Corona, Fads and Healthcare – Healthcare Blog
Corona, Fads and Healthcare – Healthcare Blog
By matthew holt | Published: 2025-10-29 16:56:00 | Source: The Health Care Blog
Written by Kim Billard
If you’re of a certain age – say my age, or the baby boomers – you may have missed last week’s announcement that Microsoft would release a new version of Halo on Sony’s PlayStation console. So what, might you have said? If, on the other hand, you are one of Three-quarters of Americans play video gamesyou may have realized the importance immediately.
The gaming industry is similar to the porn industry in that it tends to be early on the technology front. Since I don’t follow the porn industry, I try to keep an eye on the gaming industry to see what trends it might suggest for the future of other industries, especially healthcare.
In case you don’t know, Halo is a Microsoft game, and has historically been played on Microsoft’s Xbox console. Sony’s PlayStation is Microsoft’s biggest competitor, and has won the war handily. So making Halo available on PlayStation is a bit of a surprise move. As little Zachary He wrote in New York Times: “It’s the equivalent of Disney letting Mickey Mouse wander around Universal Studios.”
Or like Grant St. Clair I marveled at Boeing Boeing:
I can’t stress how important this deal is, but you probably already know yourself. aura This isn’t the biggest IP Xbox has had, and historically one of the console’s biggest draws. It would be like suddenly Nintendo mode Super Mario Galaxy Steamed. This is an implicit admission that Xbox has lost the hardware war. The writing was already on the wallGranted, but this is italicized and emphasized.
One of the players said BBC Newsbeat That the ad was “huge” and “broke the internet a little bit.” She’s happy with the news, adding: “I know there’s a bit of controversy about it coming to PlayStation, but I don’t see any reason for it to be that way at all. I just think it’s a win-win for all players.”
So, whether you realize it or not, this is kind of a big deal.
Microsoft is trying hard to stay relevant in gaming. 2 years ago Microsoft It spent 70 billion dollars To acquire Activision Blizzard, and two years before that Paid $7.5 billion for ZeniMax Media. However, as Joost van Dreunen, a market analyst and professor at New York University, says: Mr. Small said: “When it came to consoles, Xbox was always the bridesmaid and never the bride. They couldn’t outdo PlayStation and Nintendo
Maybe I found a way. Earlier this year Microsoft introduced Gears of war and Forza Horizon 5 Available on PlayStation and Microsoft Flight Simulator He will join them later this year. In fact, Mr. Small points out: “Between April and July, Six of the top 10 best-selling games On Sony consoles it was Microsoft properties
That is, if you can’t beat them, join them.
“We’re all about meeting people where they are,” Matt Botti, head of Xbox Games Content and Studios, told Mr. Small. Even more interestingly, he also clarified: “Our biggest competitor is not another console. We are competing more and more with everything from TikTok to movies.”
Lesson #1: Your competitors aren’t necessarily the people you think they are.
New version » Hala: The campaign has evolved – is a remake of the original Halo game, which was first released in 2001. “We wanted to start where it all began, with the original campaign that defined Halo,” said executive producer Damon Cohn. He explains. It’s been revamped using Unreal Engine 5 instead of the proprietary Halo game engine the game was always built on, marking another shift outside of Microsoft’s ecosystem.
Writing in PlayStation BlogBrian “ske7ch” Jarrard, Community Manager at Halo Studios, explains:
What makes Halo special isn’t just the gameplay, but also who you play with. Bringing Halo to PlayStation means more players can take part in that experience. In Halo: Campaign Evolved, you can jump into four-player online co-op with friends or go old-school with two-player couch co-op on your PlayStation console – now with cross-play and cross-progression across console and PC.
“We are very excited to bring Halo to those who may not have had the opportunity to play it in the past,” said executive producer Damon Cohn He said. “At its core, Halo is about connection, and we’re excited to meet a new generation of players on their favorite platforms to fall in love with Halo the same way we did. We’re not trying to rewrite the Halo legacy, we’re trying to immerse you in it like never before.
“This is Halo for everyone.”
When asked if the next step was to release Halo (or other games) for the Nintendo Switch, Mr. Cohn only answered he repeated sheepishly: “We’re excited to launch this in 2026 on Xbox, Xbox on PC, Steam, and PlayStation.” But don’t be surprised.
There, interestingly enough, Some controversy On whether the Halo team is using generative AI to help develop the reimagined game. The team denies this, but game manager Greg Herman does I confess To Alyssa Mercanti Rolling Stone: “It’s a tool in the toolbox.” I may be getting a little off message here, but some of this becomes very difficult when we look at how integrated AI is into our tools. We use Photoshop. There is generative mobilization, for example. Boundary lines can get a little fuzzy
This reminds me that Microsoft is pursuing a dual strategy not only in gaming platforms but also in the field of artificial intelligence Team and own AI products While also a A major investor in OpenAI and its products.
Lesson #2: Hedge your bets.
Here is my takeaway from the above regarding healthcare:
- If your business model relies on a proprietary platform, you may want to consider whether that actually gives you an advantage, or is just cutting off access to a lot of potential new customers. If you are an insurance company, think, for example, about your network of providers; If you represent a health system, consider your medical record. Â
- If you think about your competitors in traditional terms – for example, other health systems or other health insurance companies – you should realize that you are missing the bigger picture. We live in an age of misinformation, spread by people/companies outside of “mainstream medicine,” and more people are listening to it. If you don’t compete with them, you will lose customers.
I’m less likely to play Halo on PlayStation than I was on Xbox — which is to say, not at all — but that doesn’t mean I can’t learn lessons from it. Hopefully health care will too.
Kim is a former e-marketing executive at Grand Plan Blues, and editor of The Late and Lamented magazine tincture.ioand now a regular contributor to THCB
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