Microsoft Corp and Sony Corp on Thursday said they struck a strategic partnership in which Sony would use Microsoft's cloud for streaming games and media and the two would work together to develop image sensors.
The deal is in its early stages, with many specifics yet to be determined. But the owners of two major consumer interactive entertainment franchises – Microsoft's Xbox platform and Sony's PlayStation – would collaborate to stream games and content to consumers and offer game makers new development tools.
[...] Sony shares jumped nearly 11 percent as Asian markets opened. Microsoft's stock closed up 2 percent on Thursday.
Sony's deal with Microsoft comes at a time when the Japanese firm's gaming business is losing some steam as its PlayStation 4 (PS4) console nears the end of its life.
Analysts widely expect Sony to launch a next-generation console in 2020 to replace the five-year old PS4, but for this year at least Sony has flagged a drop in profit.
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The next-generation Xbox console referred to as "Project Scarlett", scheduled for release in late 2020, will feature a custom AMD "7nm" Zen 2 CPU and Navi GPU. The console will include hardware support for real-time raytracing, and include an SSD for significantly faster loading times. The console will also be able to use the SSD as virtual memory. The console will support up to 8K (7680×4320) resolution and 120 frames per second (presumably not at the same time for most - if any - games, but the console should at least support 8K video streaming). These details are extremely similar to those that were revealed about Sony's next PlayStation console.
Microsoft's xCloud streaming game service will launch in October 2019. It will allow gamers to stream games from Microsoft or those stored locally on their Xbox One consoles.
Also at The Verge.
See also: PlayStation 5's Beefier Hardware Could Help Mitigate Indies' Optimization Troubles, Says Ubisoft Dev
Related: Microsoft, Sony Partner on Streaming Games, Chips and AI
Exclusive: A Deeper Look at the PlayStation 5 (archive)
Sony skipped games show E3 this year, a void during which Microsoft unveiled details about its own next-gen console, a successor to the Xbox One referred to only as Project Scarlett. Like the PS5, Scarlett will boast a CPU based on AMD's Ryzen line and a GPU based on its Navi family; like the PS5, it will ditch the spinning hard drive for a solid-state drive. Now, though, in a conference room at Sony's US headquarters, [Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan] and system architect Mark Cerny are eager to share specifics.
Before they do, Cerny wants to clarify something. When we last discussed the forthcoming console, he spoke about its ability to support ray-tracing, a technique that can enable complex lighting and sound effects in 3D environments. Given the many questions he's received since, he fears he may have been ambiguous about how the PS5 would accomplish this—and confirms that it's not a software-level fix, which some had feared. "There is ray-tracing acceleration in the GPU hardware," he says, "which I believe is the statement that people were looking for." (A belief born out by my own Twitter mentions, which for a couple of weeks in April made a graphics-rendering technique seem like the only thing the internet had ever cared about.)
Sony confirms the PlayStation 5 is coming in 2020, reveals new hardware details
[Since] games are getting quite large (Red Dead Redemption 2 took up nearly 100GB; The Elder Scrolls Online is even larger), the PlayStation 5 will use 100GB optical discs. It will support the 4K Blu-ray disc format.
Previously: Sony's Next PlayStation Will Include an AMD Zen 2 CPU and Navi GPU
Microsoft, Sony Partner on Streaming Games, Chips and AI
Microsoft Announces New Xbox Console and xCloud Streaming Game Service
Microsoft Announces Xbox Series X: Available Holiday 2020
Microsoft this evening has finally given their long-awaited next generation gaming console a name, announcing the Xbox Series X. The device, formerly known as Project Scarlett, is said to be four times more powerful than the current Xbox One X, and along with its new Xbox Wireless Controller will be available in the Holiday 2020 timeframe.
[...] While Microsoft is still not offering a detailed breakdown of hardware specifications at this time, the company has reiterated their E3 announcement – that the box is powered by an AMD APU combining their Zen 2 processor cores and next generation RDNA architecture – while revealing the first performance estimate for the console: four times the processing power of the Xbox One X. It's not clear here whether Microsoft is talking about CPU performance, GPU performance, or both – but given that even AMD's fastest discrete GPUs today don't exceed 10 TFLOPS, it is likely a reference to the CPU side of matters and AMD's much faster Zen 2 CPU cores (and going by comments made to GameSpot, this seems to be exactly the case).
As well, the company is reiterating the technical features for the console: hardware raytracing, variable rate shading, Xbox One backwards compatibility, and a "next-generation" SSD. All of which will be used to offer games at 4K@60fps or better, with Microsoft indicating that 120fps will also be an option for developers (no doubt driven by the high refresh rates allowed by HDMI 2.1).
Related: Sony's Next PlayStation Will Include an AMD Zen 2 CPU and Navi GPU
Microsoft, Sony Partner on Streaming Games, Chips and AI
Microsoft Announces New Xbox Console and xCloud Streaming Game Service
PlayStation 5 Includes AMD Hardware-Based Ray Tracing, Supports 100 GB Blu-ray Discs
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 25 2019, @12:28PM
Well, there's Microsoft, Sony Partner on Streaming Games, Chips and AI, that's not got much AI in it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 25 2019, @01:06PM (1 child)
Duh ..... forget it.
(Score: 2) by digitalaudiorock on Saturday May 25 2019, @01:46PM
Now maybe Sony can get MS to bundle the rootkit directly ;)
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday May 25 2019, @04:15PM
A marriage made in Hell, a couple made for each other.
Live long and painfully. No...live short, die now.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 25 2019, @04:45PM (1 child)
Both platforms are AMD Jaguar, Sony's Orbit OS is a fork of FreeBSD 9, which is a true operating system, while Microsoft has a huge cloud infrastructure based on funny Linux userspace running on NT kernel... Both corporations do VR. Games are technically portable and almost identical. So, players of both consoles should be able to play with each other cross platform at least. I see nothing politically wrong about it.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday May 25 2019, @08:00PM
I assume the platforms they will be partnering on will use AMD Zen 2. Confirmed for Sony's PS5, not certain for Xbox yet but likely.
The partnership could help ward off Google (Stadia) and others.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by jasassin on Monday May 27 2019, @02:35AM
At $60US for one game, for me that's a no-go.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A