We are announcing a new initiative, 'Microsoft Game Stack,' under which we will unify Microsoft's tools and services to empower all game developers, whether they are independent creators or AAA studios, to achieve more.
Today, there are 2 billion gamers worldwide playing a wide variety of games on various devices. The community pays just as much attention to video streaming, viewing, and sharing as it does to gaming or competition. As game creators, you strive every day to engage your players, awaken their imagination, and inspire them, no matter where they are or what device they use. We present Microsoft Game Stack to help you do just that.
What is Microsoft Game Stack?
Game Stack brings together all our platforms, tools, and services for game development, such as Azure, PlayFab, DirectX, Visual Studio, Xbox Live, App Center, and Havok, into a robust ecosystem that any game developer can use. The goal of Game Stack is to help you easily find the tools and services necessary to create and manage a game.
The cloud plays a crucial role in Game Stack, and Azure meets this vital need. Azure provides foundational components such as computing and storage, as well as cloud services for machine learning and artificial intelligence for notifications and spatial anchors in mixed reality.
So far, companies like Rare, Ubisoft, and Wizards of the Coast are utilizing Azure. They host servers for multiplayer games, securely and reliably store player data, analyze game telemetry, protect their games from DDoS attacks, and train AI to create more engaging gameplay.
While Azure is a part of Game Stack, itās important to note that Game Stack is not dependent on the cloud, networks, and devices. We donāt stop there.
Whatās New?
The next component of Game Stack is PlayFab, a comprehensive backend service for creating and operating games. A year ago, PlayFab joined forces with Microsoft. Today, we are excited to announce that PlayFab is now part of the Azure family. Together, Azure and PlayFab represent a powerful combination: Azure provides reliability, global scale, and enterprise-level security; PlayFab offers Game Stack managed game development services, real-time analytics, and LiveOps capabilities.
According to PlayFab co-founder James Gwertzman: "Modern game creators are less and less like film directors. Long-term success requires engaging players in a continuous cycle of creation, experimentation, and operations. You can no longer just release your game and move on." PlayFab supports all major devices, from iOS and Android to PC and Web, Xbox, Sony PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch; and all major game engines, including Unity and Unreal. PlayFab will also support all major cloud services in the future.
Today, we are also excited to announce five new PlayFab services.
In public preview access today:
- : A powerful matchmaking search for multiplayer games, adapted from Xbox Live but now available for all games and all devices.
In private preview access today ():
- PlayFab Party: Voice and chat services adapted from Xbox Party Chat, now available for all games and devices. Party uses Azure Cognitive Services for real-time translation and transcription to make gaming accessible to more players.
- PlayFab Insights: Combines reliable real-time game telemetry with game data from multiple other sources to measure your game's performance and generate useful insights. Built on Azure Data Explorer, Game Insights will offer connectors to existing third-party data sources, including Xbox Live.
- PlayFab PubSub: Subscribe your game client to messages sent from PlayFab servers over a persistent connection supported by Azure SignalR. This enables scenarios such as real-time content updates, matchmaking notifications, and straightforward multiplayer gameplay.
- PlayFab User Generated Content: Engage your community by allowing players to create and securely share user-generated content with others. This technology was initially developed to support the Minecraft marketplace.
Growing Xbox Live Community
Another important component of Game Stack is Xbox Live. Over the past 16 years, Xbox Live has become one of the brightest and most active gaming communities in the world. It is also a safe and inclusive network that has expanded the boundaries of gaming: players can now connect across different devices.
We are very excited for Xbox Live to be part of Microsoft Game Stack, providing identity and community services. As part of Game Stack, Xbox Live will expand its cross-platform capabilities as we introduce a new SDK that brings this community to iOS and Android devices.
With Xbox Live, mobile app developers can connect with the most passionate and engaged players on the planet. Here are just a few of the benefits for mobile developers:
- Trusted Game Identity: With the new Xbox Live SDK package, developers can focus on creating great games and utilize Microsoft's trusted identity network to support sign-in, privacy, online security, and child accounts.Ā
- Frictionless Integration: New custom options and the absence of Xbox Live certification give mobile app developers the flexibility to create and update their games. Developers can simply use the services that best meet their needs.
- Vibrant Gaming Community: Join the growing Xbox Live community and connect gamers across multiple platforms. Discover creative ways to implement achievement systems, Gamerscore statistics, and 'hero'.
Other Game Stack Components
Other Game Stack components include Visual Studio, Mixer, DirectX, Azure App Center, Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, and Havok. In the coming months, as we work on enhancing and expanding Game Stack, you will see deeper connections between these services as we bring them together to work more efficiently.
As an example of how this integration is already happening, today we are connecting PlayFab with the following Game Stack components:
- App Center: Crash log data from App Center is now connected to PlayFab, allowing you to better understand and respond to issues in your game in real time by associating individual crashes with distinct players.
- Visual Studio Code: With the new PlayFab plugin for Visual Studio Code, editing and updating Cloud Script has become much easier.
Create your world today and achieve more
Source: habr.com
