Microsoft has acquired SyntaxTree, the developer of the UnityVS plug-in for Visual Studio for an undisclosed amount.

Microsoft Developer Division chief Soma Somasegar announced the acquisition in a blog post on July 2.

Microsoft is planning to use UnityVS to integrate even tighter into Visual Studio the cross-platform Unity-game development framework.

Over the past year-plus, Microsoft officials have been forging a number of partnerships with tool and framework vendors to try to grow the number of Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 apps. Microsoft has struck deals with Unity, Havok, Marmalade and Corona Labs to help bring more games to its platforms

"In today's mobile-first, cloud-first world, Visual Studio provides a great development environment for game developers targeting the breadth of mobile devices, and connecting to the rich services platforms in Azure," Somasegar blogged.

In a July 2 note on the SyntaxTree site, company officials said employees of SyntaxTree would be joining Microsoft's Visual Studio team.

Those who previously purchased UnityVS tools from SyntaxTree should expect to hear from the UnityVS team with details about their ongoing service, according to the note.