In March this year Google unveiled its cloud-based Stadia gaming platform, with the company aiming to push the streaming agenda when it comes to playing games. They could soon have competition with Microsoft and Sony making a surprising announcement earlier this week.

The two companies, who are normally rivals when it comes to gaming with their Xbox and PlayStation console have seemingly pushed the beef to one side in order to tap into the power of Microsoft’s Azure platform.

“Under the memorandum of understanding signed by the parties, the two companies will explore joint development of future cloud solutions in Microsoft Azure to support their respective game and content-streaming services,” explained Microsoft in a blog post.

“In addition, the two companies will explore the use of current Microsoft Azure datacenter-based solutions for Sony’s game and content-streaming services. By working together, the companies aim to deliver more enhanced entertainment experiences for their worldwide customers,” the firm added.

As The Verge points out this new partnership means that aforementioned competitor Google Stadia will have to look to other companies and platforms to deliver its streaming services.

At the time of announcement Google said that its YouTube servers would be used to push game streaming to users, but this recent partnership now means they cannot use Sony’s dedicated servers for example.

With the partnership freshly signed, there is still no official word from either party on when they plan to reveal a new service or offering, but it’s clear to see that they have designs to take on Google Stadia.

As both companies have a far richer gaming history than Google, Xbox and PlayStation gamers may be far more willing to switch over to one of their streaming platforms than one from Google, especially if previously owned content is made available.

Either way it looks like the next disruptive trend in gaming will be streaming. As for who will lead the race remains to be seen.