Game development is a lengthy process, with some gaming companies and devs opting to make decisions that affect their titles years in advance. In the case of Microsoft and SEGA, they've just announced a decision to collaborate on any further gaming developments together. SEGA and Microsoft have formed an "alliance," aiming to use their strengths to help both companies with future projects going forward.
Gaming companies working together to reach similar goals isn't anything too new. Nintendo and Microsoft have a rather close relationship which brings many good benefits to tons of players, such as how Banjo-Kazooie is coming to Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack in the future. While this may seem like SEGA is being acquired by Microsoft, it's only for both parties' development environments.
The partnership deals with SEGA communicating with Microsoft, using its cloud-based Microsoft Azure service to assist with the development of the company's future titles. According to Windows Central, SEGA "has been a tremendous partner" to Microsoft according to the company's vice president, and it's looking forward to "creating unique gaming experiences using Microsoft cloud technologies" alongside its new partner.
In Windows Central's report, SEGA's COO has also stated that they hope the alliance "utilizes both SEGA's powerful game development capabilities and Microsoft's cutting-edge technology" to advance SEGA's game development further. The use of Microsoft Azure supposedly ties into SEGA's upcoming "Super Game" project that is due to come out in a fair few years. While not too much is known about the "Super Game" for now, it's known that it's focusing on global and online communities, while also utilizing their IPs.
The announcement of the alliance doesn't entirely say that SEGA's next few titles are going to be Microsoft exclusive, but there's a strong chance of it. While this alliance is relatively new, some fans may want to go ahead and plan for titles such as Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Monkey Ball being found on the Xbox Series X/S in a few years or so.
This alliance also interestingly comes off the heels of rumors involving an acquisition of SEGA by Microsoft. While those rumors were proven false, and this alliance is only so SEGA can develop games using Microsoft technologies thus far, a successful partnership might mean more collaborations in the future. What exactly this team-up will lead to will take a few years time to be revealed, but it should lead to some exciting games from SEGA and Microsoft in the future.
Source: Windows Central