Sony and Microsoft join forces to take on Google Stadia in cloud gaming

On May 18, 2019

The world of technology is quite paradoxical, while some of its players compete in some markets, in others they find partnerships to work together. Sony and Microsoft illustrate this situation well with the announcement of a new partnership. But what is the objective?

This alliance is done at several levels but the main idea is that the two companies want to “support their game and content streaming services”. At the heart of the project is Microsoft Azure, which would be Microsoft’s solution to support Sony: it is the Redmond firm that will be in charge of the Japanese company’s streaming services.

The second point concerns the creation of content and its potential availability. The two companies have quite concrete plans (hence the interest of a partnership), probably in terms of streaming games (to compete with Google Stadia) but nothing has been communicated yet, they will “share more information when it becomes available”.

Sony Xperia 10 03 — Another point that weighs heavily in the balance: artificial intelligence. The idea is simple: to offer Microsoft’s AI on Sony products. This could be particularly interesting for cameras. The quality of Sony’s sensors, with software optimization from Microsoft, could give very satisfactory results. Microsoft may be a little more discreet than the other big names in technology in its approach to AI, but that doesn’t prevent it from having great ambitions. Remember, the company had indicated that it wanted to eradicate cancer by 2026.

Of course, not all the details have been revealed yet. Their partnership on hardware, more specifically on semiconductors, may also be further developed.

Do you think Sony and Microsoft are right to join forces?