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Microsoft's cloud vision might just change gaming forever

Good morning! This Friday, Microsoft is bringing Game Pass to a TV near you, SoFi backtracks on dogecoin, Klarna raised $639 million, hackers stole 780 GB of data from EA, and the hot new look for summer is Elizabeth Holmes swag.
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Few business models are more lucrative than recurring monthly subscriptions, and yet the video game industry has resisted them for decades. Since 2017, Microsoft has harbored ambitions to change that with Xbox Game Pass, an all-you-can-play software library launched that year that costs between $10 and $15 a month and features more than 300 games.
Game Pass wasn't the first subscription service in gaming; we've had individual game subscriptions since the '90s, and newer models like seasonal battle passes have popularized recurring in-app purchases. But Game Pass has become the most ambitious model to date and the closest to a true "Netflix for gaming." And it's about to become a whole lot more accessible.
Microsoft announced major expansion plans for Xbox Game Pass yesterday that promise to bring that all-you-can-play game library to many more screens.
The cloud is the center of this vision, in particular Microsoft's existing yet still-in-beta cloud gaming platform previously known as xCloud. Less powerful hardware, like streaming set-top boxes and smart TVs, would require the cloud to stream console-quality games.
Microsoft could fundamentally change the gaming market with an Xbox business oriented around Game Pass, ushering in the kind of paradigm shift that subscription streaming services like Netflix and Spotify brought to the TV and music industries. But only if Microsoft succeeds in convincing gamers to come aboard.
Microsoft doesn't have an easy road ahead of it. It's not clear what the long-term effects of its subscription push will mean for funding blockbuster games, and whether the economics of the industry can sustain such a model without widespread adoption from other publishers. It's also not a given that most consumers even want a game industry dominated by yet more subscription services. But Microsoft is gambling the future of Xbox on this vision of the future, and on ensuring it gets there first.
It's not just Amazon employees who experience the benefit of increasing their starting wage to at least $15 an hour — a recent study from the University of California-Berkeley and Brandeis University found that when Amazon raised wages, the average hourly wage in the surrounding area rose by 4.7%.
An upcoming bill could require companies to report cyberattacks to the government, Sen. Mark Warner said:
On Protocol | Fintech: Regulators catching up with fintech would actually be a good thing for fintech, Affirm's Max Levchin said:
Ransomware is a huge and growing concern, FBI Director Christopher Wray said:
SoFi in February: out on dogecoin. SoFi now: super into dogecoin.
On Protocol: Monday.com had a big IPO, and co-CEO Roy Mann said the opportunity for future-of-work tools is bigger than you think:
Waymo is getting further into trucking. It made a deal with JB Hunt to autonomously carry cargo in Texas, though there will still be humans in the truck in case they're needed.
DiDi is going public, and could be one of the biggest tech debuts for the rest of 2021. Here's everything you need to know about the IPO.
Klarna raised $639 million from SoftBank and others, and is now valued at $45.6 billion. That puts it among the handful of biggest private startups in the industry.
Ulrich Kranz is joining Apple to work on cars. Kranz was a longtime BMW exec, and co-founded Canoo a few years ago. He'll report to Doug Field.
Emmett Shear's tweetstorm on lessons he's learned since Twitch launched 10 years ago has been rattling around the tech industry for the last couple of days. If you haven't seen it, give it a read (here's the Threader version). Shear gets into product-market fit, paying attention to customers versus competitors, planning and more.
There's plenty of good advice, and a few pillow-embroiderable phrases, but none better than this one: "Plans are useless, but planning is essential." How's that for something to have rattling around in your brain all weekend? You're welcome, friends.
Kimberly thinks Amazon is "setting a good example for not only Florida, but every other state where the minimum wage is below $15/hr." That's because she has seen the difference $15/hr has made for her, her family, and her community.
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