Sony/MicrosoftHell froze over last week when, in a move nobody saw coming, longtime rivals Sony and Microsoft announced that they’d be working together to “explore joint development of future cloud solutions.”
For all intents and purposes, it looked as if Sony and Microsoft had finally teamed up – but apparently it’s not quite as simple as that, as PlayStation boss Jim Ryan recently clarified that “as of right now, there is no partnership” between the companies behind PlayStation and Xbox.
Wait… what?
SonyDuring a recent presentation on the future of PlayStation, Ryan – along with Vice-Presidents John Kodera and Kazuhiko Takeda – hosted a question and answer session for investors where they touched on a number of issues, most importantly the current relationship between Sony and Microsoft (via Twinfinite).
As it turns out, any partnership has yet to officially coalesce, as Ryan clarified that the two companies are simply exploring the possible benefits of a partnership, with cloud solutions being just one of the potential routes they could go down.
It’s only after the initial talks that a high-level agreement would have to be reached before a formal partnership is confirmed, though Sony does see Microsoft as having “great benefit” as an ally.
Sony president Kenichiro Yoshida said in the original announcement:
Our mission is to seamlessly evolve this platform as one that continues to deliver the best and most immersive entertainment experiences, together with a cloud environment that ensures the best possible experience, anytime, anywhere. For many years, Microsoft has been a key business partner for us, though of course the two companies have also been competing in some areas. I believe that our joint development of future cloud solutions will contribute greatly to the advancement of interactive content.
Bringing the power of Azure and Azure AI to Sony to deliver new gaming and entertainment experiences for customers https://t.co/cMRKFE74Yk
— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) May 16, 2019
It is worth noting that neither company could share more details on the team up at the time, as there really wasn’t anything to say. And now we know why – it looks like everyone jumped the gun a little bit, though it is still huge that the two companies are even exploring the possibilities of a partnership.
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via [email protected]
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.