Sony: "There Is No Scenario Where the PlayStation and Xbox Platforms Combine"

Last month, Sony and Microsoft announced a new strategic gaming partnership that will see the two traditionally bitter rivals team up to collaborate on direct-to-consumer entertainment platforms, AI solutions, and most notably, new cloud-based gaming experiences. The collaboration was struck between Microsoft and Sony, not their gaming divisions specifically. In fact, neither gaming division knew that much about the deal until it happened. However, it was still an interesting announcement, one that caught many by surprise and may suggest more collaboration between the two could come in the future.

"By working together, the companies aim to deliver more enhanced entertainment experiences for their worldwide customers," said Microsoft at the time. "These efforts will also include building better development platforms for the content creator community."

That said, if you thought this means PlayStation and Xbox are shacking up, well, they aren't. During a recent interview with Financial Times, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan went as far to say there's "no scenario" where the two platforms combine.

"There is to my knowledge . . . no scenario where the PlayStation and Xbox platforms combine," said Ryan. "The two platforms will remain separate with their own separate identities and brands and fans."

As you can see, Xbox and PlayStation are not joining forces anytime soon. In fact, they probably won't ever join forces. Ryan also touched upon why backwards compatibility is so important, which is something he didn't always use to think. In fact, he didn't see the value in at all. But now Ryan thinks it's an important feature, especially for transitioning between console generations.

"The networked world changes everything," said Ryan. "When everything is networked and everybody is connected and everybody is friends, the opportunity — with backwards compatibility — to migrate that community in a more efficient manner I think is massively more attractive for gamers and for us than at any point in the past."

As always, feel free to leave a comment letting us know what you think or, alternatively, hit me up on Twitter @Tyler_Fischer_ and let me know over there. Do you think PlayStation and Xbox will ever team up to dominate the gaming world?