FEATURED ARTICLE
Game Developers Conference 2023
Celebrate GDC 2023 by discovering innovative tools, fresh strategies, and new ways to succeed by making it easier to onboard into the Xbox ecosystem, accelerate development and scale to reach & retain more players.
From the Microsoft Game Dev blog
From the Microsoft Game Dev blog
Xbox is the first console platform to release dedicated energy and carbon emissions measurement tools designed for (and with) game creators
How Xbox, 343 Industries and Ubisoft are reducing energy & emissions while maintaining gameplay fidelity, including a first look at the Xbox Sustainability Toolkit for game creators.
GDC 2023: Introducing the Developer Acceleration Program
The program aims to empower underrepresented creators with the resources and information needed to bring their creativity, innovation, and originality to Xbox.
GDC 2023: Tips from Rare for Easier Debugging of Unreal Engine 5 Games Using Visual Studio
Learn how the creators of Sea of Thieves benefitted from continued integrations with Unreal Engine in Visual Studio 2022.
PlayFab Launches Game-Changing Churn Prediction Service into Public Preview for Game Creators
A powerful predictive model, harnessing the scale of Azure Synapse and the power of Azure Machine Learning, built for specifically Game Creators.
Introducing Azure PlayFab Economy v2: The Ultimate Solution for Game Developers to Drive Engagement and Monetization with In-game Economies
Azure PlayFab Economy v2 offers game developers a comprehensive set of tools to build and manage in-game economies with ease.
Playfab GDC 2023 Update: PlayFab Unveils New Tools for Game Monetization, Player Retention, and Game Development Kits
This year at GDC we are thrilled to announce the release of three major features that address some of the biggest challenges for game creators.
GDC 2023: Meet the Speakers
Game Developers Conference 2023 is here and we’re excited to introduce you to some of the speakers who are sharing their knowledge and expertise with creators everywhere.
Celebrating One Year of ID@Azure
Since launching a year ago, ID@Azure has joined forces with Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub and has grown to support over 500 independent game developers, helping teams develop and launch their games using the cloud.
Xbox celebrates GDC by inviting game developers to discover innovative tools, fresh strategies, and new ways to succeed
Onsite and online sessions spotlight how Microsoft makes it easier to onboard into the Xbox ecosystem, accelerate development and scale to reach & retain more players.
GDC 2023: Gaming for Everyone Community Networking Lounge & Scholarship Program
Gaming professionals across the video game industry are invited to join us for an industry reunion four years in the making.
Unreal Engine Integrations Now Available in Visual Studio 2022
As of today, viewing Unreal Engine Blueprint references and adding UE classes are available without leaving Visual Studio.
Minecraft’s WSL build time cut in half after working with Visual Studio C++ Team
Learn more about how the Visual Studio C++ team delivered cross-platform solutions to help meet the Minecraft's teams specific needs.
The Art of LiveOps: Jay Jodway on how Roblox empowers collaborative creators
A deep dive on how creators can embrace data in their LiveOps decision-making and what they can learn from mobile and console LiveOps.
Pathfinding: Celebrating Black History Month
A sneak peek at stories coming this February and a roundup of highlights from last year.
Register Now: Xbox Game Studios Game Camp is coming to Sweden
Passionate creators in Sweden can now embark on a 10-week virtual journey to hone their game dev skills.
.jpg)
The Art of LiveOps: Tom Abernathy talks narrative design
Award-winning narrative director Tom Abernathy lays out for us how narrative functions within games, and why it’s so much more important than most people realize.
Pathfinding: How the team behind Sable found its 3D artist via Twitter
Shanaz Byrne shares how she became a freelance artist and key contributor to the game Sable.
Xbox & Bethesda Developer_Direct showcases games coming to Xbox, PC, and Game Pass this year
From Forza Motorsport to Minecraft, there's something for everyone this year.
Havok Physics for Unity is now production-ready to deliver next generation physics
The package is ready with the availability of ECS for Unity in 2022.2 tech stream.
Pathfinding: How family legacies in architecture influenced the world of Sable
Sable creators Gregorios Kythreotis and Daniel Fineberg discuss how they founded Shedworks and the journey to releasing their first console game.
Bring your game-changing idea to life at Imagine Cup 2023
Dream It. Build It. Live It. Learn how to register for Imagine Cup 2023 and check in with the 2022 champions for advice about the competition.
Pathfinding: The Year in Quotes
A look back at the most insightful quotes from individuals featured in 2022.
Pathfinding: Preparing Xbox games and devices for international markets
Laura Hamilton, Senior Global Readiness lead, shares how she channels her love of cultures and languages into guidance for international game devs.
Perforce Helix DAM is now available on Azure Marketplace
A new web-based UI layer built on top of Helix Core that simplifies the way artists and designers interact is now on Azure.
Success Story: How Saber Interactive used Azure to scale and launch Evil Dead: The Game
A closer look at how Azure empowered Saber Interactive to bring one of horror's great franchises to players around the world.
ID@Azure brings more resources and cloud benefits to Game Creators
ID@Azure joins forces with Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub to bring increased cloud credits, more tools and resources to Game Creators.
Pathfinding: Helping Xbox Game Studios create safe and inclusive games
Monisha Monikantarajan, Age Ratings & Safety Program Manager, describes how she partners with studios to create a better experience for players.
Pathfinding: Applying Marine Corps discipline to Xbox Game Studios data processes
Eric Richardson, Program Manager on the Xbox Studios Services team, tells us how the Microsoft Software and Systems Academy helped him transition from the Marines to data and analytics.
Unite 2022 recap: DirectX 12, Ray tracing on Xbox, and more
More of the future of Unity game development with Microsoft was revealed this week at its annual conference.
Pathfinding: Using business skills to find great games
Gricelda Hernandez explains how her love of helping small businesses grow eventually led to a role in ID@Xbox.
The October Game Development Kit (GDK) is Available Now
The October GDK release is an exciting one, with something for every type of game developer.
A Fireside Chat with Unity’s Marc Whitten
We talk to the GM of Unity Create Solutions about the company’s recently announced partnership with Azure.
Pathfinding: Changing lives with Xbox Game Studios Game Camp
Chris Douglas shares his path to becoming a Business Program Manager and how he helps campers realize their dreams.
Pathfinding: Chasing a love for gaming to Xbox from Retail
Albert Dankwa III on the importance of taking every opportunity to grow your network and share your passions.
PlayFab Party expands cross-platform play with new platforms
Bring the party to even more platforms with PlayFab Party.
Satya Nadella meets the next generation of UK game makers
Microsoft’s Chairman and CEO reaffirmed our commitment to supporting the next generation of games industry talent.
Pathfinding: Communication across disciplines is vital
Learn how Naoko Takamoto navigated her career from contract musician to QA Lead to Senior Producer.
Azure PlayFab Economy v2 is now in Public Preview
Check out the same cloud economy system that powers Minecraft, Sea of Thieves, and Flight Simulator.
Project Acoustics 3.0 is now available
Build immersive audio experiences using the latest version of Project Acoustics with support for Unreal Engine 5.
Pathfinding: Designing music narratives at Xbox Game Studios
Hear from Sr Music Supervisor Maya Halfon Cordova about how she contributes to storytelling in games through music.
Microsoft and Unity Partner to Empower Creators with Azure
Unity selects Azure as its cloud partner and enables creators to reach their audiences on Xbox and PC.
The June Game Development Kit (GDK) is Available Now
The June GDK release is an exciting one, with something for every type of game developer.
Xbox @ SIGGRAPH
Get an opportunity to hear first-hand stories and experiences from our diverse Xbox teams.
Azure Game Production Pipeline: Create Games on the Cloud
Replace your local workstations with the Game Development VM or migrate the whole pipeline to Azure.
ID@Azure Program Update
A great start!
Pathfinding: From drums to Director of Licensing at Turn 10
Discover how Kim Williams-Osborne transitioned from professional drummer to licensing for the Forza franchises.
Imagine Cup Champions Use Azure to Advance Robotic Rehab
Imagine Cup winners Team V Bionic share how they are using Azure IOT Hub and the inspiration behind their project.
Azure PlayFab roadmap
Here's the latest roadmap updates for PlayFab
Empowering Creators
Sarah Bond, CVP, Game Creator Experience & Ecosystem, shares how Microsoft is helping creators.
Xbox is Building the Gaming Platform for the Next 20 Years
At the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase, look at the amazing line-up of games coming to Xbox, PC, and cloud
Microsoft at GDC: Powering Games, Empowering Creators
Microsoft is committed to powering games and empowering the game creators who make them across any platform.
Creating for everyone: How to make more accessible games
Sarah Bond shares at the Microsoft Ability Summit why accessibility in gaming is so critical
Forza Horizon 5 crosses the finish line, fueled by AKS
FH5 relies on autoscaling Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) clusters to meet the most challenging performance demands.
Lana Lux: Twitch Live-Coder and Creator of Strain
Meet Lana Lux, a game developer, designer, Twitch streamer and invested in an accessible, supportive community
Azure PlayFab Feature Video Series
The PlayFab Feature Series consists of short videos to introduce the sampling of many PlayFab features
Welcome to Season 3 of The Art of LiveOps
In each episode we sit down with game creators working at the cutting edge of LiveOps
Improving access to healthcare through games
See the inspiring projects of Team En#Megical and Team Makara Tech, two of this year's Imagine Cup World Finalists.
Pathfinding: How Decoy Games inspired this series
Meet Decoy Games founders Ahmed and Khalil Abdullah
Pathfinding: Career Advice from Women in Game Marketing
A new blog series called Pathfinding, highlighting a diverse set of people across many disciplines.
Using Azure and neuroscience to improve visual accessibility
Team VueForAll wants to see a more scientific, data-driven approach to addressing visual accessibility in gaming.
Escape the dungeon: A gamified approach to programming
This pair of developers teaches young players the basics of programming through a game using flow charts.
Introducing ID@Azure: Your Journey in the Cloud Starts Today
Today we are announcing a new program Microsoft has launched to help independent game creators use the cloud.
Start using Azure services with ID@Azure
ID@Azure helps you focus on cloud-based solutions that make sense regardless of the type of game you are making.
ID@Azure: Level Up your Game Development with Azure PlayFab
Developers in ID@Azure will receive two years of the PlayFab Standard Plan as well as free multiplayer services.
Microsoft + Perforce: Reimagining Game Production
Perforce + Azure partnership on GitHub; announcing the new GitHub actions, recalling the Enhanced Studio Pack
Game Creation Cloud Adoption and The Azure Game Dev VM
The Azure Game Dev VM opens the door for game developers to take full advantage of game production in the cloud.
Unreal Engine VMs on Azure: Latest in Realtime 3D Revolution
By deploying a hosted virtual machine with Unreal Engine, the Azure cloud is your GPU.
How Hello Games uses Azure to bring No Man’s Sky to millions
Our partners are using Azure to help them realise their dreams, and one such partner is Hello Games.
Parsec remote desktop is now available on Azure
Parsec is a low-latency, high-performance remote desktop that connects teams to their projects wherever they are.
Variable Rate Compute Shaders on Xbox Series X|S
This second talk from Martin is on Variable Rate Compute Shaders (VRCS) with a focus on Xbox Series consoles.
Azure DDoS Protection in Gaming: A Look at Attack Trends
The gaming industry experienced an unprecedented level of Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) activity in 2021.
How Simplygon Enables Large Scale Optimization in Flight Sim
The vast view distances and detailed landmarks makes asset optimization strategy a very important part of the game.
The Fundamentals of Azure PlayFab
Learn the basics of Azure PlayFab and how it can be used to makes games more engaging for players.
Spotlighting Brent Batas, founder & creator of Legion TD 2
Our next ambassador profile puts the spotlight on Brent Batas, a designer, coder, and PlayFab expert.
Maciej Maj: PlayFab 'tutorialist' and maker of Tube Tycoon
Maciej publishes Unity+PlayFab tutorials, makes his own games, and has almost 500,000 views as a content creator.
Extending PlayFab with a Match History
In his last post, Johannes talked about extending PlayFab with Azure Functions. Here, he expands on this topic.
Meet Mandy Lowry, a game developer, coder, and co-founder
Check out the experience of a talented, self-taught programmer that recently launched a new game.
Why should a single player game have a backend?
How to use PlayFab Telemetry, Analytics, and LiveOps to extend the lifespan of your game and re-engage your players
How to transfer large files in a distributed environment
Set up your modern game studio for file share sync with Azure
New Unreal GSDK Plugin simplifies Azure MPS deployment
Using this new plugin, customers can more easily upload Unreal builds to MPS.
Meet engineer and indie studio founder Attilio Carotenuto
Welcome to our series highlighting Game Dev Ambassadors! Our first ambassador spotlights Attilio Carotenuto.
How an indie went from rock bottom to making hit games
Hear how James Stone made his long-time dream of making video games a reality.
Venturing deeper into the world of Simplygon SDK
Poly is back in the park, with complete tutorials to help you get started navigating the Simplygon SDK.
Putting Your Game at the Center with Xbox Touch Controls
Xbox touch controls unlock new ways for gamers to interact with their games, providing fans with even more choice.
Manage Events with Sampling on Azure PlayFab
Sampling lets you to configure the percentage of events data that you want to receive in the title tenant database.
Announcing CloudScript using Azure Functions is now GA
After over a year in public preview, CloudScript Functions is ready for primetime.
Microsoft & La Guilde – Azure PlayFab for Game Developers
Hear how PlayFab provides the comprehensive ecosystem to empower creators to build, run, and nurture their games.
PlayFab Roadmap Update – November 2021
Here is the latest coming from PlayFab for developers as we approach the end of the year.
Announcing Unreal Engine Pixel Streaming in Azure!
The Unreal Engine Pixel Streaming solution on Azure is helping developers reach more people from nearly any device.
Microsoft acquires Two Hat, leader in content moderation
We’re excited to announce Microsoft’s acquisition of Two Hat, a leader in content moderation solutions.
Tips and Tricks: Making Your First Console Game, Pt. II
Hear from more indie developers about their experiences on making their first console games.
Announcing Azure PlayFab User Generated Content
Azure PlayFab UGC offers time-saving, battle-tested solutions for hosting an in-game marketplace.
Improving developer inner-loops with C++ Modules
In this blog we show how to create a small game project, analyze its components, modularize it, and execute.
Tips and Tricks from ID@Xbox: Making Your First Console Game
Hear from indie developers on their experiences of making some of their very first console games.
Game developers everywhere: welcome to Windows 11!
Windows 11 was made for gaming, with new features designed to help creators take their creativity to new heights.
Unique Capabilities added by the Simplygon UE4 Plugin
This blog details what unique capabilities our UE4 plugin has to offer your game production.
Level Up Your Debugging Skills for Unity with Visual Studio
Here we focus on common Unity troubleshooting scenarios and how you can use Visual Studio to find and fix them.
A walk in the park with Poly: Simplygon SDK
A part of the Microsoft Game Stack family, Simplygon is for world makers, artists, and creators.
Address Sanitizer now available for Xbox Developers
(ASan) is a valuable tool for lighting up hard-to-find memory bugs.
PlayFab Roadmap Update – July 2021
Latest roadmap updates for PlayFab.
Meet the Microsoft Game Developer Kit (GDK)
Microsoft Game Development Kits available to all developers today.
Microsoft Flight Simulator: The Future of Game Development
Cloud-Powered Microsoft Flight Simulator Showcases the Future of Next-Gen Game Development
PlayFab’s PlayStream now powered by Azure
PlayFab’s PlayStream bids farewell to AWS, now powered by Azure
Perforce development tools and services available on Azure
Game creators now have access to Perforce development tools and services running on Azure
Diablo IV debugs Linux core dumps from Visual Studio
Blizzard Diablo IV debugs Linux core dumps from Visual Studio
Simplygon Free adds support for Unity, Blender, & Python API
Simplygon Free adds support for Unity, Blender and Python API
How Minecraft Realms moved compute+storage from AWS to Azure
How Minecraft Realms moved its compute and storage from AWS to Azure
Alice & Smith integrate PlayFab and Twitch API in NT4
Alice & Smith integrates PlayFab and Twitch API to create shareable, viral missions for NITE Team 4 fans
Comparing Material Casting and Aggregation
In Simplygon, you have two different options when it comes to transferring materials.
What to Think About When it Comes to LOD Transitions
At Simplygon it has always been one of our priorities, to enable you to use the Simplygon SDK as an automation tool
Building Arbitrary Video Game Projects on Azure
Building Arbitrary Video Game Projects on Azure
What's New in Simplygon 9.1
In this article we'll walking you through the Simplygon 9.1 updates.
Billboard Cloud Mode: Outer Shell (Simplygon)
The Billboard mode: Outer shell makes the planes fit to the outer borders of objects
Imposter: Billboard Cloud for Vegetation (Simplygon)
The goal of the billboard cloud processor is to replace objects in a scene with a view independent set of billboard
Introducing Simplygon's New Unreal Engine Plugin
With the release of 9.1, we are happy to announce our new Unreal Engine plugin.
Pixel Streaming and the Growth of 3D outside of Gaming
Project Anywhere, Pixel Streaming, and the Growth of 3D outside Gaming
How Minecraft Realms moved its databases from AWS to Azure
In this post, we deep dive into how the Realms team moved all its database components to Azure.
The Coalition Sees 27.9X Build Improvement w/ VS 2019
The Coalition Sees 27.9X Iteration Build Improvement with Visual Studio 2019
Build for the web with ASP.NET (For Unity developers)
Learn how to build for the web with your existing C# skills.
New PlayFab Pricing Plan with No Monthly Minimums
Today we’re introducing a new Pay-as-you-Go plan for PlayFab which requires no minimum monthly commitment.
Starting today: Save up to 90% using PlayFab Party
Big news! We are dropping the price of Azure PlayFab Party, significantly reducing barriers for developers
Migrating Minecraft Realms from AWS to Azure
Stay tuned for the upcoming blog series about the successful migration of Minecraft Realms from AWS to Azure.
MineRL sample-efficient reinforcement learning challenge
MineRL sample-efficient reinforcement learning challenge—back for a second year—benefits organizers
Welcome to Season 2 of The Art of LiveOps
It’s an exciting time to work in games. The barriers that prevent people from playing together are coming down.
Research Spotlight: Project Acoustics
The closer you listen as you move about the world, the more detail and nuance you can hear.
The Art of LiveOps Season 1 Recap
About a year ago we launched a new podcast The Art of LiveOps.
Supercharge games with Azure AI and reinforcement learning
Azure offers a full range of AI solutions to help you build, run and grow your games.
What the Future of Gaming Means for Developers
For those of us in the games industry, we've always understood the incredible power of gaming.
How Project xCloud is helping game developers stay connected
How Project xCloud is helping game developers stay connected while working from home
Esports players gain an edge with Azure and Power BI
Competitive esports organization Cloud9 fields 14 teams across 12 of the most popular esports.
Creating an online event in times of quarantine — part II
The cancellation of physical events in 2020 motivated us to come up with a new approach.
Enabling build access from home during COVID-19
COVID-19 has been challenging for many disciplines, and game development is no exception.
Making diversity a formidable force in State of Decay 2
Learn how Undead Labs created an incredibly diverse set of characters to fight the horde.
Minecraft Earth and Azure Cosmos DB part 2
This post is part 2 in a series about out how organizations are using Azure Cosmos DB to meet real world needs.
The devs of We Happy Few gave a shock to their own system
Discover how the team at Compulsion Games broke the rules of traditional procedural worldbuilding.
Obsidian’s gameplay design kept possibilities endless
See how Obsidian pioneered a new design approach resulting in a more balanced experience over the game's full arc.
Double Fine ensures their team’s ideas get a chance to float
See how Double Fine’s Amnesia Fortnight gives voice to the imaginations of the entire studio.
Minecraft Earth and Azure Cosmos DB part 1
This post is part 1 of a two-part series about how organizations use Azure Cosmos DB to meet real world needs.
Porting "Fusion Guards" from GameSparks to PlayFab (Part 2)
We are Janeious, an independent game development studio working on our community funded debut title “Fusion Guards”
How to Implement Real-time Analytics in Online Games
Welcome back to the LiveOps Academy part 4 where we dive into some analytics best practices.
inXile wrangles a post-apocalyptic beast with Wasteland 3
Learn how inXile pushed the Wasteland series to its most-perfected combat system yet in Wasteland 3.
Porting "Fusion Guards" from GameSparks to PlayFab (Part 1)
We are Janeious, an independent game development studio working on our community funded debut title “Fusion Guards”
How Rare keeps Sea of Thieves afloat in a sea of feedback
See how Rare leverages player feedback to make Sea of Thieves even better.