PlayFab have been around for four years, providing cloud computing services to various game studios. It looks like a major shakeup is order however, as in a very interesting move, PlayFab has been acquired by Microsoft. This news was announced via a blog post on PlayFab’s official website as well as the Microsoft Blog.
PlayFab founder James Gwertzman states that:
“Microsoft, with its deep expertise in gaming and cloud computing, is a perfect home for PlayFab as we expand our platform and features. Our customers are worldwide, and Microsoft’s global presence and world-class Microsoft Azure server infrastructure complement PlayFab’s services, making it even easier for studios to focus on building great games instead of back end technology.
From the start, PlayFab has been driven by the desire to help our customers unlock their creativity. We are humbled by the trust developers place in us when they depend on our services to run their games, and look forward to rewarding that trust with the entirely new level of features, resources, and support that this acquisition is going to enable. The entire team is as excited as I am to continue on this journey with Microsoft.”
Kareem Choudhry, Vice President of Gaming at Microsoft, expanded on this news on the Microsoft Blog:
“Incorporating PlayFab’s experience, growing network of game developers and powerful gaming-as-a-service platform into our product offering is an important step forward for gaming at Microsoft. PlayFab has served more than 700 million gamers and is currently powering more than 1,200 games with companies like Disney, Rovio and Atari. Its gaming platform powers some of the most prominent titles in the industry, such as “Idle Miner Tycoon,” “Angry Birds: Seasons” and “Roller Coaster Tycoon Touch.”
Together, Azure and PlayFab will further unlock the power of the intelligent cloud for the gaming industry, enabling game developers and delighting gamers around the world.“
Considering how much of a focus Microsoft has put on cloud computing, both in the Xbox division and outside of it, this acquisition makes sense. Crackdown 3 and its much-touted, cloud-powered destructible environment still hasn’t released. So, maybe it’s one of the titles the infrastructure provided by PlayFab will help to back. We’ll have to see how things play out in the coming months.
