The head of Microsoft's games business Phil Spencer has said that its main rivals are Amazon and Google.

Speaking to Protocol, the exec said that those companies are the only ones that can compete with Microsoft's Azure cloud business with Amazon's Web Services and Google's Cloud business, which powers its recently-launched Stadia games venture.

"When you talk about Nintendo and Sony, we have a ton of respect for them, but we see Amazon and Google as the main competitors going forward," Spencer said.

"That's not to disrespect Nintendo and Sony, but the traditional gaming companies are somewhat out of position. I guess they could try to re-create Azure, but we've invested tens of billions of dollars in cloud over the years."

He continued: "I don't want to be in a fight over format wars with [Sony and Nintendo] while Amazon and Google are focusing on how to get gaming to 7 billion people around the world. Ultimately, that's the goal."

Last year, Microsoft announced a partnership with Sony to use its Azure cloud platform. In the past, PCGamesInsider.biz has written about the impact that the internet and cloud computing could have on the games market.