From time to time, and for a reason that is difficult to explain, rumors of Microsoft’s takeover of SEGA appear on the web. As everyone knows, the American giant has not acquired the publisher with the blue logo. But if a takeover was not in Microsoft’s plans, both camps were indeed up to something. And that something was about one’s use of the other’s technology.
SEGA Corporation announced yesterday the establishment of an agreement in principle around an alliance with Microsoft. The latter concerns a “strategic alliance“which would see the publisher the Japanese publisher using Azure, the application platform in the cloud from Microsoft. The idea for SEGA is to set up a development environment on Azure”next-generation. “The latter would serve as a desire to develop games of”huge proportion. “
Still according to the house of Sonic, this alliance would be an element “key“of its medium and long term strategy. It would also allow him to move forward on his so-called “Super Game. “Behind this name hides the ambition to develop new” innovative “games based on four pillars. These pillars are”Global, Online, Community, and Use of SEGA licenses. “
No question of exclusive SEGA Xbox games in this alliance
By working with Microsoft in this way, SEGA hopes to be able to anticipate new trends and optimize the game development process. The two camps explain that they have come to an agreement on the principles of this alliance. According to them, their “mutual cooperation“will aim to find future technological developments in terms of network infrastructure or communication tools useful for maintaining world-class online services.
Yukio Sugino, President of SEGA Corporation sees this alliance as a way for SEGA to strengthen the global reach of their games. Sarah Bond, corporate vice-president of Xbox, evokes for her part the profound impact that this partnership could have:
SEGA has played a truly iconic role in the video game industry. And he’s been a great partner over time. We look forward to working together as they explore new ways to create new gaming experiences using Microsoft cloud technologies. Together, we will reinvent the way games are created, hosted and operated. All with the aim of making things more interesting for players and for SEGA.
It cannot be ruled out that SEGA and Microsoft are working on exclusive games in the future. However, that is not what we are talking about here. This new partnership is therefore closer to the one signed by Microsoft and Sony in 2019.
From fog to cloud, there is only one step
It should also be noted that SEGA has been looking for development solutions related to the cloud for a while. SEGA had indeed unveiled work on the technology of “fog gaming“in June 2020. The latter was to use the SEGA Arcade rooms as proximity infrastructure between the (Japanese) player and the cloud.
SEGA therefore wanted to limit latency as much as possible when using games hosted remotely. SEGA having generally got rid of its Arcades, no news about this project has been given recently. Contrary to what SEGA wanted to do with the “fog gaming, “this new alliance with Microsoft is clearly linked to SEGA’s international ambitions.
What do you think of this partnership between SEGA and Microsoft? Does he surprise you? Are you one of those who would like Microsoft to buy SEGA? Is the Japanese publisher right to rely on Microsoft’s platform in the cloud? Give us your opinion in the comments below.
