Microsoft acquires PlayFab to give Azure a gaming boost

By Dan Thorp-Lancaster
last updated

Microsoft is looking to bring some gaming pedigree to its Azure cloud platform with its latest acquisition: PlayFab.

Microsoft has acquired PlayFab (opens in new tab), a company that provides backend services for cloud-connected games across mobile, PC, and console platforms. With the acquisition, Microsoft is hoping to pair PlayFab's experience in providing services for connected games, with Azure's worldwide reach.

From Microsoft:

The PlayFab platform is a natural complement to Azure for gaming (Visit azure.com/gaming for more info). Azure, with locations in 42 regions worldwide, provides world-class server infrastructure, allowing creators to focus on building great games with best-available global reach. For gamers, this leads to a higher, faster degree of innovation and better experiences.

PlayFab helps developers to scale backend services with their games, giving them access to intelligent cloud services used to operate games and analyze data. Today, PlayFab says that it powers more than 1,200 games and processes more than 1.5 billion transactions per day. PlayFab has worked with companies such as Disney, Wizards of the Coast, Bandai Namco, Capcom, and Rovio.

Dan Thorp-Lancaster
Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl. 

10 Comments
  • Sounds like a pretty solid acquisition.
  • So how does cloud computing work for gaming? Does it mean an internet connection is required for the game to play? If it isn't a requirement, will one's data allotment be blown out of the water when playing a SP only game?
  • Its mostly for the multiplayer infrastructure, leader boards, micro transactions, and all the other stuff of modern gaming.
  • That part makes sense, but I was thinking about the graphics or physics engine processing, like what is supposed to be in Crackdown 3.
  • in BF or COD, how do you sync flying rocks or vehicle scraps? Can 1 console have enough computing power to support 100 people multiplayer like in Fortnite's BR mode?
  • So its only for multiplayer? That makes sense. I was under the impression that it was also for single player portions too.
  • No one defines how people should code, you can certainly implement net programming in single player.
  • vehicle scraps, I mean the larger parts with collider attached. Not those visual scraps.
  • As far as I can remembered, PUBG is using Azure. This kind of games, where 100 ppl face off each match, and more than 1M players at the same time, needs best possible internet connection from players.
    Will this improve PUBG performance?
  • Not just the internet tho. Performance of the server is the key too. AWS has weak CPU