The Game Development Virtual Machine is a customizable development workstation or build server in Azure, pre-installed with common game development tooling for game creators to build their games in the cloud. Microsoft partnered with the top game development partners to pre-install Visual Studio, Unreal Engine, Perforce Helix Core, Parsec, Teradici, Incredibuild, Blender, DirectX/GDK/PlayFab SDKs and more in a customizable Azure workstation to make deploying your game creation environment simple, seamless, and secure. No additional costs are added above base Azure VM pricing for leveraging this VM, though Solutions like Incredibuild, Parsec and Teradici require you to Bring Your Own License (BYOL) when leveraging those products, and passing in licensing details is configurable on deployment. The Game Development Virtual Machine currently supports Windows Server 2022 and Windows 11 operating systems.

The Game Dev VM is also a great base to build your own custom images from, allowing you to add the additional tooling and configurations that make sense for your game studio’s development workstations and build servers. For the complete list of tools, SDKs and GPU drivers installed on the Game Dev VM, refer to our documentation and other articles on the Game Development Virtual Machine here: Tools included with the Azure Game Development Virtual Machine.

Important: As the Game Dev VM uses GPUs, please make sure you have requested quota for the desired GPU SKU before deploying the VM, otherwise you will receive a quota error. Please refer to our troubleshooting guide on how to check and request the quota here: Troubleshooting Guide. Questions/feedback can be shared on our Discord Channel.

Access to Unreal® Engine is free and is subject to the Unreal Engine End User License Agreement.