Last year around this time came the bombshell announcement that Sony and Microsoft, two long term rivals in the gaming sphere, would be teaming up to improve cloud gaming on the PlayStation front. It was one of those things almost no one could believe, and many scrambled to figure out just what was going on. After a few months, and some clarification from both sides, it became clear the partnership wasn’t solidified yet, and that it would have little impact on actual consumers. But it seems as if the partnership is still a go, even if the details aren’t fleshed out yet.
As part of Sony’s Corporate Strategy Meeting in Tokyo, the company’s executives mentioned the arrangement. The main crux was them praising Microsoft’s Azure as the best cloud technology out there, then discussed the “dark time” of gaming, when people play excessive amount of games after dark which can leads to congestion on servers, emphasizing the importance and large take it will take to maintain servers. So, while not a lot of specifics were mentioned, they did say the partnership with Microsoft for cloud gaming will be a “very strong partnership” (thanks to Twinfinite for transcribing the meeting).
It’s been quite some time since this deal was talked about in any real depth, and it’s not even clear what stage it is in. Not long after it was announced, it was also revealed that no formal partnership had been signed, it was more of a “broad memorandum of understanding” between the two. Regardless, it seems that Sony is still expecting it to go forward.