Sega, a Japanese video game company, announced on Monday that it plans to establish a “strategic alliance” with Microsoft. At that time, Sega will develop new games through Microsoft’s Azure Platform and comprehensively improve its development process.
The new alliance is part of Sega’s forward-looking plan called “super game”. According to a press release, Microsoft’s azure provides Sega with a “next generation development platform”, which can be customized according to different work styles and infrastructure changes.
“Sega has played such an iconic role in the game industry and has been a huge partner for many years,” Microsoft CVP Sarah bond said in a statement. “We look forward to working together as they explore new ways to use Microsoft cloud technology to create a unique gaming experience for the future. Together, we will rethink how games are built, hosted and operated in order to bring more value to players and Sega.”
According to Sega, the key concerns behind super games are the keywords “global”, “online”, “community” and “IP utilization”. With 5g accelerating the development of cloud games in many parts of the world, Sega is clearly using Microsoft azure to predict and serve the next trend.
The name of the plan is based on the information found in Sega’s financial report in March 2021. Sega said in its financial report that its strategy includes creating a super game in the next five years, which is defined as a game “that can be expanded globally”
As IP utilization becomes one of the symbols of super games, it suggests that Sega plans to build one of its tentpole franchises – the same financial report mentions phantom star online, hedgehog sonic, personas, gangs and all-out war as potential candidates – into a high-priced service game. Regardless of the final result, the development process will be supported by Microsoft azure.
According to Reuters, the news led to Sega’s share price rising 6% on Monday.
Sega is a Tokyo based developer and publisher of video games. Perhaps the most famous is the hedgehog sonic series, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. It used to be a console manufacturer, but ended its hardware business after the unfortunate failure of dream radio in 2001.
Since then, Sega has produced and sold various video games as a third-party studio, including the popular total war and gangster series. In 2002, with the release of the action / skating game jet set radio future in Japan, it initially began to release game names for the Xbox platform. At present, many game names can be obtained on Xbox game pass.
Therefore, those who track the value of azure as a development platform are most interested in the new strategic partnership. As for Sega games on Microsoft platform, the two companies have had a good strategic cooperation relationship for nearly 20 years.
Sega did not make a statement on whether its new azure driven games would involve the exclusive right to operate the Xbox platform or the turnover amount (if any) caused by the transaction.