It's been some time since Sega was the driver of a console platform after it bowed out of the console wars following the relative failure of the Dreamcast. That generation it could've been a five-horse race between Sony's PlayStation 2, Microsoft's Xbox, Nintendo's Gamecube, and Sega's Dreamcast. But, alas, it ended up with Sony taking the crown. Since then Sega has largely focused on developing and publishܫing games, instead of making consoles, and this is set to continue but with an intriguing new partnership.
Sega has a🅷 strategic "alliance" with Microsoft as the two companies explore working more closely together. This alliance will allow Sega to explore ways to produce "large-scale, global games in a next-geneꦛration development environment built on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform," read the announcement on Sega's official company site.
It seems this tie-up is fairly major as Sega said this alliance is to form a key part of the Japanese company's mid to long-term strategy. It's also connected with Sega's "Super Game" - a term for the company's new focus on IP that's centered on certain k♑ey words such as "Globꦐal", "Online", "Community" and "IP utilisation".
This could be a variety of genres, of course, but something like an MMORPG or even an online multiplayer battler of some kind ((with Sega characters such as Amy Rose, maybe?) wouldn't be out of the 🍬question - but Microsoft's Azure cloud platform would certainly aid in the development of such a title.
Microsoft's Azure is a cloud service that provides internet web infrastructure for clients and is🗹 a competitor to rival Amazon's AWS. Basically, these services help companies by providing web infrastructure for things like streaming - in the case of companies like Netflix - or servers if we're talking about online games.
President ꦫand COO of Sega Corp Yukio Sugin🍌o said this strategic partnership would utilise "Sega's powerful game development capabilities and Microsoft's cutting-edge technology and development environment."
Microsoft's corporate vice president Sarah Bond said: ""SEGA has played such an iconic role in the gaming industry and has been a tremendous partner over the years. We look forward𒁏 to working toge🎀ther as they explore new ways to create unique gaming experiences for the future using Microsoft cloud technologies."
Whatever games do come out of Sega's "Super Game" plan it can be as𝕴sumed that they're likely to appear on Microsoft platforms such as Game Pass or Xbox considering the US company's role in assissting Sega with a 'next-generation development environment'.
