Baird analyst Colin Sebastian said he views the joint venture pact between competitors Microsoft (MSFT) and Sony (SNE) on cloud-based gaming services as both “surprising” and a validation of the emerging market for streaming. The two companies clearly view video games as strategically important enough to put aside their intense competition and see Google (GOOGL) as a legitimate competitor and the Stadia streaming platform as a credible threat, said Sebastian, who added that he does not believe this means Sony and Microsoft will forego their separate console hardware platforms. He also believes that video game developers and publishers should benefit from the intensifying battle among platform companies for share of the game market and the “living room audience.” Publicly traded game makers include Activision Blizzard (ATVI), Electronic Arts (EA) and Take-Two (TTWO).