Games were once delivered through catridges, and later via CDs. But with faster and increasingly reliable internet coming to everyone, reaching people's homes and beyond, games should be made available in a much easier manner.
Music and films have moved to the cloud. Games have moved too. But this time, bigger thing is happening.
SEGA, the Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company known for its Sonic the Hedgehog games among others, announced that it agreed to “a strategic alliance” with Microsoft, which aims to see the Japanese gaming giant develop games using the Xbox firm’s Azure cloud platform.
The deal, according to SEGA, is “agreed in principle”, which should see it produce "large-scale, global games in a next-generation development environment built on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform."
Its alliance with Microsoft would provide a key part of its long-term business strategy.
According to Yukio Sugino, the President of the SEGA Corporation, this alliance would allow the company to move forward with "Super Game," which is initiative for developing titles that focus on pillars of "global","online," "community" and "IP utilization."
"This proposed alliance represents Sega looking ahead," said SEGA, "and by working with Microsoft to anticipate such trends as they accelerate further in future, the goal is to optimize development processes and continue to bring high-quality experiences to players using Azure cloud technologies."
"Additionally, by shifting to a next-generation development platform, Sega can effectively adapt to diversifying work styles and potential infrastructural changes."
Microsoft CVP Sarah Bond commented, saying that “SEGA has played such an iconic role in the gaming industry," and that the Japanese company "has been a tremendous partner over the years."
Microsoft is already in the gaming business with Xbox, and by partnering with SEGA, it is looking forward to working together to explore new ways to create unique gaming experiences for the future.
"Together we will reimagine how games get built, hosted, and operated, with a goal of adding more value to players and SEGA alike."
Previously, Microsoft has been openly licensing its cloud server technology to games companies, and most notably, it made a "strategic partnership" with Sony back in 2019, which resulted in the PlayStation maker using Microsoft Azure data centers for cloud gaming and content streaming services.
By partnering with SEGA, Microsoft is like making cloud gaming an increasingly important pillar in its business.
Just like similar initiatives for films and music, the cloud allows companies to rid of requiring their audience to own the hardware needed to enjoy their products.
By delivering content through the cloud, films and music can be delivered directly to the audience, through any platform or devices the users have.
No more television set, players and cassettes/CDs are needed.
By bringing gaming to the cloud, SEGA essentially stop requiring its audience to have expensive gaming rig, console, or television set-top box required for traditional gaming.
With its alliance with Microsoft, SEGA wants its games to be streamed over the internet, and broadcast them as a service.
All people need to have this all, is just an internet connection.
SEGA noted that accessing high-quality entertainment has become easier as 5G and cloud services have become more widespread.
In a business perspective, instead of earning from a one-time-fee to purchase the hardware and software, SEGA can benefit from the cloud gaming services by charging users a subscription fee.
