Bloomberg: Sony's Deal With Microsoft Blindsided Its Own PlayStation Team

[vivftp]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...microsoft-blindsided-its-own-playstation-team

(Bloomberg) -- When Sony Corp. unveiled a cloud gaming pact with archrival Microsoft Corp., it surprised the industry. Perhaps no one was more shocked than employees of Sony's PlayStation division, who have spent almost two decades fighting the U.S. software giant in the $38 billion video game console market.

Last week, the companies announced a strategic partnership to co-develop game streaming technology and host some of PlayStation's online services on the Redmond-based company's Azure cloud platform. It comes after PlayStation spent seven years developing its own cloud gaming offering, with limited success.

Negotiations with Microsoft began last year and were handled directly by Sony's senior management in Tokyo, largely without the involvement of the PlayStation unit, according to people familiar with the matter. Staff at the gaming division were caught off-guard by the news. Managers had to calm workers and assure them that plans for the company's next-generation console weren't affected, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing private matters.

...

The company's other online game service and main cash cow, PlayStation Network, enables multiplayer matches of games running on PlayStation 4 consoles. For now that is still hosted by the other giant of cloud computing: Amazon Web Services. Sony and Amazon held talks last year for a deeper collaboration on cloud gaming, but couldn't agree on commercial terms, according to a person familiar with the matter. That led to Sony's discussions with Microsoft, the person said. Amazon is currently developing its own cloud gaming service, the Information reported last year.


Much more at the link.

 

[Nightengale]

The blue text looks bad with the dark theme.

 

[ILikeFeet]

I wonder why PS staff was upset, the Azure team isn't the Xbox team

 

[kennyamr]

I mean, it's not a bad decision. This is all about infrastructure really.

 

[rebelcrusader]

Ayyyyyyyyyyyy

 

[Iichter]

Dayum.

 

[bsigg]

Why the blue text?

 

[vivftp]

The blue text looks bad with the dark theme.

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Better I hope now? :)

 

[Deleted member 2793]

Yeah, it's not that strange. Sometimes people forget Sony isn't just SIE and something like this doesn't mean that suddenly the Xbox and Playstation branches are buddies.

I wonder why PS staff was upset, the Azure team isn't the Xbox team

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Because they got somehow involved partially and had no input into it. Just see how people reacted like PS-Xbox were close now, while for all we know the PS staff wants to distance themselves from the competition.

 

[Komo]

Managers had to calm workers and assure them that plans for the company's next-generation console weren't affected, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing private matters.

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Hmm I wonder what this means.

 

[Nightengale]

I wonder why PS staff was upset, the Azure team isn't the Xbox team

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Because basically any work that they might had done that isn't related to Azure - basically have to be thrown out of the window and restarted?

These kind of high-level agreements come fast and loose. Rank and file employees are still being trained with their in-house tools, documentation, etc. If they go ahead with Azure, that means every aspect of their ways of working has to be changed.

 

[entremet]

I wonder why PS staff was upset, the Azure team isn't the Xbox team

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I don't think it's about that.

Remember, Sony acquired Dave Perry's company to do cloud stuff. Now they found it they went with another solution. They can be confident that Sony will keep them long term.

 

[IIFloodyII]

It's very clearly a deal above PS and Xbox, so not too surprising most at the company didn't know, same is probably true for Xbox side.

 

[Bradbatross]

That's pretty interesting that the PlayStation division seemingly wasn't really involved with the decision.

 

[KillLaCam]

Sony should go behind PlayStations back and agree to universal crossplay with Microsoft too

 

[DMVfan123]

Playstation division after they learned they were conspiring with the enemy

 

[ODDI]

Better I hope now? :)

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The default black is just fine tho.

 

[Nightengale]

Better I hope now? :)

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Now it looks bad with light theme.

 

[cw_sasuke]

MS playing 4D chess with Sony/Nintendo lol.

 

[Crayon]

I don't even get what the big deal is supposed to be. Sony's a big account. Amazon lost em and ms got em. The end?

 

[ILikeFeet]

Because basically any work that they might had done that isn't related to Azure - basically have to be thrown out of the window and restarted?

These kind of high-level agreements come fast and loose. Rank and file employees are still being trained with their in-house tools, documentation, etc. If they go ahead with Azure, that means every aspect of their ways of working has to be changed.

Click to shrink...

that's the only reason I can think of.

 

[Ghos]

Because basically any work that they might had done that isn't related to Azure - basically have to be thrown out of the window and restarted?

These kind of high-level agreements come fast and loose. Rank and file employees are still being trained with their in-house tools, documentation, etc. If they go ahead with Azure, that means every aspect of their ways of working has to be changed.

Click to shrink...

That's what it sounds like to me

Staff at the gaming division were caught off-guard by the news. Managers had to calm workers and assure them that plans for the company's next-generation console weren't affected

Click to shrink...

 

[TheRulingRing]

The article says it may be a loss for Sony in the long term since they have to pay for Azure access, but isn't it the same for Xbox? I doubt Xbox would be allowed to get the Azure space for free or at a significant discount.

 

[SinCityAssassin]

I wonder why PS staff was upset, the Azure team isn't the Xbox team

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They weren't consulted and the majority of their work for the past decade was within AWS.

 

[Strings]

Well that's not ideal.

 

[Callibretto]

"Negotiations with Microsoft began last year and were handled directly by Sony's senior management in Tokyo, largely without the involvement of the PlayStation unit, "

I'm curious, does this mean it's above Kodera and Jim Ryan? it's kinda hard to believe that they would left Playstation division out of this decision entirely.

 

[entremet]

That's pretty interesting that the PlayStation division seemingly wasn't really involved with the decision.

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Sony is notorious for its siloed divisions.. MS used to be as well lol.

 

[Kolx]

Perhaps no one was more shocked than employees of Sony's PlayStation division

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Does that include higher ups at PS? or just low rank employee? I find it hard to believe people like Jim Ryan or Kodera didn't have any clue about this.

 

[jroc74]

lol, this is amazing.

It's good to hear more about how all this went down tho.

So they went to Amazon first, that's interesting. MS had to offer a better deal then.

 

[etta]

Managers had to calm workers

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lol what

 

[ILikeFeet]

The article says it may be a loss for Sony in the long term since they have to pay for Azure access, but isn't it the same for Xbox? I doubt Xbox would be allowed to get the Azure space for free or at a significant discount.

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if Xbox got preferential treatment that would indeed be illegal

 

[IIFloodyII]

I don't even get whay the big deal is supposed to be. Sony's a big account. Amazon lost em and ms got em. The end?

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Sony will be supplying MS with their cutting edge image sensors too as part of the partnership.

 

[Stixitnu]

I don't even get whay the big deal is supposed to be. Sony's a big account. Amazon lost em and ms got em. The end?

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This is exactly what it is.

 

[Puffy]

A game of clouds

I tried to think of something clever but I want first page

 

[HockeyBird]

Trust nobody, not even yourself.

 

[Deleted member 19924]

-

 

[entremet]

if Xbox got preferential treatment that would indeed be illegal

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What? How? These companies have contracts and SLAs.

That's what governs the agreement.

 

[vivftp]

The default black is just fine tho.

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Now it looks bad with light theme.

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bwahaha, ok I'll go back to normal... BUT I'M INCREASING THE FONT SIZE! :P

 

[jroc74]

Because basically any work that they might had done that isn't related to Azure - basically have to be thrown out of the window and restarted?

These kind of high-level agreements come fast and loose. Rank and file employees are still being trained with their in-house tools, documentation, etc. If they go ahead with Azure, that means every aspect of their ways of working has to be changed.

Click to shrink...

This makes too much sense.

 

[cyrribrae]

if Xbox got preferential treatment that would indeed be illegal

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How do you mean? It's bad for business, perhaps. But it's not illegal. Maybe if they're actively trying to undercut the market and detroy competition sure, but not including a bunch of fees and jazz on internal tech within the company is certainly allowed.

 

[nolifebr]

There was probably layoffs or divison changes now that Sony don't have to manage the infrastructure themselves.

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It does not change much, they will only leave Amazon and go to Microsoft. The problem in this case is that the servers from both companies function quite differently. If they really want to move PSN and PS Now to Azure, it will take months (if not years) of work.

 

[Hailinel]

This is exactly what it is.

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It is, basically, but if you're a rank-and-file PlayStation Division employee and are finding this out just now, out of the blue, then yes, it's going to come as a huge shock and there will be a lot of questions that the higher-ups will need to answer. PlayStation has been working on their own streaming services and solutions, and to find out that Sony HQ basically partnered with Microsoft HQ to host Sony network services in a cloud owned by Microsoft (a major console gaming competitor) is a huge WTF.

 

[entremet]

lol what

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It's not about console wars. They probably think they are gonna be made redundant.

 

[IIFloodyII]

"Negotiations with Microsoft began last year and were handled directly by Sony's senior management in Tokyo, largely without the involvement of the PlayStation unit, "

I'm curious, does this mean it's above Kodera and Jim Ryan? it's kinda hard to believe that they would left Playstation division out of this decision entirely.

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Kodera is part of the senior management team. Jim Ryan might be too after his promotion, but not 100% sure.

 

[Samanosuke Akechi]

Interesting. Wonder if we'll see more moves like this in the near future regarding these companies as next gen gets closer.

 

[Kolx]

There was probably layoffs or divison changes now that Sony don't have to manage the infrastructure themselves.

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Sony still have to supply all the hardware (customs PS3 and PS4) as well as manage PS Now as they have did before, no? they're just changing the infrastructure they're using. I guess MS will provide their tools that they have been developing for their clients for Sony but will that make the work of a lot of the employee obsolete?

 

[Inuhanyou]

You would have to leave it up to Sony's penny pinching exects to undercut the division making it the most money without even their consent...literally behind their backs in Japan. Absolute scum. I hope SCEI stays safe

Someone better rake the new CEO through the coals for this one

 

[Nanashrew]

ITT: People forgot Sony bought Gaikai to create their own cloud streaming service and have been building it up for many years now.

Of course if they were unaware of these goings on they would freak out when the news broke and start thinking if they were going to be losing their jobs because they'd be becoming a redundancy.

 

[Nightengale]

lol what

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These kind of announcements will always prompt many kind of reactions from workers.

"Does that mean my job is at risk now!?" - If you're someone who works on PSNow.
"What does this mean for the mid-to-long term plan that was agreed" - Uncertainty if the job scope and responsibility has changed; needing to work with new people, etc etc.
"Why didn't management inform about us about this earlier!?" - Frustration that you were not kept in the loop about these developments.
"What are the deeper implications of this!?" - Uncertainty whether or not this has any deeper collaboration impact/etc etc. Stuff that isn't revealed publicly.

 

[Deleted member 2474]

I'm sure most of the PlayStation hardware and software teams are fine, but I'd probably be sweating if I was part of the PS Now/ex-Gaikai team.