Xbox Game Studios, formerly called Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games, is an American company that creates and publishes video games. It was founded in March 2000 in Redmond, Washington, and was created from a group inside Microsoft that focused on games. At first, the company made games for Microsoft Windows. Over time, it expanded to create games for Xbox consoles, other computer operating systems, Windows Mobile, mobile devices, web-based platforms, and other gaming systems.

Xbox Game Studios is part of the Microsoft Gaming division, which also includes ZeniMax Media and Activision Blizzard. This division is managed by Asha Sharma, who is the chief executive officer.

History

In the early years of Microsoft, the company created video games such as Olympic Decathlon. However, Steve Ballmer convinced Bill Gates to focus less on games and instead make the company look more professional. By the early 1990s, Microsoft released games like Microsoft Flight Simulator and Microsoft Entertainment Pack collections, but it was most well-known for its MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows software. In 1992, Microsoft began to focus more on game development. It announced Microsoft Golf for Windows, based on a game called Links, and expanded its games team from two to six people to work with other developers.

In 1999, Microsoft bought FASA Interactive for its MechWarrior game series, Access Software, and Aces Game Studio, which worked on Flight Simulator. Microsoft also signed long-term deals with developers like Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires, Age of Mythology) and Digital Anvil (Starlancer). After the purchase, FASA Interactive became FASA Studio, and Access Software became Salt Lake Games Studio.

In March 2000, Microsoft created a separate division called Microsoft Games to manage all of its game-related projects. This happened around the same time as the announcement of the first Xbox console. Microsoft Games would develop and publish games for both the Xbox and Windows. Robbie Bach, who worked in Microsoft’s entertainment divisions, became senior vice-president. Ed Fries, who helped with earlier game acquisitions, became vice-president of the new division. Shane Kim was the general manager. In 2001, the division was renamed Microsoft Game Studios (MGS).

FASA Studio and Salt Lake Games Studio remained part of Microsoft Game Studios. Digital Anvil and Ensemble Studios were bought by Microsoft in 2000 and 2001, respectively. One of the first major purchases after the division was formed was Bungie in June 2000, while the company was working on Halo: Combat Evolved. This made Halo a Microsoft-published game and a launch title for the Xbox, which was released in 2001. Turn 10 Studios was created in 2001 to develop the Forza racing games. In September 2002, Microsoft Game Studios bought Rare, a company that had previously made games for Nintendo. In 2003, Microsoft decided that EA Sports was better at making sports games for the Xbox. As part of this change, about 78 employees who worked on sports games were laid off, and Salt Lake Games Studio, now called Indie Games, was sold to Take-Two Interactive in 2004.

In 2003, Peter Moore became vice-president of Microsoft’s Home and Entertainment Division, which included MGS, the Xbox division, and Microsoft’s home hardware market. He worked with companies like Electronic Arts to bring their games to the Xbox platform and encouraged Japanese developers to create games for the Xbox. Examples of these games include Phantom Dust and Blinx: The Time Sweeper. Around 2004, MGS started Carbonated Games, an internal studio to make casual games for Microsoft’s online services like MSN Games and Xbox Live. Kim and Fries helped MGS sign a publishing deal with Lionhead Studios for its 2004 game Fable, the first major role-playing game on the Xbox. In 2006, MGS bought Lionhead Studios and the Fable series to develop a sequel for the Xbox 360. Digital Anvil was folded into a larger studio in 2005 after its game Brute Force was released, and the studio was closed in 2006. FASA Studio was shut down three-and-a-half months after its last game, Shadowrun, was released in May 2007.

In 2007, MGS opened a European office in Reading, England, led by general manager Phil Spencer. Moore left Microsoft in July 2007 to return to the San Francisco Bay area with his family and join Electronic Arts. Don Mattrick became the new vice-president of the Xbox and Games Business, which included MGS. Later that year, Bungie left MGS to become an independent company, but MGS kept the rights to the Halo game series. Bungie continued to make two more Halo games for MGS: Halo 3: ODST (2009) and Halo: Reach (2010). At the same time, MGS created 343 Industries to develop future Halo games without Bungie.

In 2008, MGS closed Carbonated Games and started a new internal studio called Xbox Live Productions to make high-quality games for Xbox Live Arcade. In January 2009, Microsoft announced layoffs of up to 5,000 employees across all divisions due to the Great Recession. Within MGS, the studio had already planned to close Ensemble Studios after finishing Halo Wars in early 2009, and the layoffs led to the closure of Aces Game Studio. In May 2009, Microsoft bought Vancouver-based BigPark to develop games for the Kinect sensor on the Xbox 360. Later that year, Phil Spencer became corporate vice-president of MGS to replace Shane Kim. In 2010, MGS created a mobile gaming studio, MGS Mobile Gaming, to develop games for Windows Phone devices. It also expanded Rare with a second studio in Digbeth, Birmingham.

By June 2011, Microsoft Game Studios was quietly renamed Microsoft Studios. Later that year, Microsoft Studios bought Twisted Pixel Games. In December 2011, Microsoft Studios created Microsoft Casual Games, a division to update older casual games like Windows Solitaire and MSN Games using modern software.

In 2012, Phil Harrison, a former leader at Sony, joined Microsoft as head of Microsoft Studios Europe and IEB. Microsoft Studios bought Press Play, known for making Tentacles and Max & the Magic Marker, and started a new studio in London, England. Later that year, Microsoft reduced the size of its Vancouver studio due to the cancellation of a Kinect game called Project Columbia and stopped developing Microsoft Flight, a free-to-play game, after reviewing its projects. The reduced Vancouver studio was renamed Black Tusk Studios and tasked with creating games similar to Halo.

In 2013, Microsoft created a new European studio called Lift London to make cloud-based games for tablets, mobiles, and TVs. It also formed a "Deep Tech" team within its Developer and Platform Evangelism unit to work with outside developers on next-generation applications for Microsoft platforms.

Before the release of the Xbox One,

Studios

• Bungie, known for the Halo series, became separate in 2007
• Indie Games, known for the Links series, was sold to Take-Two Interactive in 2004
• Lift London was removed from Microsoft's games business in 2019
• Twisted Pixel Games, known for The Gunstringer, LocoCycle, The Maw, and 'Splosion Man, became separate in 2015
• WingNut Interactive, a partnership game studio created by Peter Jackson, was sold to WingNut Films

• Aces Game Studio, known for the Microsoft Flight Simulator series, was closed
• BigPark, known for Kinect Joy Ride, Kinect Sports: Season Two, and Joy Ride Turbo, was consolidated
• Carbonated Games was closed
• Digital Anvil, known for Brute Force, Freelancer, and Starlancer, was consolidated
• Ensemble Studios, known for the Age of Empires series, Age of Mythology series, and Halo Wars, was closed
• FASA Studio, known for the Crimson Skies series, MechAssault series, MechWarrior series, and Shadowrun, was closed
• Good Science Studio, known for Kinect Adventures, Kinect Fun Labs, and Kinect Star Wars, was consolidated
• Hired Gun, known for the Halo 2 PC port, was consolidated
• The Initiative, known for Perfect Dark, was closed
• Lionhead Studios, known for the Fable series and Black & White series, was closed
• Microsoft Game Studios Japan, known for the Blue Dragon series, Every Party, Infinite Undiscovery, Lost Odyssey, Magatama, Phantom Dust, Shenmue II Xbox port, and True Fantasy Live Online, was closed
• Microsoft Studios Victoria was closed
• Press Play, known for Max: The Curse of Brotherhood and Kalimba, was closed
• Team Dakota, known for Project Spark, was consolidated
• Xbox Entertainment Studios was closed
• Xbox Live Productions was consolidated