Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox, announces original Xbox Backward Compatibility at the Xbox E3 2017 Briefing on Sunday, June 11, 2017 in Los Angeles. (Image courtesy of Xbox)
In the last couple years, companies like Google and Amazon have been expanding their business and focusing on creating platforms for game developers. As of last week, Microsoft has taken it one step further.
Microsoft has announced a new program that combines all of the companies’ gaming related products. Xbox Live, Azure PlayFab, Direct X, Mixer, Virtual Studio, Simplygon and Azure are just some of the programs that are now being combined in this new platform called Microsoft Game Stack.
Whether you’re an indie developer or AAA studio, #Microsoft is committed to giving you the platforms, tools, and services you need to build amazing games. We are #MSFTGameStack: https://t.co/my1b8gfaVa pic.twitter.com/2rb9BAl266
— Microsoft Game Stack (@MSFTGameStack) March 14, 2019
Microsoft has done this to make the lives of game developers easier, so that they can create products all in one space that can be translated into different platforms.
Kareem Choudhry, corporate vice president for the Microsoft gaming cloud, explained the purpose of the new initiative.
“Game Stack brings together our game development platforms, tools and services like Direct X and Visual Studio, Azure and Playfab into a robust ecosystem that any game developer can use. We view this as a journey that we are just beginning,” Choudhry explained.
Game developers can also pick and choose which programs they want to include in their Game Stack. Though the platform doesn’t prefer a particular device or cloud, Microsoft is hoping that developers will choose Azure as their perfered program.
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A key component of Gamestack is PlayFab, which Microsoft acquired last year. PlayFab comes with multiple different programs including PlayFab Matchmaking, PlayFab Party and PlayFab Game, which are now all included under the Azure family. The real kicker is that they work across all platforms including Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch to iOS, Android, PC and the web.
The company has also taken to Twitter and used humor to interact with excited future users.
The excitement is contagious! pic.twitter.com/5tUozQ2HV4
— Microsoft Game Stack (@MSFTGameStack) March 14, 2019
How’s it going, Tommy? pic.twitter.com/SWzLmKzqdx
— Microsoft Game Stack (@MSFTGameStack) March 14, 2019
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