In May 2019, a collaboration was announced that caught many people by surprise: a Sony agreement with Microsoft to boost cloud gaming with Microsoft Azure technology. The truth is that this movement surprised even within the PlayStation itself, and Xbox people like Phil Spencer were very excited about the possibilities of this agreement. Now, one year after his signing, Executive Vice President Toru Katsumoto has taken the opportunity to speak about this collaboration that, according to him, will strengthen ties between companies.
On the occasion of Sony’s last corporate strategy meeting (via MSPowerUser ), the company’s director commented on his agreement with Microsoft and Azure technology: ” Microsoft Azure has some splendid cloud technologies, and they have given us some explanations [clear] to date. Each side [of the agreement] has its merits and it seems that our mutual understanding is narrowing after the talks. “
Kenichiro Yoshida, President of Sony, along with Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.
Apparently, the agreement is not limited to streaming gaming technologies and cloud services, but also to aspects such as “semiconductors, consumer electronics and remote solutions, areas in which we are progressing with our conversations, ” explains Katsumoto , although he points out that there is still work to be done together on issues such as server optimization and its efficient use in periods with the highest player load.
Despite this, the Sony executive values the agreement as positive, noting that “in the medium to long term, this is going to be a very strong partnership .” Here it is especially notable that they talk about “long term” in a year of transition waiting for PS5, and now that cloud gaming is booming with proposals such as Stadia or Project xCloud from Microsoft itself. And also other services such as PlayStation Now that already offer streaming games, and which have doubled their number of users in one year. We will have to pay attention to what may arise from this collaboration, and also to what Sony itself has in store for us this summer, which promises to show PS5 games soon.
