Nintendo may also be using Microsoft Azure for future cloud tech

Microsoft appears to be wrangling in yet another key player in the games industry to collaborate with their impressive cloud technology: Nintendo.

After last week’s announcement that Microsoft and PlayStation’s Sony would be working together through Microsoft Azure, rumours are surfacing that Nintendo will be doing the same.

Industry analyst David Gibson took to Twitter to state that Mario makers Nintendo are also looking to work with Microsoft.

“Nintendo itself is looking also to work with MSFT Azure to offer its own streaming service in limited regions (JP, US, etc),” he stated.

But also Nintendo itself is looking also to work with MSFT (Azure) to offer its own streaming service in limited regions (JP, US etc).

— David Gibson (@gibbogame) May 17, 2019

It’s not surprising. While Sony and Microsoft’s collaboration seemed out of left field, MS’ relationship with Ninty has always remained solid. From Microsoft-published games releasing on the Game Boy and DS all the way to cross-platform play and the recent Cuphead release, there’s always been some semblance of a relationship.

As for Nintendo relying on a Western company for their cloud services, it makes sense. Historically, the Japanese developer has been rather ropey with their execution of online services and having some help in the matter would be better for everyone.

With game streaming already being relevant on the Nintendo Switch for games that require larger resources, such as Assassin’s Creed and Resident Evil, Nintendo moving towards cloud gaming for third party services may be a great option for getting more games on their relatively weak hardware.