MS/Sony to join forces within 10 years?

Sony and Microsoft could be working together on a single platform within the next 10 years, Sony Computer Entertainment's former European president has claimed.

David Reeves, now Capcom's COO, told CVG, "When you're on the first-party side, you realise how really, really expensive it is to develop a platform. Whether it's PS3, or Xbox 360 or even Wii, they cost millions - maybe not billions, but absolutely millions.

"Eventually, it may just become so expensive to develop that Microsoft and Sony say, 'Okay, let's get together.' I'd say it's between 10 and 15 years away. That's how long I think it will take.

"I don't think it will be the next console cycle, but probably the next cycle after that, where you might have something platform-agnostic.

"But it might be different players, of course," he added. "It might be Google getting together with, dare I say, Microsoft, or Google with somebody else."

Reeves isn't the first industry bigwig to make this sort of claim. In 2008, former Xbox Europe boss Sandy Duncan predicted "a definite 'convergence' of other devices such as set-top boxes" in the next five to ten years.

Back in 2007, EA's Gerhard Florin called for console manufacturers to put their heads together, insisting, "We want an open, standard platform which is much easier than having five which are not compatible.

"You don't need an Xbox 360, PS3 or Wii - the consumer won't even realise the platform it is being played on."