Sony's PlayStation team was kept in the dark about Microsoft partnership: Report

Sony and Microsoft, last week took the entire gaming industry by surprise when they announced that they were forming a partnership where PlayStation will make use of Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing services.A report by Bloomberg now reveals that Sony’s PlayStation team was actually blindsided completely by the new partnership.The deal has been in the works since last year, but negotiations were strictly handled by Sony's senior management in Tokyo, without the involvement of the PlayStation team. When the partnership was announced, it reportedly set off a wave of panic within the PlayStation team, with managers having to ensure employees that this won’t impact the development of Sony’s next console.[caption id="attachment_6217361" align="alignnone" width="1280"]

PS4 controller (white)[/caption]The report alludes to the fact that Microsoft has become a key player in the cloud computing market, while Sony has continued to focus on its retail electronics. Combining to make up a substantial portion of the cloud computing market, Azure is almost at par with Amazon Web Services (as per Canalys, AWS has a mere 15 percent lead) which makes Sony's partnership appear logical.An analyst named Amir Anvarzadeh, however, tells Bloomberg, that Sony likely feels threatened by Google's entry into cloud gaming and has hence decided to leave its network infrastructure build-up to Microsoft."Why would they sleep with the enemy unless they feel threatened?" he argues.Cloud gaming does appear to be pegged as the future of gaming, with the upcoming round of physical consoles perhaps being the last. In this case, Microsoft has a huge advantage over competitors like PlayStation with Azure. For now, Sony relies on Amazon for the PlayStation Network, but increasing closeness with Microsoft might change that going forward.