Microsoft has launched an Xbox Game Studios Publishing Cloud gaming division to create "cloud-native" games.

The company will develop titles designed for the Microsoft Azure cloud service.

"We believe that cloud gaming has a huge potential upside for reach and accessibility," senior director of Cloud Gaming Kim Swift said at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2022.

Swift is best known for her work at Valve with games such as Portal and Left 4 Dead, but went on to work for Google's ill-fated Stadia cloud gaming division, until the studio was closed in February 2021.

She said that the company was looking to develop "unprecedented experiences to players that can only be achieved with cloud technology."

Microsoft currently offers a cloud gaming service, Xbox Cloud, but it just provides access to streamed games that otherwise could run on local devices, like the Xbox or PC.

The new publishing division aims to develop or publish games that are only possible with the power of a cloud data center, with Swift mentioning more advanced AI or detailed physics.

At GDC, Amazon also launched AWS for Games, a dedicated set of products and services for the games industry.