Microsoft Game Studios, Scaleform Sign Licensing Agreement For GFx

Scaleform and Microsoft have signed a master license agreement for all of Microsoft Game Studios' first-party developers to incorporate the Scaleform GFx UI middleware into their development pipelines. Microsoft says it's been working with GFx over the past two years selectively, trying it out with its studios including Lionhead, Rare, Ensemble and Ruffian Games, and providing feedback to Scaleform on feature enhancements. Now, Scaleform GFx will be used in the development of Ruffian's Crackdown 2, and the company says Microsoft will embrace GFx as a preferred UI solution for all its teams. Scaleform uses hardware-accelerated Flash combined with Adobe Creative Suite's image, vector and video motion graphics software tools. The company says it's designed to speed up and streamline the development of high-level UI elements and environments. "We have been impressed with the rapid internal adoption and are excited to take the next step in our business relationship, making it easier for MGS and our first-party developers to choose Scaleform," says MGS business manager Jason Mangold.