Former Portal dev hints at Xbox publishing cloud-exclusive games

gamesradar.com:

A Portal developer is helping boost Xbox's cloud gaming efforts.

As first reported by IGN, former Valve and Portal developer Kim Swift introduced a new initiative within the Xbox Game Studios Publishing group. The new group within Xbox is aiming to "develop Cloud Native games to bring unprecedented experiences to players that can only be achieved with Cloud Technology."

As IGN points out, that description sure sounds like Swift's new group is aiming to develop games that can only be run utilizing the cloud, and not enhance games that run on the cloud system and other platforms besides. Right now though, there's no information as to how Swift's group might achieve this. 

Additionally, it's worth noting that Swift's group is located within the Xbox Game Studios Publishing group, and not specifically in Xbox Game Studios. This points to the new group publishing titles made outside of the Xbox Game Studios group, which contains developers such as 343 and The Coalition.

Swift was first hired to Xbox last year in June 2021, said to be advancing the company's three core pillars at the time. These were community, innovation, and inclusivity, but Swift was specifically hired as the senior director of cloud gaming at Xbox. Now, nearly a year later, we're beginning to get a better idea of Swift's role at the company, and Xbox's continued push towards cloud gaming as a whole.

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