Xbox & PlayStation teams stunned by Microsoft & Sony cloud partnership

A new report by Bloomberg gives fascinating insight into the business world behind the two big players in the gaming console industry. After the surprise announcement that Sony and Microsoft will work together on cloud gaming solutions, it seems that the very people on the gaming branches of the two companies, PlayStation and Xbox, had no idea about what is no doubt going to impact each team’s work.

Last week, followers of the gaming industry were shocked as news broke out that Sony and Microsoft would go into a strategic partnership on the much-talked topic of cloud gaming. The decision came as a major surprise, as everyone was firmly expecting both Sony and Microsoft to create their own solutions to the cloud gaming future.

Sony already has a cloud gaming service with PS Now since 2014, but the service failed to disrupt the industry in a meaningful matter for now. Likewise, Microsoft has openly talked about their ambitions on the cloud gaming front, with Project xCloud.

Streaming games over the internet is undoubtedly going to become a major topic throughout the next-generation of consoles. Whether it’s the sophisticated 5G network capabilities or improved infrastructure, tech companies are putting a lot of weight behind cloud gaming. Even Google has formally entered this space with Google Stadia.

Maybe it’s this pressure by Google which led to Microsoft and Sony teaming up for a unified cloud gaming solution. So far it’s not clear how far this partnership will go but it’s fair to say that it’s a surprise decision. We now learn that the news even led to confusion among the PlayStation and Xbox teams who had no idea about the deal.

It’ll be interesting to see how things pan out in the next-gen with PlayStation and Xbox using the same cloud service. One thing is for sure however. Exclusive games are going to play a much bigger role than ever.