Microsoft acquires PlayFab to give Azure a gaming boost

Microsoft has acquired PlayFab, 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 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