The former UK boss of Xbox Harvey Eagle has been put in charge of Microsoft's Azure Gaming team in the UK.

As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, the Big M has expanded its Azure Gaming initiative, the aim of which is to have more developers use its cloud technology, as well as the other components of Microsoft's Game Stack. This includes the Havok physics engine, Visual Studio and Direct X.

The rollout of Azure Gaming UK follows Microsoft bringing the initiative into South Korea and Japan.

Eagle's move to Azure Gaming follows 21 years at Xbox; he joined the firm in 2000 as advertising manager for EMEA before rising to become business lead for Xbox in the UK and Ireland. In 2019, he moved to become director of product marketing for Xbox Live.

"Microsoft is committed to bringing its cloud capabilities and game development tools and services to developers and publishers around the world," Eagle told us. "Our CEO Satya Nadella listed 'empowering creators' as one of three key advantages Microsoft has in the industry; another proof point demonstrating that we are all-in on gaming.

"Following successful investments in South Korea and Japan, this is the first dedicated Azure gaming sales team to be established in Europe, in recognition of the highly respected and successful game development community that exists in the UK.

"The focus of my new role is to leverage all of the tools and services in the Microsoft Game Stack to help UK game creators throughout their cycle -- from concept and development, to attracting players and growing through engagement, retention, and monetization. I want to make it easy for any developer to get onto Azure and make use of those tools and services. I'm really excited to see how we can help game creators of all sizes make amazing games."