GDC 2018, this year's edition of the Game Developers Conference, is due to begin next week at San Francisco's Moscone Center.

　　As usual, this will be mostly an event geared towards developers rather than consumers. Microsoft announced their plans at GDC 2018 in a blog post focused on enticing studios to use the company's cloud synergy between Azure and the newly acquired PlayFab.

　　In case you're a developer attending the event and interesting in hearing more about this, below you can find all the relevant information you'll need.

　　Start Your Visit at the Microsoft Azure Booth

　　We invite you to come to the South Hall Lower Lobby of the Moscone Center and stop by our dedicated Microsoft Azure booth to learn how you can create a gaming empire by building on the gaming cloud that has powered Xbox for years.

　　The Azure booth will have a wide range of activities for game developers:

　　Come talk to experts about Azure, PlayFab, Visual Studio, App Center, Mixer, Xbox Live, Mixed Reality and more.Visit four stations to claim a custom, free Xbox controller, and enter to win an Xbox One X daily.Play our mixed reality game Pinball Lizard and take home the sample source code – and get the high score of the day to win an Xbox One X.Play Darwin Project, a 10-player battle royale game that offers audience interaction through Mixer, with a shoutcaster moderating and streaming the action live.Attend one of the many in-depth theater sessions or watch one-on-one interviews with product experts across a variety of topics, directly in the booth.We will also host three Azure sponsored sessions at GDC that show how Next Games, Fluffy Fairy, and others build to scale with Azure and PlayFab. Come ask about our special offer of $2,500 worth of PlayFab, App Center and Azure services that are free for a year.

　　The entire Azure expo experience will show you what’s possible, while giving you the tools and code on how to build it.

　　Continue Your Learning of Our Cloud Offerings at the PlayFab Booth

　　Building on our efforts in the gaming cloud with Azure, in January we welcomed PlayFab to the growing slate of cloud offerings. PlayFab is a backend platform for games, delivering powerful real-time tools and services for LiveOps. With Azure and PlayFab services you concentrate on making a great game, not creating the backend. “You make it fun, we’ll make it run” we like to say.

　　While here, pick up a free copy of our brand new book “The PlayFab Definitive Guide to LiveOps” which gives an introduction to LiveOps, covers a detailed compendium of LiveOps techniques, and lists the LiveOps tools and services PlayFab offers.

　　Complete Your Learning by Attending Our Sponsored Sessions

　　Microsoft will be hosting 12 sponsored sessions throughout the week at GDC 2018. Developers can learn more about:

　　Creating games through the ID@Xbox and Creators Programs;using artificial intelligence to support game developers;new APIs for developers that will give gamers higher fidelity visuals than ever before;how to leverage Mixer’s game streaming platform to attract and engage players into your experience;and more.For a full list of sponsored sessions available to attend at GDC 2018, check out the Session Scheduler here.