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Inside Xbox premiers this weekend at 12PM PT – Episode 1 is about Sea of Thieves

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Inside Xbox is the new show to get all the newest updates.

Microsoft has announced that they’ll be premiering an exclusive new show called “Inside Xbox.”

It airs for the first time this Saturday, March 10 at 112PM PT. The first episode will be an exclusive behind the scenes look at Sea of Thieves. Rare will be there to talk about core concept designs that took place during the development of the game and how feedback from the beta helped revamped the game. They’ll also talk about what’s coming ahead in terms of post-launch content.

Inside Xbox is a monthly show that’ll probably air around the same time every month. Team Xbox will also talk about random announcements like new games, news, and even new additions to Game Pass- Xbox’s $10/month subscription service to many first-party games.

You can watch it on Twitch, Mixer, YouTube, and Facebook. Hosts include Larry Hryb, Jeff Rubenstein, Alex Hebert, Lydia Ellery, Graeme Boyd, and more.

Imag via Xbox Wire.

Microsoft acquires Playfab; focusing on better game development with Azure

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Playfab has been bought out by Microsoft.

Playfab, a platform for game developers to support their online games, has been bought out by Microsoft.

According to a blog post, they’ve acquired the rights to backend Playfab. This isn’t a platform that’s touted in the face of gamers, but rather developers who need something to compute tasks that we take for granted. Things like account info, account linking, players stats, login info, game saves, and tons of other player data that needs to be stored in the cloud so it can be accessed anywhere.

Playfab is sort of like Google Drive or OneCloud for game data. Kinda.

It’s currently being used by over 1,200 titles and over 700 million gamers. That’s pretty significant.

Getting the rights to this property allows the software giant to expand their focus on gaming and development of Xbox One and Windows gaming platforms as well. This allows for an extensive way to complement their existing platform, Microsoft Azure, in order to better the gaming experience. The Corporate VP of Gaming Kareem Choudhry believes this statement.

Playfab has all of this stuff already figured out. Instead of developing it yourself, why not just buy it? Now Azure can be improved for game developers all over the world. It saves Microsoft money. It saves game devs money and hassle from sorting out complicated code. And it saves both parties time and cost by creating a universal environment for them to utilize.

James Gwertzman, CEO of Playfab, wrote a post about the history of the company as well. He wanted to build an infrastructure to accommodate the development of online games.

What’s coming in Sea of Thieves updates

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Sea of Thieves has some hidden gems coming soon.

Some users in a Reddit post have gone through and data-mined Sea of Thieve’s code to discover what features are coming up next based on a report via VG247.

If you haven’t heard about this game, it’s developed by Rare and is probably the next big MMORPG. It’s a pirate-themed online experience complete with combat, boats, and everything that entails a pirate on the seas. How could you have not heard of it?

They’ve discovered a bunch of stuff ranging from NPCs, landmarks, weapons, and treasures maps. That’s all the common stuff you’d expect from future updates anyway.

But there are some real golden nuggets you may want to tip you pirate hat at coming in a future patch you may want to look out for.

Spoiler alert: Those who don’t want to get their goods spoiled should stop reading here.

Some notable discoveries in the code include:

  • The Kraken is a threat to ships because it wraps them up and drags them underwater. This seems to be a new monster in a near update.
  • Players can soon play instruments like banjos, fiddles, drums, and ukeleles.
  • Ship customization is going all out as well- you can swap your mast, livery, wheel, cargo, and figureheads.
  • New maps are coming like the Caribbean and such.
  • Bugs patches and error fixes.
  • Besides this, users are constantly posting new discovering. You may want to keep your eye on the Sea of Thieves subreddit for new updates.

The beta will run until January 31st, so there’s still some time to mess around with the game. Or if you’re already all-hands-on-deck about it, you can pre-order it right now on their official site. The launch is scheduled on March 19, 2018 and will retail for $59.99. And it’ll be available for just Xbox One, Windows 10, and Xbox One X. It’ll also have Play Anywhere included.

You can get more info on their site.

Image via Sea of Thieves site.

Microsoft Studios gets a new seasoned veteran takeover

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Microsoft Studios gets Matt Booty as the new boss.

Matt Booty is now the CEO of Microsoft Studios.

He wears the new badge of the previous holder- Phile Spencer. Spencer was promoted to Executive VP for Games by Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella.

So, what’s Booty in charge of at MS Studios?

Well, if you’ve played any game developed by Microsoft, he’s in charge of that- pretty much. They’re in charge of developing and publishing first-party titles across platforms like Windows 10, Android, iOS, and Xbox. Some games are also released on PS4 and Nintendo Switch, such as Minecraft. Spencer is still a part of the department, as Booty will report to him and develop a strategy for their studio. Booty overseas all the other departments, such as software, hardware, and online play.

Previously, Booty was just in charge of Mojang, which is the developer behind Minecraft.

Booty had a previous history of working for companies like Midway Games as an engineer and then later CEO of the same company. He joined Microsoft in 2010 and built games for Windows Phone and Xbox Live Arcade.

He’s a seasoned veteran and believes in “great games” and that “content is extremely important.”

Either way, it’s nice to see people shifting around. This brings in new tides for Microsoft Studios and possibly new processes.