It’s easy to forget amidst all the other news, but it was kind of a big deal when Sony and Microsoft agreed to collaborate on cloud-based services in the future. Well, technically they signed a memorandum of understanding saying they would look into collaborating, but that’s still a pretty major thing within the industry. It turns out, according to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, it was actually Sony that approached Microsoft for the partnership.

In an interview with Fortune magazine, Nadella explained that the decision was mostly driven by the PlayStation end of the deal.

“It’s a beginning for us. First of all, it’s all driven by Sony,” Nadella said. “They looked at who are all their partners that they can trust. In fact, it turns out, even though we’ve competed, we’ve also partnered.”

He went on to explain that the collaboration goes both ways. Not only is Sony building new streaming tech around the Microsoft Azure servers and research, but Sony’s own efforts in entertainment, gaming, and cameras could also aid Microsoft in quite a few ways.

It is unlikely we’ll see the partnership bearing fruit for quite a few years, but it sounds like both parties are interested in starting it up as soon as possible.

[Source: Fortune]