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Sega clarifies its ‘alliance’ with Microsoft, Says No Xbox exclusives
The Japanese publisher announced earlier this month that it had reached an agreement to develop "large-scale, global games in a next-generation development environment built on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform."
On Friday, newly-published comments from Sega's recent fiscal meeting revealed additional details about the deal, including the company's decision to clarify that it would not be releasing games exclusively for Microsoft.
“We already have a very close business relationship with Microsoft. We outsourced the development of their large-scale titles and as a third party, we are supplying a variety of titles,” the company said, referring to its studios’ work on Halo Wars 2 and Age of Empires 4.
“When we announced the concept of Super Game, Microsoft was sympathetic to that vision and that leads to the announcement this time.
“About this, we are not talking about releasing games to Microsoft exclusively, but rather to develop Super Game that will be delivered to the world together, with their technical support.”
This year, the Japanese publisher has committed to a new super game' initiative, a mid- to a long-term strategy aimed at creating a "major global title" based on the pillars of "global," "online," "community," and "IP utilisation."
Parent company SegaSammy stated in the company's annual report published this month that it would consider investing up to 100.0 billion ($882 million) over the next five years to achieve its super game' ambitions.
This investment could be used to fund not only internal development resources and in-development games but also the acquisition of other companies in Japan or elsewhere.
Sega has one of the most extensive studio networks of any Japanese corporation. Since acquiring UK-based Creative Assembly (known for Total War) in 2005, it has also acquired Sports Interactive (Football Manager), Relic (Age of Empires IV), Atlus (Persona), Amplitude (Humankind), and Two Point Interactive (Two Point Hospital)
In recent years, Microsoft has been openly licencing its cloud server technology to game developers. In May 2019, Microsoft and Sony announced a "strategic partnership" that will see the PlayStation maker use Microsoft Azure data centres for cloud gaming and content streaming services.
Cloud gaming remains a critical pillar for the Xbox business. Microsoft, which already offers cloud gaming on mobile devices and PCs, announced this week the official launch of cloud game streaming for consoles.
