Microsoft establishes cloud gaming division

Microsoft has established a new business unit that will provide and develop Azure cloud services to game companies. The company hints that it is also working on streaming games.

The new ‘gaming cloud’ division is led by Kareem Choudhry, who has been with Microsoft for 20 years and has been involved in the development of DirectX, among other things. In an interview with The Verge, Choudhry reports that the cloud gaming organization was set up late last year.

Microsoft has been working towards a platform that game companies can use for the online possibilities of their games for much longer. The acquisitions of Havok in 2015, Simplygon for optimizing 3d data in 2017 and PlayFab this year would help. The latter company provides services for developing and providing Internet-connected games.

Ubisoft already uses Microsoft’s Azure for Rainbow Six: Siege on PC, PS4 and Xbox One and the Korean studio Pearl Abyss also uses the cloud service for its mobile game Black Desert. Microsoft is looking at ways to make content “available to everyone, regardless of device,” Choudhry said. With this, the division seems to be aiming for a game streaming service such as GeForce Now and PlayStation Now. There have been rumors for years that Microsoft is working on this.