Microsoft Corp. and Boosteroid have announced a 10-year agreement to bring Xbox PC games to the latter’s cloud gaming platform.
Boosteroid, which has its software development team in Ukraine, recently surpassed four million users globally and has become the largest independent cloud gaming provider in the world. The agreement will also enable Boosteroid customers to stream Activision Blizzard PC titles after Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision closes.
When combined with other partnerships recently announced by Microsoft, this means popular franchises such as Call of Duty will surpass more than 150 million additional players, and make games built by Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda and Activision Blizzard playable on multiple cloud gaming services and subscriptions.
“We believe in the power of games to bring people together,” said Microsoft CEO of gaming Phil Spencer. “That’s why Xbox is committed to give everyone more ways to play their favourite games across devices. Bringing Xbox PC games to Boosteroid members, including Activision Blizzard titles such as Call of Duty once the deal closes, is yet another step in realising that vision.”
“With our development team based in Ukraine, we appreciate Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to Ukraine, and we will be working together on an initiative supporting our local game development community to invest further in the economic recovery of the country,” said Boosteroid CEO Ivan Shvaichenko.
Boosteroid has operated since 2017 and has its research and development operations in Ukraine, based mostly in Kyiv and Kharkiv. Despite having two offices in Kharkiv damaged by Russian missile attacks, the company has continued to innovate and grow during the past 13 months of war. Since the beginning of 2023 alone, it has announced new steps to bring added cloud-based gaming services to the Mac, Chromebooks, Android set-top boxes and LG TVs. It offers cloud game streaming through both browser-based and dedicated applications, including for Windows, Linux, Android, Android TV and the macOS.
“Microsoft partnering with Boosteroid is welcome news and further evidence of the company’s ongoing support for Ukraine. Boosteroid’s Ukrainian dev team has built a world-class streaming platform under the most challenging circumstances and demonstrates the ingenuity and creativity of our citizens and local game developers,” said Ukraine’s vice prime minister and minister of digital transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.
In addition to Ukraine itself, Boosteroid now serves gamers in the United States, United Kingdom and countries across the European Union. It operates through data center operations located in six US states, including Microsoft’s home state of Washington, as well as in the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Slovakia, Romania, Ukraine and Serbia.
“This partnership builds on the $430 million in technology and financial assistance we have provided Ukraine since Russia’s unlawful invasion, and it exemplifies the steps we will continue to take to support Ukraine’s 160,000 software developers,” said Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith. “It also adds to our recent agreements with Nintendo and NVIDIA, making even more clear to regulators that our acquisition of Activision Blizzard will make Call of Duty available on far more devices than before.”
The gaming community is a vibrant part of Ukraine’s software ecosystem. Microsoft recently added support for the Ukrainian language for the Xbox console dashboard, PC and mobile apps. In spring 2023, Microsoft will launch PC Game Pass in Ukraine.
