PlayStation and Xbox have being in rivalry for years but now the two companies seem to have put their differences aside recently. This week, Sony and Microsoft announced that they are officially partnering together on the future of cloud gaming.
During a statement, Microsoft said that “the two companies will explore joint development of future cloud solutions in Microsoft Azure to support their respective game and content-streaming services.” The console producer also promised that there will be more news in the coming future but this means that the PlayStation 5’s streaming feature will powered by its biggest competitor.
This means we could potentially see very different next-gen consoles. This news has also confirmed that the PS5 and next Xbox will be heavily focused on streaming games. The gaming world has already seen the future being set for streaming with Google Stadia. The Stadia is promising to let gamers play the same games on their phones as they play on a console or high-end gaming PC as long as they have the internet speed. It’s possible that the announcement of the Stadia could have triggered this partnership between the two companies. This partnership could help in driving back any new competition that could enter the gaming market via streaming.
The partnership could also spell the end of the so called “console war” between Microsoft and Sony, which will possibly not be the main focus with next-generation consoles. The announcement has come as a shock due to Sony being a big re-tractor of cross-play and working with other companies like Microsoft and Nintendo. Microsoft has already started moving away from the console war mentality by bringing Xbox Live to the Switch and releasing all their first-party games on PC. There may still be competition between the two, but this has shown that the industry is starting evolve past this point.
How shocked were you about the announcement and how do you think will it impact the future of the gaming industry?
