Xbox Acquires Playground Games and 4 Other Studios

[ManteoMax]

Xbox exec explains what Microsoft’s five new studios have in common
Head of Microsoft Studios Matt Booty talks about what the acquisitions mean for Xbox
By Chris Plante@plante
Jun 12, 2018, 8:00am EDT
https://www.polygon.com/e3/2018/6/12/17450432/xbox-exec-interview-matt-booty-studio-acquisitions

Polygon: When you’re making these acquisitions, I wonder if you’re trying to build up a portfolio. You have, obviously the racer, you have the shooter, you have the third-person shooter. Were you going into this quest or hunt with specific things you were looking for to fill out that portfolio?

Booty: That’s such a great question. The reason I like it is because very explicitly we did not set out with a spreadsheet like, “We need two of these, two of these, one of these, maybe we’ll have a couple of these.” Rather it comes back to we want to seek out and find the people and the teams that really show expertise in the craft of games and have a very creative point of view. In some cases, like with Playground, it’s a studio that we’ve worked with for six or seven years. With them, I think of a studio that has really pulled off something very difficult to do. They partnered with Turn 10 to expand an existing franchise. They did it in a way that’s super true to the Forza series, but made Forza Horizon, which has its own identity, its own kind of gameplay, but yet sits side-by-side with Forza Motorsport. And they did it in a way where they could [alternate] every other year [with the Forza Motorsport releases] and get those production cycles down. That’s hard to do.

When I think about Playground, I just think about operational excellence, and I think about the ability to partner with our teams. Now, by bringing them into the Microsoft Studios family, we can give them more support, more encouragement, more latitude, and that’s why Phil talked about today we’re going to be encouraging them to use their open-world expertise to chase after a new unannounced game that we haven’t talked about.

Again, it’s not a case of trying to fill out a bingo card, right. It’s more about who are people that we think are a cultural fit. Who are the actual people making these games, and who are the leaders at these studios that have shown a dedication to the craft. That’s really what led us to get in touch with these studios.

[ManteoMax]

Everything We Announced at the Xbox E3 2018 Briefing
by Will Tuttle, Xbox Wire Editor in Chief
Posted on June 10, 2018 at 2:44 pm
https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2018/06/10/e3-2018-microsoft-studios-opens-the-initiative/

Microsoft announced it is doubling its game development studios by adding five new creative teams to the Microsoft Studios family. New investments include the formation of a brand-new studio, The Initiative, the acquisition of Playground Games, and letters of intent to acquire Ninja Theory, Undead Labs and Compulsion Games.

• The Initiative. Based in Santa Monica, Calif., The Initiative is a brand-new Microsoft game development studio headed by industry veteran Darrell Gallagher that is working to create groundbreaking new worlds, characters and game experiences. Read more here on Xbox Wire.

• Playground Games. Microsoft has acquired U.K.-based Playground Games, a development partner since 2010 that has helped grow the Forza franchise to new heights. In addition to its work on this year’s Forza Horizon 4, Playground Games will have a team dedicated to bringing their open-world expertise to an entirely new project. Read more here on Xbox Wire.

• Ninja Theory. The relationship between Ninja Theory and Microsoft started in 2000 when Kung Fu Chaos was in development for the original Xbox and culminated in the release of Hellblade on Xbox One earlier this year. Microsoft’s intent to acquire Ninja Theory will help ensure the creative team has the resources and freedom to bring more ambitious games like Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice to fans. Read more here on Xbox Wire.

• Undead Labs. Seattle-based Undead Labs is the creator of the popular State of Decay franchise, enjoyed by millions of fans worldwide. In the first two weeks since State of Decay 2 launched, more than two million fans joined the fight to survive and took down more than two billion zombies. By entering into a letter of intent to acquire Undead Labs, Microsoft is signaling its commitment to growing the franchise and taking the zombie survival-fantasy genre to new heights. Read more here on Xbox Wire.

• Compulsion Games. As We Happy Few nears its full, multiplatform release on Aug. 10, Microsoft has entered into a letter of intent to acquire Montreal-based Compulsion Games. By joining the team at Microsoft Studios, Compulsion will have the resources, platform and freedom to take even bigger creative risks and create even more ambitious worlds with its future projects. Read more here on Xbox Wire.

[ManteoMax]

E3 2018: Playground Games Joins Microsoft Studios
by Alan Hartman, Studio Head of the Forza Franchise
Posted on June 10, 2018 at 1:40 pm
https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2018/06/10/e3-2018-playground-games-joins-microsoft-studios

At E3 today, Head of Gaming Phil Spencer announced several new investments Microsoft is making to vastly increase our resources for developing original content. It was a direct message to our incredibly dedicated fans who inspire what we do and why we do it. We know you want high quality, innovative content, and we’re committed to bringing you more and more gaming experiences in the years ahead.

As part of this commitment to our fans, and the opportunity to leverage the amazing creative talents of the U.K. development community, I’m delighted to welcome our long-term partner Playground Games and their extraordinarily talented team into the Microsoft Studios family.

Ever since Playground Games was established as a studio, they have partnered exclusively with Turn 10 Studios and, together, both teams’ shared vision, strong partnership, and successful collaboration have advanced the Forza franchise to new heights. The Forza racing franchise saw its biggest year yet in 2017, with over 22 million unique fans driving throughout Forza games. We could not have reached this success without Playground Games’ incredible talent, which resulted in 2016’s award-winning, breakout hit, Forza Horizon 3.

Playground Games’ unique, creative vision and passion, together with the power and resources of Microsoft, will see this innovative team take their talents to an all-new level. Playground Games will continue to work on Forza Horizon and they are bringing their open world expertise to an entirely new project we’ll have more to share about later.

With the close bond already established between Playground Games and Turn 10, it made sense for us to keep that connection intact. I will serve as the Studio Head for the Forza franchise, with both Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios reporting to me.

Announced today, Playground Games is currently working on Forza Horizon 4. Forza Horizon 4 features dynamic seasons in the open world, shared across the entire global community. Including new gameplay, weekly challenges, and stunning visuals, seasons change everything. Experience beautiful, historic Britain in spectacular native 4K and HDR, collect over 450 cars and live the Horizon life together. Playground Games’ development on Forza Horizon 4 will not be interrupted and we are committed to the worldwide launch on Xbox One, Windows 10, and Xbox Game Pass on October 2, 2018 as an Xbox Play Anywhere title.

We hope you are as excited about this as we are. We’re inspired by your passion and can’t wait for you to see what is coming next.