebook knows so much about me makes me not want their product in my home at all. I mean, the last thing we need is a company that's already gotten in trouble for data collection to be in her home with a screen and a microphone. Honestly, you know, I agree. Personally, this is not a device for me, but there are demographics. I see that could potentially like this, you know, elderly populations who might not know howto like use a phone and facetime people at the drop of a hat. They had a dedicated device and all of a sudden hey, I'm talking to Grandma. That's not so bad. I mean, that sounds good in theory, but if they're having trouble with stones, I don't know if that's exactly the demographic to now pick up a whole new product. I mean, maybe a couple people will. I don't want to generalize, but it's not enough to really make a big seller. Well, that's all the time. We have come to fortune dot com for more attractive eight.

[ MUSIC ] Welcome to Fortune Tech Debate where we discuss the issues of the day in two minutes. Today we're talking about the new iPhone 11 Pro, who it's for and whether it's worth getting. David, What do you think? I think this is a phone for somebody who's willing to spend a pretty significant chunk of money Have the absolute best. The Pro has the best battery and some interesting camera stuff. But the differences are pretty marginal. So I you know, personally I'm not sure I find it worth it. That's fair but I mean mean, especially things like the camera, they added a whole new lens. That stuff that people really care about. It's one of the biggest decisions that people make for what phone to get. You know, it's a real thing that people use and care about. So I don't know if it's fair to say It's a really minor change cuz it's not just people upgrading from the 10 or the 10 S. They're upgrading, maybe, from the 7 or 8. True, and the Pro phone has some interesting stuff. You get depth. You get portrait mode. And I'm sure it'll produce some amazing images. But the battery for example, you get like an extra hour, you get 17 hours worth of video versus 18 hours. It's just such a minor little thing that like. Why not just get the 11 if you're upgrading even from the 10S? I mean, okay listen, when I'm out and my battery is dying, I want that extra hour. There's a real use case for getting that extra hour that I don't think we're giving enough credit to. Okay, but you also have to actually look at the phone occasionally, and this thing looks like an alien. Come on. It's got three giant lenses. Strap it to your forehead, go out with the Navy Seals [ LAUGH ] It does not look that bad. That's such an exaggeration. If we're talking about minor updates, it looks pretty similar to the last model even I don't know I'm wanting to push back a little like the changes that they made are things that people care about. People wanna make sure that their battery doesn't die on them. They wanna make sure the camera is going to give them the best experience and it looks fine I think. I just don't know about the name in particular, it's not a pro. If you're a professional, you're not gonna use this. This is a phone for instance. Instagram boyfriends. Maybe they're professional Instagram boyfriends. Like we are using pro a little too much but it's separting itself from the pact. Well that's all the time we have. Come to fortune. com for more debatae. [ MUSIC ]

iPhone 11 Pro: Who Exactly Is it For?

[ MUSIC ] Welcome to Fortune Tech Debate where we discuss the issues of the day in two minutes. Today we're talking about Netflix and whether it can continue to survive and thrive in a world where so many competitors like Disney Amazon and others are trying to take it down, David Are you longing Netflix? Absolutely not. They had a great headstart, they had 10 years and they were basically the streaming service. But now, everybody is getting into the game, taking back their content. And Netflix is becoming just another channel, another studio, everything depends on what they produce and what they produce can't justify their Frankly, giant valuation right now. They have a giant valuation. And that's because people love Netflix and as you said they've been around for ten plus years, they have so much material. They've got over 5000 things in their catalog and they have 151 million global subscribers. They've got this huge head start a huge lead over all of the other players that are trying to get involved here. You know that gives them a huge runway to stay on top. People love what Netflix was 3 years ago. Netflix as you said has 5000 things in its library. You have 10, 000 and all those subscribers. There's not much switching cost involved. If something comes along it's better you just pull your information off Netflix, cancel you're done. And I just don't see it happening. Those shows that made Netflix iconic, Orange Is The New Black. To decade old house of cards. People love Stranger Things, but you don't, they're not turning out this constant stream of really top tier hits. So it's really a question of what's gonna happen. Well, I disagree with you there. I think that they are churning out hits. They're spending $ 15 billion a year on original programming. Next year, they're slated to spend $ 18 billion. They're just continuing to up the ante here spending more and more money trying to get this awesome blockbuster shows and movies. And it's showing, they're gotten tons of Emmy awards. They received over a 100 last year and also they received four Oscar wins. So. You know they're actually producing and it's showing. Last time I checked Emmys and Oscars don't come with cash prizes. So you have to look at the numbers. Netflix is valued right now a 130 billion dollars. Comcast which owns NBC Universal is valued at 190 billion dollars. There's no way those two should be even anywhere in the same neighborhood. Well it's going to be a stiff competition. That is for sure. Well that's all we've got time for today. Come to Fortune. com for more tech debate. [ MUSIC ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

Is Netflix Still on Top of the Streaming World?

Disney and Amazon are creeping their way up.


[MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to fortune tech debate where we discuss the issues of the day in two minutes. Today, we're talking about Facebook and what it will take to make them take user data seriously. So the FTC recently came to a settlement with Facebook for $5 billion. Sounds like a lot, and it is a lot of money. But for Facebook, it ended up being more of a slap on the wrist. What's it going to take for them to take this issue seriously finally? Yeah, they get a $5 billion fine, and then their stock went up. There was, sort of, universal dismissal that this is not a real enforcement action. And the FTC chief said, we need better rules. We're just an enforcement body. We can't make the rules. So it comes back to we need legislation and regulation that provide specific guidelines for Facebook and other data handlers to know what they're supposed to do. I don't think that's the thing that's missing from Facebook, but anyway that's what is going to fix this. I agree with you in theory. Regulation sounds great, something that will really hold them accountable. But as we saw in their hearing with Mark Zuckerberg, they really don't know what they're talking about. They just had no concept of not just how Facebook worked, but Twitter, just social media and the internet in general. I don't really have faith that Congress will be able to put laws on the books that are more than symbolic and actually make a meaningful difference. Well, symbolic would be a start, but I will say-- I think that they've-- I hope that they've come some distance since the infamous we sell ads senator hearing. But second, there's a lot of bipartisan shared skepticism of Facebook, and I think that Democrats Republicans for different reasons they don't trust the company. And they think-- they, sort of, see the systemic problem. So I have some faith that there could be some healing around-- maybe Facebook is what we need to bridge the partisan divide in this country is our shared skepticism. I have more faith in that Facebook will start to care when it affects their bottom line. If users start going, because that's-- they make money selling ads, but they sell ads based on users. Users are gone, they don't make money. And once people start realizing that Instagram and Whatsapp are also part of it, they'll leave it like they're already starting to with Facebook. And that will get their attention for sure. Well, that's all the time we have for today. Come to fortune.com for more tech debate. [MUSIC PLAYING] 

Facebook's 5 Billion Settlement Won't Make It Care More About User Data

Welcome to Fortune text debate. Will we discuss the issues of the day in two minutes? Today we're talking about Facebook and what it will take to make them take user data seriously. So the FTC recently came to a settlement with Facebook for $5 billion. Sounds like a lot, and it is a lot of money, but for Facebook, it ended up being more of a slap on the wrist. You know, what's it gonna take for them to take this issue seriously? Finally, yeah. They got a $5 billion fine and their stock went up. There was sort of universal dismissal that this is not a real enforcement action. And the, the FTC chief said, You know, we need better rules were just enforcement body. We can't make the rules, so it comes back to We need legislation on regulation that provide specific guidelines for Facebook and other data handlers to know what they're supposed to do. I don't think that's the thing that's missing from Facebook, but anyway, that's that's what you know. I agree with you in a very regulations. Sounds great. You know something that will really hold them accountable. But as we saw in their hearing with Mark Zuckerberg. They really don't know what they're talking about. They just had no concept of not just have Facebook worked with Twitter, just social media and the Internet. In general, I don't really have faith that Congress will be able to put laws on the books that are more than symbolic can actually make a meaningful difference. What symbolic would be a start? But I will say I think they I hope that they've come some distance since the infamous we sell ad senator hearing. But second, there's a lot of bipartisan shared skepticism of Facebook, and I think that Democrats, Republicans for different reasons, they don't trust the company and they think they sort of see the systemic problems. So I have some faith that there could be some healing. Maybe it's what Facebook is. What we need to bridge the partisan divide in this country is our shared skepticism. I have more faith in that Facebook will third to care when it affects their bottom line. If you start going because that's you know, they make money selling it. But they sell ad based on users. Users are gone. They don't make money, you know. And once people start realizing that Instagram WhatsApp are also part of it, they'll leave it like they're already starting to Facebook. And that wounded get their attention for sure. Well, that's all the time we have for today. Come to fortune dot com for more tact debates.

[ MUSIC ] Welcome to porch and tech debate where we discuss the issues of the day in two minutes. Today we're talking about Nintendo's new switch light, which is a handheld more portable version of their switch console and whether or not it will be a success for the company. Robert, what do you think? You know, maybe there are some people out there for whom this device will be suitable. But personally, I think that Nintendo is gonna have a hard time selling this. A lot of the avid gamers out there, Nintendo's target market, they have switches already this has been available for years now and they've already shelled out $ 300 to get their hands on it. So why are they gonna go out and buy something now that's worth $ 200 and has less capability than the other thing they already have? It's a good point that you make. The Switch has sold very well, but I think this will attract more The family market, younger players that haven't actually sold into that $ 300 price point yet. I think this is when they'll say yes I want to buy it. And you also have the hardcore gamer market which the Switch has done well with. And that is absolutely a market that will say, if I want this specific experience, I will totally shell out $ 200 to get that Here's the thing though the world has shifted, it has moved on everybody now has smartphones, everybody is playing free to play games, there's the Fortnite craze that's been happening, and that's what people that's where you need to meet gamers in that space, you don't have to sell them new custom hardware i think Nintendo is gonna have a hard time justifying their business model Of having these new sorts of devices to sell people when you've already got devices out there people can use to play these sorts of games and not spend more money on them. Sure, yeah, phones are the most pervasive product out there at this point, but you know, you can play for at night on the switch and you'll probably be able to play it better. It's more powerful and you don't have to worry about your phone dying the middle of the day. You know, sometimes people don't want to rely on their phone for gaming. Which is totally valid. Ultimately Nintendo needs a product that's going to shift its sales into high gear and this isn't the one that's gonna do it. You know like you said it's $ 200, they need a product that's gonna be totally different from what they have now. The Switch is out there and that has been successful but this is just a stop gap measure for them to get their revenue up. They really need something, some new breakout product if they're gonna keep, Succeeding. I disagree. The switch has been super successful. And they've had so much successf with hand- helds in the past. But that's all the time we have for today. Come to fortune. com for more Tech Debate. [ MUSIC ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

Will the Nintendo Switch Lite Be as Popular as the Original? 

 Welcome to Fortune Tech Debate where we discuss the issues of the day in two minutes. Today, we're talking about Facebook's Libra. The media giant has officially released its plans for a new cryptocurrency. Lisa Marie, what is the likelihood that this project succeeds? Unfortunately, I think it's actually very, very unlikely for a couple reasons. To put it simply, they just don't have a strong enough use case. And I don't think they have the support. I think they're saying, we have some backers. But I think that they are overplaying the support that those backers are actually giving. And that's really critical for the success of Libra. Well, I strongly disagree. I think there is a use case. There is no sort of native monetary system for the internet. I think the financial systems all around the globe, they're sort of secluded, isolated from one another. And when you want to send money overseas or anything like that, there are tons of middlemen involved, and they take huge fees out. Meanwhile, Facebook has such a global reach. They've got products that are used all over, Whatsapp being the main one. This is a company that has 2.4 billion monthly active users. That is a huge audience, a huge population, a huge footprint that is going to be immediately receptive to this new product. Yeah, I'll grant you they have a massive reach. But I don't think we can assume that they will automatically get on board with this. And the market is there. You have people like PayPal that have been creating a better way to do commerce overseas for quite a while. They have fees, but it's much more manageable than, I think, we're acting like it is. And I just don't think that there's support. We can't assume that just because they have these users on the platform that they'll say, yes, they want to use Libra. Well, Facebook has managed to get so many big corporations involved. You mentioned PayPal. PayPal is one of the backers of Libra. And meanwhile, Facebook has also gotten a bunch of the rival companies, the rival payment networks like Visa and MasterCard to team up together to get behind this new currency, Uber too and so many other big names. It is a huge, tremendous initiative. Yeah, they're big names, but they are kind of just half in and half out. They're saying they are pledging their support, but they're not actually committed to it. At the first sign of trouble, I think we're just going to see them back out. I think this thing is going to take off. There's no question. Anyway, time is up. Come to fortune.com for more Tech Debate. 

Why Facebook's Libra Is Poised for Success

Facebook Has 2.4 billion mostly active users.

Welcome to Fortune Tech debate where we discuss the issues of the day in two minutes. Today we're talking about Facebook's Libera. The media giant has officially released its plans for a new Cryptocurrency Lisa Marie. What is the likelihood that this project, unfortunately I think it's actually very, very unlikely for a couple reasons, to put it simply, they just don't have a strong enough use case, and I don't think they have the support. I think they're, you know, saying we have some backers, but I think that they are overplaying the support that those backers are actually giving. And that's really critical for the success of Libra. Well, I strongly disagree. I think there is a use case. You know, there is no sort of Native Monetary system for the Internet. I think the financial systems all around the globe, they're sort of secluded, isolated from one another. And when you want to send money overseas or anything like that, there are tons of middlemen involved, and they take huge fees out. Meanwhile, Facebook has such a global reach, you know, they've got products that are used all over. What's up being the main one, you know, This is the company that has 2.4 billion monthly active users. That is a huge audience, a huge population, a huge footprint that is going to be immediately receptive to this new product. Yeah, I'll grant you they have a massive reach. But I don't think we can assume that they will automatically get on board with this. And you know, the market is there. You have it. People like PayPal that have been, you know, creating a better way to do commerce overseas for quite a while. They have seized. But it's much more manageable than I think we're acting like it is. And, you know, I just don't think that their support We can't assume that just because they have these users on the platform that they'll say Yes, I want to use liberal Well, Facebook has managed to get so many big corporations involved. You mentioned Papel. Papel is one of the backers of Libra on. Meanwhile, Facebook has also gotten a bunch of the rival companies you know, the rival payment networks like Visa and MasterCard to team up together to get behind this new currency. Uber, too, and so many other big names It is a huge, tremendous initiative. Yeah, they're big names, but they are kind of just happened and half out. They're saying they are pledging their support, but they're not actually committed to it. At the first sign of trouble, I think we're just going to see them back out. I think this thing is gonna take off. There's no question what time is up. Come to fortune dot com from war to activate.

 Welcome to Fortune Tech Debate where we discuss the issues of the day in two minutes. Today, we are talking about Sony's decision to skip E3 this year. Chris, are they going to regret it? I don't think they're going to regret it. I think that E3's purpose is no longer as important as it used to be. I mean, it was sort of like a way to validate a lot of these video game companies. But they don't need that anymore. I mean, it's a multibillion dollar industry. I think Sony is the leader in the space. And they don't need things like E3 to promote their games. They're outselling Microsoft big time. I mean, we can assume, right? I just don't think it's necessary for them to be there. Yeah, I just wonder, you mentioned them outselling Microsoft. It was clear, at least while Microsoft was releasing Xbox sales numbers, that Sony just crushed the console wars last time. But a new one is coming up, and they should be gearing up for that, getting people excited. I just wonder if they're going to get buried with all of the news that Nintendo is coming out with. Google Stadia's had their own stuff and Microsoft. So maybe people will forget about them. I don't think people are going to forget about them. They've been pretty open about the PS5. People know it's coming. People have extreme faith that it's going to be a great system. And in the days leading up to E3, they're going to be promoting some of their games, including Last of Us 2, which is going to be a huge massive hit. People are excited about that. Whether they present that trailer at E3 or online, people are going to be pumped about it, and it's going to get around. And I just don't think they need the platform. I don't think they're going to be forgotten about. Yeah, they have been doing their own take on a Nintendo direct. They've been doing their state of plays where they release news and trailers and things like that. But they're also not doing their own convention, the Playstation experience. They're really scaling it back, and I just wonder if they're resting on their clout a little bit too much. Their past success doesn't necessarily guarantee continued success. That's true. But I don't think them sitting this one out is really going to affect their bottom line. I think they know what they're doing, and they're going to be OK. Well, I hope so. Well, that's all the time we have for today. Come to fortune.com for more Tech Debate. 

Why Bailing on E3 Wont Hurt Sony One Bit

Welcome to Fortune Tech debate. We discuss the issues of the day in two minutes Today. We're talking about Sony's decision to skip E three this year. Chris really going to regret it? I don't think they're going to regret it. I I think that e three's purpose is no longer as important as it used to be. I mean, it was sort of like a wayto validate a lot of these, like video game companies, but they don't need that anymore. I mean, it's a multibillion dollar industry. I think Sony is the leader in the space and they don't need things like E three to promote their games. They're outselling Microsoft big time. I mean, we can assume right. I just don't think it's necessary for them to be there. Yeah, I just wonder, you know, you mentioned them out. Selling Microsoft. It was clear at least wild Microsoft was releasing Xbox sales numbers that Tony just crushed the console wars last time. But a new one is coming up, and they should be gearing up for that, getting people excited. I just wonder if you know they're going to get worried with all of the news that Nintendo is coming out with, You know, Google Stadium had their own stuff and Microsoft, so maybe people will forget about them. I don't think people are gonna forget about them. They've been pretty open about the PS five People know it's coming. People have extreme faith that it's gonna be a great system. Um, and, you know, in the days leading up to, uh, e three, they're gonna be promoting some of their games, including last of us, too, which is gonna be a huge, massive hit. People are excited about that. Whether they whether they present that trailer 83 or online people are gonna be pumped about it and it's going to get around. I just don't think they need the platform. I don't think they're gonna be forgotten about. Yeah, they have been doing their own kind of take on a Nintendo direct. They've been doing their state of place where they release news and trailers and things like that. But they're also not doing their own convention. You know, the PlayStation experience there really scaling it back. And I just wonder if you know they're resting on their clout a little bit too much. You know their past success doesn't necessarily guarantee continued success. That's true. But I don't think them sitting this one out is really gonna affect their bottom line. I think they know what they're doing, and they're gonna be okay. Well, I hope so. Well, that's all the time we have for today. Come to fortune dot com for more tech debates.

[MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to Fortune Tech Debate, where we discuss the issues of the day in two minutes. Today we are talking about Google Stadia and Apple Arcade and whether streaming is the future of games. Chris, what do you think? I think it is. I think that the console experience is going to disappear. It's clunky. It costs too much money. I went and bought a Switch recently and by the time I left the store I'd spent $400, right? I think this is going to be something that people are really going to attach to. They can just turn on their laptop and stream Call of Duty with Stadia. I mean, like this is the future. Yeah, it's interesting that you mentioned the cost, though, For example, games typically with some exceptions cost about $60. That hasn't changed much over the last decade. That can't be good for the teams working behind this, and especially when you have EA and Activision and Telltale laying off people, you wonder, is this price model, a subscription type model, going to be sustainable for the game companies? Well, I don't think so. So what I think is going to happen is developers are going to start leaning towards the subscription model. They're going to want their games to be easily accessible and so they're going to basically pull back their budgets so that they can optimize their games for these more streaming type services or like Apple. Smaller games that you can download quickly. People don't want to waste time. You go and buy a game now, it's $60, you bring it home, you put it in the console, and you have to wait two hours for it to install depending on your internet connection, obviously. So I think-- Yeah, but you said it. It depends on your internet connection. And if you have to take a long time to download it, imagine the lag and the terrible experience if you don't have a solid enough internet connection. And you have to stream the games now. That is just not going to work for a lot of people. It's going to leave a massive market out that just don't have control over the internet in their area. Yeah. I think that's a fair point, except I don't think that the console games are going to go away. I think that the streaming, though, is really just going to become a bigger part of the market share. Yeah. Maybe for a bit, but I think it's ultimately going to just be a fad. Well, that's all the time we have. Come to fortune.com for more Tech Debate. [MUSIC PLAYING] 

The Future of Gaming Isn't Consoles, It's Streaming

welcome to Fortune Tec tive eight, where we discuss the issues of the day in two minutes. Today we are talking about Google stadia and Apple Arcade and whether streaming is the future of games, Chris, what do you think? I think it is. I think that the console experience is going to disappear. It's clunky. It costs too much money. I went and bought a switch recently, and, uh, by the time I left the store, I spent $400 right? I think this is gonna be something that people are really gonna attach to. You know, they could just turn on their laptop and stream call of duty with stadium, you know, I mean, like, this is the future. Yeah, it's interesting that you mention the cost. For example, games typically with some exceptions, cost about $60. That hasn't changed much over the last decade. That can't be good for the team's working behind this. And especially when you have, you know, e A and Activision and telltale laying off people. You wonder. Is this price model a subscription type model going to be sustainable for the game companies? Well, I don't think so. So what I think is going to happen is, uh, developers are going to start leaning towards the subscription model. They're gonna want their games to be easily accessible. And so they're gonna basically pull back their budget so that they can optimize their games for these more streaming type service's or like Apple, right? Smaller games that you can download quickly. People don't wanna waste time, you know. You go on by a game. Now it's $60. You bring it home, you put it in the console and you have to wait two hours for it to install. Depending on your Internet connection, obviously. So I think, Yeah, but you said it. It depends on your Internet connection. And if you have to take a long time to download it, imagine the lag and the terrible experience. If you don't have a solid of Internet connection and you have to stream the gains now, that is just not going to work for a lot of people. It's going to leave a massive market out that just don't have control over the Internet in their area. Yeah, I think I think that's a fair point, except I don't think that the concho games. They're gonna go away. I think that the streaming, though, is really just gonna become a bigger part of the market. Share. Yeah, maybe for a bit. But I think it's ultimately going to just be sad. Well, that's all the time. We have come to fortune dot com for more tech debate.

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The biggest bombshells from Sam Bankman-Fried's trial so far

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And what the landmark court case tells us about how the crypto industry has operated in the last three years.

Episodes (207 episodes)

The biggest bombshells from Sam Bankman-Fried's trial so far

Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial date—here's what could happen as the FTX crypto king turned con man goes to court

Is SEC's attack on Binance and Coinbase the end of crypto in the U.S.?

This influencer will be your A.I. girlfriend for $1 a minute

Can ChatGPT help you invest in the stock market?

Can Mastodon dethrone Twitter?

Does Elon Musk have a Twitter long game?

Kim Kardashian's crypto scandal was a clear warning from the SEC. Will it last?

Elon Musk doesn’t want Twitter, but what would the platform look like with him in charge?

Apple Should Invest More Than $1 Billion in Original Content

Predicting the Biggest Tech Headlines for 2020

Is Google Stadia the Future of Gaming?

There's Only One Way to Salvage WeWork

Will WeWork Succeed in Launching Its IPO?

Is There a Market for Facebook's Portal?

iPhone 11 Pro: Who Exactly Is it For?

Is Netflix Still on Top of the Streaming World?

Facebook's 5 Billion Settlement Won't Make It Care More About User Data

Will the Nintendo Switch Lite Be as Popular as the Original?

Why Facebook's Libra Is Poised for Success

Why Bailing on E3 Wont Hurt Sony One Bit

The Future of Gaming Isn't Consoles, It's Streaming