Microsoft on Monday announced that it has acquired PlayFab, a start-up with cloud-based tools for game developers. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
The deal comes as Microsoft aims to become a closer competitor to market leader Amazon Web Services, which introduced a set of tools for game developers about two years ago.
PlayFab's portfolio of services includes content management, documentation, forums and A/B testing.
"Incorporating PlayFab's experience, growing network of game developers and powerful gaming-as-a-service platform into our product offering is an important step forward for gaming at Microsoft," Kareem Choudhry, corporate vice president of gaming at Microsoft, wrote in a blog post.
Now PlayFab, which has previously used AWS, will serve as a tool to make Azure a more common choice for game developers. Atari, Disney and Rovio are among the companies that use PlayFab's services.
"Our customers are worldwide, and Microsoft's global presence and world-class Microsoft Azure server infrastructure complement PlayFab's services, making it even easier for studios to focus on building great games instead of back-end technology," PlayFab CEO James Gwertzman wrote in a blog post.
Seattle-based PlayFab spun out of game developer Uber Entertainment in 2014. Investors include Benchmark and Madrona Venture Group.