{"id":44211,"date":"2018-02-10T03:09:56","date_gmt":"2018-02-10T10:09:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2018\/02\/microsoft-acquires-seattle-startup-playfab-to-bolster-cloud-offerings-for-game-developers\/"},"modified":"2018-02-10T03:09:56","modified_gmt":"2018-02-10T10:09:56","slug":"microsoft-acquires-seattle-startup-playfab-to-bolster-cloud-offerings-for-game-developers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2018\/02\/microsoft-acquires-seattle-startup-playfab-to-bolster-cloud-offerings-for-game-developers\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft acquires Seattle startup PlayFab to bolster cloud offerings for game developers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The PlayFab team. (PlayFab Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Microsoft said<\/a> it has acquired Seattle gaming startup PlayFab, in a bid to strengthen its position in the more than $100 billion market.<\/p>\n

PlayFab started four years ago, and it gives developers a back end platform to build, launch and manage games. It provides services\u00a0like data storage, friend lists, leaderboards, custom game server hosting and in-game purchasing for clients ranging from small independent studios to major publishers.<\/p>\n

The trend lately in gaming is away from physical discs, and toward games that live in the cloud and are updated frequently.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuilt well, these backend systems enabled games to engage, retain, and monetize players like never before, with longevity in the top grossing charts measured in years. Built poorly, they crashed and burned on launch day,\u201d James Gwertzman, PlayFab co-founder and CEO, wrote in a blog post about the acquisition.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"PlayFab\u2019s platform powers more than 1,200 games from companies like Disney, Angry Birds-maker Rovio and Atari. Microsoft\u2019s Kareem Choudhry wrote in a blog post<\/a>\u00a0that the platform makes it easier for developers to build games and not have to worry about the back end technology.<\/p>\n

In their blog posts, the two companies didn\u2019t dive deep into how they will integrate with each other. Microsoft said PlayFab\u2019s \u201cplatform is a natural complement to Azure for gaming<\/a>.\u201d Gwertzman wrote that Azure\u2019s massive global footprint will help PlayFab offer an \u201centirely new level of features, resources, and support.\u201d<\/p>\n

PlayFab\u00a0spun out from Uber Entertainment<\/a>, another Seattle games company. Gwertzman started the\u00a0company after working for eight years at PopCap,\u00a0which sold to Electronic Arts for more than\u00a0$750 million<\/a>\u00a0in 2011. His co-founder is\u00a0Matt Augustine<\/a>, who previously worked at Uber Entertainment and Microsoft.<\/p>\n

The acquisition of PlayFab is another example of Microsoft\u2019s gaming push. In 2016, Microsoft acquired game streaming startup Beam<\/a> and later rebranded it Mixer<\/a>. New features have steadily been added to Mixer, most recently a redesigned mobile app.<\/p>\n

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The PlayFab team. (PlayFab Photo) Microsoft said it has acquired Seattle gaming startup PlayFab, in a bid to strengthen its position in the more than $100 billion market. PlayFab started four years ago, and it gives developers a back end platform to build, launch and manage games. It provides services\u00a0like data storage, friend lists, leaderboards,… Read the full article…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":44212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[174,377],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-games-media","category-gaming"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t