Since Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One, the company made it clear that it believes that the power of the cloud offers many possibilities for gaming. As part of this philosophy, Microsoft announced the acquisition of PlayFab, a company that offers tools to create games connected by a platform in the cloud and experiences of games as a service.
PlayFab is a company that has a collection of tools that are designed to be used by game developers for consoles, PCs and mobile phones that want to connect to the cloud. That is, it allows all types of studios to have what it takes to operate their games, analyze gaming data and improve gaming experiences in order to attract and keep players. Its technology is used by companies such as Disney, Rovio and Atari in projects such as Angry Birds: Seasons, Roller Coaster Tycoon Touch and Idle Miner Tycoon.
“Over 1 billion people play games, fueling a thriving industry whose ecosystem is evolving and growing quickly. Many industries are moving to the intelligent cloud, and this trend is true in gaming as well,” said Kareem Choudhry, corporate vice president of gaming at Microsoft. “This means an increasing number of developers are looking to create connected games for mobile, PC and console devices that have a significant emphasis on post-launch operations. However, the cost and complexity of achieving this through custom-built, server-side tools and technologies is high, and PlayFab offers developers a compelling model that scales naturally with their games’ players.”
In the publication, Choudhry also described PlayFab’s technology as a “natural complement” to Azure, Microsoft’s cloud service. He also noted that this deal is an “important step forward for gaming at Microsoft” because they will take advantage of the PlayFab experience to “unlock the power of the intelligent cloud for the gaming industry, enabling game developers and delighting gamers around the world.”
It is important to note that this acquisition does not necessarily mean that Microsoft will redouble its efforts to create games as a service, but thinks that this type of experiences is an essential part of the future of the video game industry.
And what about you, where do you think we will see the impact of this deal? Tell us in the comments below.
