Microsoft + Perforce: A fresh vision for game making

At this year's GDC 2022, we're excited to announce:

Microsoft and Perforce have formed a strategic partnership to make it easier than ever for game creators of all sizes to scale game production to the cloud.

Our collaboration started with the release of the Enhanced Studio Pack , which provides a low-friction way to launch the Perforce software development kit, specifically the Perforce Helix Core server , so you can start using Helix Core on Azure right away . Subsequently, we were also pleased to announce at GDC 2022 a set of GitHub Actions written directly by Perforce in partnership with GitHub to help automate game development pipelines.

---

I'm excited about the potential of this strategic partnership and our work with Perforce. The challenge for game creators to innovate and collaborate on asset-heavy projects is growing day by day, as evidenced by our first meeting with Perforce, we share a shared passion for eliminating this challenge.

But we're not just thinking about how creators can easily and effectively host Perforce services on Azure , but how we can work more deeply with resources across Microsoft to more significantly increase the overall value of cloud game development. We want to lower the barriers to entry for new studios and ambitious creators to use industry-leading development tools, providing a seamless technical path for them to grow from a handful of developers to the largest collaborative teams and projects in the industry.

This opportunity to reimagine game development is timely. The way game creators collaborate and build experiences has changed over the past few years. The modern development scene for asset-intensive entertainment projects was previously defined by closely-collaborated teams, with close proximity and heavy investment in local hardware allowing iteration and creativity to flourish.

But we've entered a whole new era of game development, where hybrid work environments, globally distributed teams, and remote work are the norm. While these factors have always existed, we now find them at an extreme. Helping the game development infrastructure meet the challenge of restoring and surpassing previous high levels of productivity and creativity is exactly what the collaboration between Microsoft and Perforce is about .

When we thought about how to bring together the foundational capabilities of Perforce and all of Microsoft's resources to increase developer velocity, we were quick to introduce GitHub. GitHub is the world's largest and most advanced development platform, serving globally distributed teams of all sizes with tremendous agility and flexibility. The sheer size of assets and builds associated with game development may prevent game creators from enjoying the benefits of developing with GitHub, but by partnering with Perforce, we hope to start removing that barrier.

Perforce's first release on the GitHub Marketplace, the Perforce Helix Core Action, enables game creators to connect GitHub's automated ecosystem with the code and assets they own in Helix Core. Commits to Helix Core or to GitHub repositories can trigger GitHub actions to build your project directly or further connect to other Azure services to create precise CI/CD systems for the specific needs of your gaming team.

And we know that the needs of game creators are often interesting and specific to the culture and workflow of a team or studio, which is why it was supported by Perforce from its initial launch. We'd love to hear your feedback and see how you combine these tools in amazingly innovative ways to make the best games possible.

Please let us know what you think!
We're working tirelessly to make Microsoft Azure the best cloud platform for building, running, and growing your gaming business . We're very excited about the changes Microsoft and Perforce can make to the gaming industry together.

The version management capabilities brought by Perforce Helix Core can handle very large assets, can be scaled to serve large and globally distributed organizations, and are well integrated and compatible with gaming technologies, widely adopted by game creators of all sizes.

Microsoft Azure is a global cloud provider whose services are designed to provide comprehensive game development, operation, growth , and more solutions for all-platform game development studios.

---

Want to learn more about Microsoft Azure game development technologies?

At 10:00 a.m. on May 13th, the Microsoft Games Overseas Developers Conference will be held. Microsoft's technical experts will take you to enjoy the development. Come and register!

Click to register now

Click for a free Microsoft case set