Unity Picks Up Microsoft’s Azure Cloud to Improve its Developer Tools

Microsoft announced this morning that Unity, a popular cross-platform game engine has chosen Azure as its cloud partner. Unity will use Microsoft’s Azure cloud to improve its developer tools and make it easier for game developers and artists to create real-time 3D (RT3D) experiences.

“Unity is building a platform-agnostic, cloud-native solution that meets the wide-ranging needs of all developers from enterprise through citizen creators. By giving creators easy access to RT3D simulation tools and the ability to create digital twins of real-world places and objects, Unity is offering creators an easy path to production of RT3D assets, whether for games or non-gaming worlds,” explained Sarah Bond, VFP of Game Creator Experiences and Ecosystem at Microsoft.

In the announcement, Microsoft highlighted how the creation of 3D interactive experiences is no longer restricted to the video games industry. “As the need for real-time simulation becomes central to every industry ranging from e-commerce to energy, manufacturing to medical and more, Unity and Microsoft are building the creator cloud that empowers 3D artists to build and run those experiences on Azure,” the exec emphasized.

In addition to this partnership on developer tools, Microsoft and Unity will also make it easier for developers using Unity to publish their games on Xbox and PC. This may become an important differentiator for a game engine like Unity which has to compete with juggernauts such as Epic Games’ Unreal Engine.