E3 2018: Microsoft Acquires Multiple Studios
One of the main Highlights for Microsoft E3 2018 Press conference is their acquisition, of a number of studios in order to bolster their first party catalog, as they are currently struggling to compete against the high-quality first party games that Sony is outputting for the PlayStation 4.
The studios that were confirmed by Phil Spencer are the following:
- The Initiative – This is the new Santa Monica based studio headed by famed Darrell Gallagher, former studio head at Crystal Dynamics, of Tomb Raider fame. It is suggested that this studio is behind the development of the “AAAA” game for the next-generation of Xbox Consoles.
- Undead Labs – a Seattle-based studio that is known for the State of Decay series. Undead Labs is being led by Jeff Strain, who has previous experience at Blizzard and ArenaNet before heading to Undead Labs.
- Playground Games – UK Based Developers of the Forza Horizon Series, Spencer indicated that the studio has been exclusively making Forza Horizon games, however, it will now be focusing on bringing their “open-world expertise to an entirely new project.”
- Ninja Theory – Developers of DMC: Devil May cry and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Phil Spencer has previously worked with this studio in the past to bring the smash bros inspired Kung Fu Chaos for the original Xbox.
- Compulsion Games – Canadian-based studio behind the development of We Happy Few, currently they are working with Gearbox Software in order to publish We Happy Few, it is unclear what is going to happen to those plans under Microsoft ownership.
As you can see, Microsoft is committed to bolster their first party studios in order offer the fans a comprehensive library of first party titles for the current and next generation Xbox Consoles, we can only hope that the fruits of their investment can enable Microsoft to truly compete against Sony in the first Party Department.
Source – Polygon
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