
Head of PlayStation Jim Ryan has highlighted that Sony is currently still in conversations with Microsoft about how to implement its cloud strategy, but the final, overall experience will ultimately "be unique and only on PlayStation.”
The partnership between Sony and Microsoft for cloud gaming was announced back in mid-2019, "bringing the power of Azure and Azure AI to Sony to deliver new gaming and entertainment experiences for customers.”
Here's what Ryan had to say to Nikkei about it earlier this week (translated by Video Games Chronicle):
“We’re still having conversations with [Microsoft] about exchanging ideas. We’re still talking to them about exchanging ideas, and there’s some very interesting stuff, so when the time is right, we’ll announce our cloud strategy.
“We could conceivably use the cloud for our technical infrastructure, but the cloud gaming experience we’re offering will be unique and only on PlayStation.”
Back in 2019, Kenichiro Yoshida, president and CEO of Sony, stated that "Microsoft has been a key business partner for us, though of course the two companies have also been competing in some areas," and that he believed the "joint development of future cloud solutions will contribute greatly to the advancement of interactive content.”
What do you make of this? Give us your thoughts down in the comments section below.
[source videogameschronicle.com, via nikkei.com, videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 17
The only on PlayStation part makes me think he's missing the point of cloud gaming.
Unless of course he means the PlayStation brand since PS Now is available on PC?
As a reminder the deal yo use Azure was done without SIE’s knowledge. So SIE most likely hasn’t had a chance to really crack this open and work with it.
@Xenomorph_79 well Microsoft is making money off of this and they know that they need competition for Xbox. They saved Apple because if Apple failed they would have likely been close to a monopoly and all the extra governance and scrutiny that comes with that. Competition between money hungry corporations is a good thing for us.
I always love how Sony phrases things. So desperate to make sure everything looks exclusive to them.
@The_New_Butler ....and PC
At least it'll be reliable and secure on Microsoft's platform. And fast too. The cloud is the future...
Uniquely Sony/Playstation can just be the 'games' but no doubt means more the overall look, feel and experience. That's what separates most 'similar' technologies built to do the same thing - the UI, the games/features etc will be uniquely Sony...
It just shows that Sony and MS are not the 'enemies' the media wants to present. Sony obviously acknowledge that MS is the 'leader' in Cloud services - they could of gone to Google or Amazon for example but opted to go to their 'closest' Rival.
Competition drives evolution and innovation. I am sure that working together, both Sony and MS can improve Cloud gaming. With each having their own unique games too, there is space for both to exist and compete - which in the end should improve the experience for the end user too.
@Xenomorph_79 You would literally be amazed at how behind the scenes a great number of competitors who sell services to other competitors, when it comes to business to business theirs tons of money to be made. Competitor or not, lots of contracts ensure nothing wrong occurs.
This is an obvious deal for Sony as it'll save them a ton of cash and resources and R&D, plus they would literally be years behind Microsoft if they chose to do it all on there own. It's perfect commercial sense and happens all the time.
Drop the company names for a second and understand that they're publicly traded businesses, and will do what they need to do, to ultimately make money.
At that level, does anyone think they care about the whole MS vs Sony narrative?
Anyway, I think the positive to take away from this is Sony isn't sitting around and are exploring what options they have out there. Who says they aren't 'exchanging ideas' with Google or other cloud solutions as well.
@Trainer lol just like some buffoons in previous articles basically saying that Xbox near future will be streaming only 😂
Xcloud will serve as an option and NOT replacing native hardware gaming with Xbox consoles for a very, VERY LONG TIME for obvious reasons: Cloud gaming simply isn't viable for A LOT of people in the foreseeable future. Latency aside, a lot of countries (mainly developing ones like where i live) don't have fast enough internet (that's accessible for most people) for things like good & enjoyable cloud gaming. Even what i consider as good & enjoyable cloud gaming is still far cry from native console gaming experience because of myriad of reasons.
It's funny how the press rarely covers this partnership. It's fairly big, but I guess it doesn't get the clicks that the Nintendo and MS speculation gets.
@S1ayeR74 As an administrator for MS Azure and Office 365 for over 35k users... Yes and sometimes no. Lots of weird outages happen with Azure that maybe don't bring the entire infrastructure down, but cause headaches for swathes of users.
Honestly I couldn't wait to migrate to the cloud. There are days I miss being on premise for everything 🤣
@S1ayeR74 Not only would Sony be years behind, I honestly don't think they have the finances to build our their own ground up infrastructure. Microsoft has invested billions and has data centers all over the world. It wouldn't be impossible but... Probably?
If one forces the other (and it doesn't matter which) to innovate, who cares? I have all the consoles and though I prefer Xbox because of their ecosystem, their community, and their commitment to backward compatibility, I don't think any of those 3 strengths exist without PS4 dominance last generation. If PlayStation grows up and learns to rely on something other than the same old 3rd person adventure game in new clothing every 6 months, that'd be awesome too - cloud powered or not. Fanboyism is so 1992.
@BAMozzy Better to work with your established "rival" and work against the likes of Google and Amazon who are trying to establish their own gaming platforms. Last thing either Sony or MS want is either (or both) of those companies eating into their market share.
Best of frenemies and heck better the devil you know. I can't help wonder how many more millions of Gamepass subs Xbox will have by the time Sony have responded 23 million already is impressive. Halo Infinite, new Forza Motorsport & Horizon, Avowed, Wolfenstein sequel and who can forget Starfield. The future is brighter with Sony offering good competition. Imagine what Xbox will add each month in future with the revenue they will have especially now IOS added.
Them being enemies is just something being portrayed in the media to generate hits.
This is a win for both companies. Sony gets the benefit of Microsofts cloud infrastructure and expertise. And in turn Microsoft gets a massive client buying into Azure that would otherwise probably go to Amazons service.
I too wonder why Sony think theirs will be unique though. All I can think of they have some big plan to make their entire back catalogue streamable. Might be a licensing nightmare there though.
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