Microsoft has signed an agreement to acquire Beam, an interactive live streaming service in an attempt to real-time game streaming service called Xbox Play Anywhere.Beam is a game streaming service that involved real-time participation by the viewer directly into a streamer’s game play and live broadcast.Beam’s platform has been successfully able to convert the traditional watch-and-chat experience into a more immersive interactive one.Microsoft’s Beam acquisition is an attempt to strengthen company’s Xbox gaming service. Microsoft says it is bringing Beam’s inventive technology into the Xbox family to make Xbox Live more social and fun.Beam’s interactive streaming platform can be enabled with any game. With Minecraft, for instance, Beam users can not only see their favourite streamer play but also play along with them.‘Beam remains committed to its mission of empowering users and streamers across platforms and will now be better positioned to grow and give more back to the community,’ said Beam’s CEO Matt Salsamendi in his blog post.Beam is a challenger to some other game streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube and with their growing success and Microsoft’s cross platform synergy for gaming, it was but natural that Xbox needed a competitive support platform.It is unclear Microsoft plans to integrate Beam into its own Xbox platform and bring interactive game streaming across Xbox games, reports The Indian EXPRESS.‘We at Xbox are excited about this convergence between playing and watching, and want to provide gamers with the freedom and choice to have great multiplayer experiences across all of Beam’s platforms. This acquisition will help gamers enjoy the games they want, with the people they want, and on the devices they want,’ Chad Gibson, a partner group program manager, Xbox Live said in a blog post.Microsoft has been steadily acquiring startups and big name tech organisation in order to strengthen some of its core services.Early this year, Microsoft acquired LinkedIn for a record $26 billion in order to better connect with professionals and expand its productivity services.With Beam, Microsoft would try to strengthen its core Xbox Live service while Beam will gain resources to build its product into a bigger game streaming platform.