zipline studios 2010 2011 microsoft game studios vancouver 2011 2012 black tusk studios 2012 2015 type subsidiary industry video game industry founded february 2010 ; 6 years ago 2010 02 headquarters vancouver british columbia canada key people rod fergusson studio head products gears of war 2015 owner microsoft number of employees 200 1 2015 parent microsoft studios website thecoalitionstudio.com the coalition formerly zipline studios microsoft game studios vancouver and black tusk studios is a canadian video game developer based in vancouver british columbia and a subsidiary of microsoft studios . the companies is best known for developing games in the gears of war series after the franchise s acquisition by microsoft studios from epic games . contents 1 history 2 games developed 2.1 cancelled 3 references 4 external links history edit the studio was formed in february 2010 as zipline studios and went to develop facebook game relic rescue . 2 on may 2 2011 the studio was renamed microsoft game studios vancouver and officially announced working on microsoft flight and kinect shooter game project columbia . 3 4 on july 25 2012 project columbia and further development on microsoft flight were cancelled with all 35 employees being laid off . 5 on november 29 2012 the studio was renamed black tusk studios and tasked with creating a new major franchise for microsoft studios to rival their popular halo franchise . 6 on january 27 2014 it was announced that microsoft had acquired the gears of war franchise from epic games and that black tusk studios would be take on the development of future games in the series . 7 8 as part of the gears of war acquisition microsoft also hired rod fergusson who was the executive producer on the first three gears of war games to oversee development . 9 on june 3 2015 fergusson announced that black tusk studios had been renamed the coalition signifying its relation to the gears of war franchise with the name serving as a reference to the coalition of ordered governments an in game faction . 10 games developed edit year game platform s metacritic as zipline studios 2011 relic rescue facebook n a as microsoft game studios vancouver 2012 microsoft flight microsoft windows pc 64 100 11 as the coalition 2015 gears of war ultimate edition microsoft windows xbox one pc 73 100 12 xb1 82 100 13 2016 gears of war 4 pc 87 100 14 xb1 84 100 15 cancelled edit project columbia 2012 references edit gies arthur july 28 2015 . beauty deconstructed the state of gears of war . polygon . vox media . retrieved october 12 2016 . orland kyle may 2 2011 . microsoft launches vancouver studio reportedly developing shooter for kinect . gamasutra . ubm techweb . retrieved october 12 2016 . mcwhertor michael may 2 2011 . kinect getting its own original core shooter thanks to new microsoft studio . kotaku . gawker media . retrieved october 12 2016 . lien tracey january 28 2014 . the mystery of black tusk s next big entertainment franchise . polygon . vox media . retrieved october 12 2016 . schreier jason july 25 2012 . microsoft reportedly shuts down vancouver based studio update projects cancelled . kotaku . gawker media . retrieved october 12 2016 . hafer t.j. november 30 2012 . microsoft s new black tusk studios headed by ex ea devs looking to make the next halo . pc gamer . future us . retrieved october 12 2016 . good owen january 27 2014 . microsoft snags gears of war . kotaku . gawker media . retrieved october 12 2016 . mcwhertor michael january 27 2014 . microsoft acquires gears of war from epic hires series producer rod fergusson . polygon . vox media . retrieved october 12 2016 . crecente brian august 1 2014 . the fixer why rod fergusson returned to gears of war . polygon . vox media . retrieved october 12 2016 . nunneley stephany june 3 2015 . gears of war studio black tusk studios has been renamed the coalition . vg247 . videogaming247 . retrieved october 12 2016 . microsoft flight critic reviews for pc . metacritic . cbs interactive . retrieved october 12 2016 . gears of war ultimate edition for windows 10 critic reviews for pc . metacritic . cbs interactive . retrieved october 12 2016 . gears of war ultimate edition critic reviews for xbox one . metacritic . cbs interactive . retrieved october 12 2016 . gears of war 4 critic reviews for pc . metacritic . cbs interactive . retrieved october 12 2016 . gears of war 4 critic reviews for xbox one . metacritic . cbs interactive . retrieved october 12 2016 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to the coalition . official website v t e microsoft studios franchises age of empires alan wake banjo kazooie battletoads black & white blinx conker crackdown crimson skies dance central the dishwasher fable forza gears of war halo hexic hydro thunder jetpac joy ride killer instinct kinect party kinect sports lips max & the magic marker mechwarrior microsoft flight simulator midtown madness minecraft miss teen usa motocross madness ninety nine nights perfect dark pinball fx project gotham racing quantum redshift rallisport challenge rise of nations scene it shadowrun splosion man viva pi ata zoo tycoon current subsidiaries 343 industries bigpark the coalition good science studio launchworks lift london mojang rare turn 10 studios former subsidiaries aces studio bungie carbonated games digital anvil ensemble studios fasa studio hired gun lionhead studios press play twisted pixel games xbox entertainment studios people phil spencer phil harrison larry hryb casey hudson bonnie ross joseph staten related list of microsoft studios video games msn games retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title the coalition company & oldid 744420534 categories 2010 establishments in british columbiacompanies based in vancouverfirst party video game developersmicrosoft subsidiariesvideo game companies established in 2010video game companies of canadavideo game development companieshidden categories use mdy dates from 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