Historically around this time of the year, I like to share an update on the state of the partner ecosystem from Microsoft’s One Commercial Partner (OCP) organization. Given the impact and magnitude of the COVID-19 situation, I think now more than ever, it’s important to continue to focus on our path forward. In this vein, you may have seen the information I recently shared on resources and program updates to specifically help partners navigate through the COVID-19 world we are all now operating in.

The Microsoft partner community is a powerful ecosystem. For decades, it has been and continues to be at the center of how we bring technologies and business transformation to customers in markets around the world. Today, Microsoft partners are playing a critical role helping companies everywhere adjust to a new way of working. The remote-work, business continuity solutions and services they’re delivering during this global pandemic will be the foundation of workplace productivity moving forward.

With this in mind, I’d like to share some updates on where we’re going and what we’re doing to help our partners continue to make more possible in the months and years to come.

Updates

We support partners in several ways through our extensive technology portfolio, global reach, training and skill investments, but we are continuing to evolve how we work together in order to maximize the value of their partnership with Microsoft. Here are some of the things we’re working on:

Program updates:

• Increased learning opportunities: We’re giving partners increased access to training, support and go-to-market services.

• Focus on differentiated value: Partners will have more options to differentiate their skills and expertise to customers with new competencies, advanced specializations and through the Azure Expert MSP Program.

• Rewarding customer success: Partners are increasingly earning rewards for driving strong results and positive outcomes for their customers, with reward models specifically designed to help build and accelerate growth.

Enhanced tools:

• Partner Center: Partners are onboarding this year to Partner Center, which provides a centralized experience for partners and a single place to manage their relationship with Microsoft, their customers and other partners. Streamlining a number of processes into one place makes it easier for partners to do business with Microsoft.

• On-demand support: We’re working on new ways to give partners quicker and easier access to Microsoft support to help them better solve challenges and meet customer needs.

• Evolved co-selling programs: To further support our commitment to shared growth and profitability within ecosystem, partners can access co-selling programs so they can accept and share referrals from Microsoft (first-party solutions) and other partners (third-party solutions).

These capabilities are just the beginning. They only scratch the surface, as we continue to prioritize investments that support new opportunities to position our partners for growth in the future.

Investment strategy

Fueled by the market opportunities we see through tech intensity, digital transformation, and the cloud, we need to continue evolving in order to meet emerging customer needs and expectations. We’re committed to investing in and delivering what partners need to innovate, grow their businesses and deliver on the promise of digital transformation for customers across organizations and industries.

As we look ahead, here are just a few of the areas for partner opportunity we see:

• Teams for modern business: Now more than ever, the ability to connect remotely is vital, whether that be with coworkers, friends or family. Partners have an opportunity to support activation and usage for their customers. We’re seeing adoption and change management partners focus on extensions to further customize to their customers’ business needs.

• Tech intensity: Partners have an increasing number of ways they can help meet customers’ emerging needs and expectations. One is supporting their movement toward tech intensity, as organizations move past adopting the latest technologies and develop their own digital capabilities.

• Azure migration: The latest versions of Windows Server, SQL Server and Windows Virtual Desktop offer tremendous opportunity for businesses to secure and modernize their workloads. Our partners are in a unique position to help customers migrate to the cloud and unlock the benefits of Azure to transform workloads with the latest data and AI capabilities.

• Security: While the cloud has opened the door for a myriad of possibilities, it has also made security a top priority for customers. Security is engineered into our products, but we are counting on partners to help secure the customer’s environment from endpoint to datacenter.

New offerings

To ensure our partners have the resources and support necessary to grow their businesses, we are consistently listening to feedback and ideas. This helps inform the investments we’re making and the ways we’re evolving to drive even greater value.

Below are two offerings we’ve recently launched:

• New advanced specialization: Competencies remain important for all partners, but advanced specializations provide the opportunity to further highlight technical scenarios where partners are delivering high quality services and differentiate themselves from the competition. At Inspire 2019, we unveiled five new specializations, and recently added one more to the mix on April 7. The Adoption and Change Management Advanced Specialization allows partners to showcase proven expertise in Adoption and Change Management to drive usage of Microsoft Teams, SharePoint and Yammer.

• New Teams Practice Development Playbook: The Teams Practice Development Playbook, launched on April 6, is designed to help partners understand the growth opportunity that Microsoft Teams provides to them as well as to their customers. Topics covered include which areas of Teams to focus on, how to cross-sell, suggestions for approaching governance, and an overview of add-ons and customizations.

In addition, we’re proud that another one of our partners – Wipro Limited, a leading global information technology consulting and business process company – recently launched a dedicated Microsoft Business Unit (MBU).  Wipro’s new business unit will focus on the development and evangelization of solutions leveraging Microsoft’s enterprise cloud services. Earlier this year, Tata Consultancy Services and HCL announced their own MBUs.

It’s exciting to see three new MBUs since the start of the fiscal year as it continues to affirm the benefits our partners see when they can dive deep with our solutions.

Global partner impact

We know that partners help make more possible. That sentiment rings especially true during the unprecedented times we’re operating in today. Every day I hear stories of partners stepping up to address scientific and business continuity needs related to COVID-19. Here are just a few:

• Rescale: Researchers, engineers and scientists are in a race against time, running countless computer simulations to develop test kits and a vaccine. Unfortunately, researchers often face barriers to running large-scale simulations. Rescale, a leader in enterprise big compute, has joined forces with Microsoft Azure and other tech companies to create a new initiative entitled “Tech vs COVID” that immediately offers high performance computing (HPC) resources at no cost to teams working to develop test kits and vaccines for COVID-19.

• BlueYonder: COVID-19 is having an enormous impact on global supply chain. There is high demand for medical equipment and supplies, and a shortage of medical parts and products. Through real-time visibility, AI and machine learning, BlueYonder’s data science team is feeding data into its AI-driven Luminate Control Tower platform to help visualize and predict current and future impacts of the coronavirus. The insight is helping governments and companies have better inventory visibility, predict shortages and adapt to the dynamic supply chain challenges.

• Velrada: Specially-trained Red Cross volunteers are calling Australians who are currently self-isolating, providing psychological first aid support during the COVID-19 pandemic. Working with Microsoft partner Velrada and using Dynamics 365 and Power BI, the Red Cross has deployed an easy-to-use platform that lets volunteers work from home as they make the calls and check on an individual’s well-being.  
  

These incredible stories are a testament to the impact our partners have in “normal” times and extraordinary times like we’re experiencing today. Satya recently noted that, “No one company is going to solve a challenge like this alone…Our unique role as a platform and tools provider allows us to connect the dots, bring together an ecosystem of partners, and enable organizations of all sizes to build the digital capability required to address these challenges.”

Echoing his sentiment above, as we navigate this unpredictable environment together, I want to assure our partners that Microsoft is committed to working to safeguard business continuity and ensure our ecosystem is set up to reach its full potential. We look forward to continuing to evolve our relationship with all of our partners in the months and years to come.

Remember Gravilogic’s stylish “Switchblade” rail covers/kickstand we shared way back in October 2018? The Switch accessory started out life as a Kickstarter campaign and was fully funded by the end of its first day.

According to an update on the Kickstarter page, the company is now working on a highly requested aluminum matte black set. Here’s the full rundown:

We would like to thank you for your continued support in making our project, Switchblades for the Nintendo Switch, a success. Numerous customers have asked about Switchblades in all black to match the natural color and style of the Switch. We have developed a solution to make this a reality. We call this version of the Switchblade, Black Bird. They are aluminum switchblades powdered coated in matte black to give it a durable and tactile finish.

To help with funding, Gravilogic is running a Kickstarter-like campaign on its own website called Project Black Bird. Backers pledge for the product (priced at $35.00 USD), and if 1,050 orders are reached, it will go into development. The campaign runs from now until 8th May. If the goal is reached, all of the pledges will then be processed, and delivery is tentatively scheduled for October this year.

Would you back these matte black version of the Switchblades? Tell us below.

As the world responds to the outbreak of COVID-19, many of us have been urged by our local governments to stay home. Containing the spread of the virus is one of the best things we can do to protect our fellow humans. If you are a gamer, you’ve been training for this moment for your whole life. If you possess the heart of a Guardian, however, you might be wrestling with an urge to do more!

In response to these trying times, Bungie is excited to announce the Guardian’s Heart fundraising initiative. In partnership with Direct Relief, and in collaboration with our community, we want to bring the full might of the Bungie community to support the healthcare workers and frontline responders who are confronting this global healthcare crisis.

Our Partners

According to their own Mission: “Direct Relief is a humanitarian aid organization, active in all 50 states and more than 80 countries, with a mission to improve the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies – without regard to politics, religion, or ability to pay.”

We have worked previously with Direct Relief to provide aid to survivors of a devastating earthquake in Nepal. We knew we would want to work with them again someday, so we created an in-game emblem using their colors (more on that below). For this fundraising response initiative, all the money that we raise as Guardians will go directly to them.

The Beneficiaries

Direct Relief will work with a network of providers across the globe to deliver the supplies that healthcare workers need. This includes basic personal protective equipment, including gloves, masks, gowns, and face shields. The hospitals where they work will also receive food covers, prescription medication, portable oxygen concentrators, ventilators, and other intensive care unit equipment.

Your Reward

Click here to make your donation to Direct Relief now!

Please Note:

Player Support Documentation

Players will receive an email within one week after completing their donation that will contain the emblem code and instructions on how to redeem the code on Bungie.net.

Destiny 2 Item Code Redemption:

After redeeming the emblem, players will be able to pull the emblem from their in-game Collections under Flair > Events.

We may have to stay home, but there is a lot we can do as a community to support the heroes who are still going out into the world every day to care for the sick. Guardians have proven to be a tremendous force for good in the world and your generosity in supporting others in the fight against COVID-19 is inspiring. Thank you.

The Gamasutra Job Board is the most diverse, active and established board of its kind for the video game industry!

Here is just one of the many, many positions being advertised right now.

Location: Novato, California

Visual Concepts is one of the world’s top game development studios with a flat, entrepreneurial, and non-corporate work environment. We have a proven track record having shipped over 100 multi-SKU titles to great critical acclaim.

A pioneer in video games across multiple generations and the creator of some of the top-rated video game franchises including 2K Sports and the NBA 2K series, Visual Concepts is widely regarded as one of the world’s top studios. A subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (TTWO), Visual Concepts continues to innovate in gameplay, creativity and technology.

Our studios in Novato, CA; Agoura Hills, CA; Foothill Ranch, CA; Budapest, Hungary; Shanghai, China; and Seoul, South Korea are committed to gaming and technical innovation and offer top candidates the opportunity to learn and grow with some of the smartest and most creative minds in the industry.

We have a super flat structure where initiative and smarts and passion make things happen, and politics simply don’t exist. For these reasons, and because of our consistent stability and success as a studio, some of the world’s smartest people come here and stay here.

What You Will Do:

• Work with designers to understand and define design requirements
• Prototype, iterate, and polish to deliver on design vision
• Implement and maintain systems and features that drive the shared online components used by the client team (matchmaking, game invites, voice chat, arbitration, presence, etc.)
• Work with the server team to establish and enforce service contracts for features you own
• Write clean, efficient, and reliable code
• Design systems and interfaces for use by other teams
• Debug stability, usability, and performance issues

Who We Think Will Be A Great Fit:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent qualifications
• Minimum 2 years of experience in the games industry
• Excellent C/C++ skills
• Excellent communication skills and ability to work effectively across disciplines
• Ability to adapt to a highly customized and well-established development environment
• Self-motivated and able to work independently
• Experience applying common optimization techniques
• Passion for developing great games

Bonus:

• Experience working with first party online SDKs
• Experience with cross-platform AAA development
• Knowledge of first party certification requirements for online features
• Experience working with a large codebase

Interested? Apply now.

Whether you’re just starting out, looking for something new, or just seeing what’s out there, the Gamasutra Job Board is the place where game developers move ahead in their careers.

Gamasutra’s Job Board is the most diverse, most active, and most established board of its kind in the video game industry, serving companies of all sizes, from indie to triple-A.

Looking for a new job? Get started here. Are you a recruiter looking for talent? Post jobs here.

Copies of Animal Crossing: New Horizons have been pulled from online retailers in China, a removal Reuters says is the Chinese government’s response to its use by vocal activists calling for Hong Kong’s independence from China.

While the Nintendo Switch officially launched in China late last year, New Horizons isn’t one of the few games approved and officially available for purchase in China at this point, so those in search of the game instead turn to gray market online retailers to secure a copy.

Those gray market retailers technically ban the sale of imported games, but actual enforcement of that rule tends to be lax and inconsistent. Niko Partners’ Daniel Ahmad has an insightful thread on the whole debacle that dives into the history and reason for this sudden enforcement.

In addition to what’s mentioned by the Reuters report, Ahmad notes that sellers on the storefront Taobao have been told they cannot list imported versions of New Horizons though both note that the prevalence of user-made content critical of the Chinese government is likely at least partially to blame for the removal.

Humble have launched a new Humble Bundle of interest to game developers, this one is the Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning bundle, a collection of e-books from Morgan & Claypool Publishers.

As with all Humble Bundles it is split into tiers:

1$ Tier

· Human Computation

· Data-Intensive Text Processing with MapReduce

· Essentials of Game Theory: A Concise Multidisciplinary Introduction

8$ Tier

· Introduction to Intelligent Systems in Traffic and Transportation

· Metric Learning

· Statistical Relational Artificial Intelligence: Logic, Probability, and Computation

· Data Management in Machine Learning Systems

· Natural Language Processing for Social Media, Second Edition

· Covariances in Computer Vision and Machine Learning

15$ Tier

· Introduction to Semi-Supervised Learning

· Algorithms for Reinforcement Learning

· Active Learning

· Adversarial Machine Learning

· Lifelong Machine Learning, Second Edition

· Detecting Fake News on Social Media

· Sentiment Analysis and Opinion Mining

· Neural Network Methods for Natural Language Processing

· Creating Autonomous Vehicle Systems

· A Guide to Convolutional Neural Networks for Computer Vision

With Humble Bundles you can decide how your money is allocated, between Humble, charity, the publisher and (thanks so much if you do!) to support GFS if you purchase using this link. Learn more about the bundle in the video below.

GameDev News Sale

By William Gallagher
Monday, April 13, 2020, 09:49 am PT (12:49 pm ET)

Chipmaker TSMC has lost a significant order from Huawei, only to find Apple buying up all of its production capacity, for what is believed to be the “iPhone 12.”

Apple has long been using supplier TSMC to manufacture its A-series processors, specifically 7-nanometer ones as used in iPhone XS’s A12. Apple has also been known to be developing a 5nm processor with the company, and now industry sources report that orders have increased.

According to the China Taiwan Economic Daily, Apple has asked TSMC to produce almost 10,000 further processors in the fourth quarter of this year. The use of a 5nm processor and being produced in that quarter suggests that the order is for the A14 which is to be used in the iPhone 12.

The move reportedly follows Huawei’s cancellation of approximately that same amount. While there is no indication from either TSMC or Huawei why the order was reduced, the phone maker is currently facing new criminal charges in the US, and has been substantially affected by the coronavirus.

TSMC is now said to have adjusted plans for its 5nm process because of the impact of COVID-19 on demand, though reportedly it remains on schedule.

The China Taiwan Economic Daily report citing unnamed industry sources, was first spotted by Chinese-language site IT Home.

Every one of us has experienced an upheaval in how we operate day-to-day the past few weeks. Some moments are tough. Others pull at your heart. But within all of that, people have shown they can adapt, grow, and learn together. My team at Microsoft, Marketing and Consumer Business (MCB), has been working around the clock to answer questions and provide guidance and support during a very uncertain time. I wanted to share what we’ve learned over the past month from our employees, customers, and our partners.

We’re building connections—in a time when we’re practicing social distancing.

Right now, people around the world rely on digital tools that enable collaboration, creation, and connection. Whether people are getting together for remote work or distance learning, a happy hour with old friends or a family game night, we’ve seen Microsoft Teams become an essential tool. Teams is a reliable, secure, and accessible platform that brings together video conferencing, file sharing, and so much more into a central hub for teamwork. Coupled with across-the-board support, Teams has quickly become the tool businesses, governments, and educators (including the world’s oldest university) choose.

We’re providing critical solutions for healthcare organizations on the front lines. St. Luke’s University Health Network in Pennsylvania is using Teams to video chat with patients most vulnerable to COVID-19. And when a hospital in Shanghai needed a communications tool, we got it up and running in days.

When an elementary school needed to stream its graduation ceremony, we helped them coordinate everything in less than a week. From supporting big moments like these to providing digital, industry-specific training, we try to anticipate people’s needs and help them navigate our products.

One thing I’ve loved seeing is how Teams encourages people to dream bigger and try new things, from graduations to global wine tastings. Despite all that’s happening around us, people continue to adapt, and what they come up with can surprise and inspire us all.

We’re thinking creatively about how to support our employees and our customers.

When we made the tough decision to temporarily close our Microsoft Store locations, we offered our store associates an entirely optional opportunity to work from home—and even though they didn’t need to do it, nearly 80% raised their hand. Moments like these leave me in awe because it speaks volumes to the kind of people that make up Microsoft. These are people who say “yes” because they see the value in what we’re doing together and believe that we each can play an important role in helping others.

True to form, our associates have exceeded our expectations. Every day, they bring their skills and knowledge to support customers, from enterprise to education, with energy and enthusiasm. They’re leveraging their talents in new and interesting ways—in just one month, they’ve trained 65,000 people, addressed hundreds of support questions, assisted with numerous outbound sales calls, and conducted virtual meetings to demonstrate tech. This has enabled us to keep our company moving forward, empower our employees, and respond to increased customer demands—a win-win-win!

We’re innovating to support customers, partners, and the changing landscape.

Once we realized that people around the world would need to shift to virtual events, our production teams quickly mobilized to provide the support needed to make those digital transformations. We’ve developed a scalable framework, and we’re sharing best practices we learned along the way, working with our customers to reimagine what’s possible and create successful solutions and experiences for all. For example, when Nuance Communications needed to pivot its global R&D conference to virtual-only, we helped make that happen—helping them save money, decrease the event’s overall carbon footprint, and more importantly enabled them to keep people excited. We’re also putting these learnings into action within Microsoft as we look to pivot all future events in the next fiscal year to digital-first experiences.

Moving forward, we remain committed to providing spaces where connections are formed, innovation is accelerated, and new paths are forged with our customers and partners.

We’re doing our part to support our communities.

We’ve partnered with The Seattle Foundation, United Way King County (UWKC), and other businesses to develop the COVID-19 Response Fund. We’ve donated medical supplies and meals. We’ve encouraged a culture of giving. But to address the severity of this pandemic, we know it’s going to take much more—and it’s going to take everyone.

That’s why we recently launched Give with Bing, a new way to support the causes people care about by simply searching with Bing. All a user needs to do is switch on “Give Mode” to join Microsoft Rewards, and their searches will earn points that are automatically donated to a nonprofit of their choosing. It’s an easy way to give back and raise money for vulnerable communities.

Microsoft employees are also mobilizing within their communities, putting into action the mission and values that underscore all we do. Follow #MicrosoftTogether on Twitter and LinkedIn and help me celebrate the work our teams are leading, from gathering food donations, raising money, and bringing forward innovative and inclusive design ideas.

The reality is that we’re not sure what’s to come. What we do know is that we’re in this together. People and organizations across communities are coming together in new ways, going above and beyond what’s expected. Take UWKC—not only have they partnered with us, the team has also established a COVID-19 Community Relief Fund designed to further fill gaps to ensure people can access essential items and housing assistance during this time.

I’m humbled by the work people are doing within and beyond Microsoft to address this pandemic. As the weeks go on, I hope we can continue this momentum and move closer toward a solution.