Microsoft & Agawi Form Partnership, Cloud Gaming Coming To Windows 8

With the purchase of Gaikai by Sony and the near death of OnLive it seems Microsoft is now getting into the cloud gaming market. The Redmond giant has formed a partnership with Agawi in order to offer social, mid-tier games, web-based MMOs and core PC games via cloud to Windows 8 devices. They plan to do this by leveraging Windows Azure and Agawi 2.0 in order to enable developers to make games more easily accessible across multiple devices. The big question at this point is if Microsoft will be bringing this functionality to the next Xbox game console. In an interview with Forbes, Peter Relan, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, has said “I suspect that is the logical thing for them to do. Its a good transitional play to introduce it in their next console.” Time will tell if it pans out but it certainly seems like Microsoft doesn’t want to be left out of the cloud gaming market, it also should prove beneficial to consumers on the go that just want to enjoy a game when they have a free moment.