production studios or xbox entertainment studios . microsoft studios current microsoft studios logo type division industry interactive entertainment computer and video games founded 2002 ; 14 years ago 2002 as microsoft game studios 2011 2011 as microsoft studios headquarters redmond washington u.s. key people phil spencer head of microsoft studios larry hryb director of programming for xbox live products game consoles xbox xbox 360 xbox one games for windows games for windows phone xbox live kinect games age of empires series alan wake series banjo kazooie series crackdown series forza motorsport series gears of war series halo series killer instinct series microsoft flight simulator series minecraft perfect dark series parent microsoft subsidiaries 343 industries id xbox lift london mojang rare the coalition turn 10 website www.microsoftstudios.com microsoft studios is the video game production wing for microsoft responsible for the development and publishing of games for the xbox xbox 360 xbox one games for windows steam windows store and windows phone platforms . they were established in 2002 as microsoft game studios to coincide with the already released xbox before being re branded in 2011 . the subsidiary had also been known as microsoft game division and simply microsoft games before 2002 . microsoft studios develops and publishes games in conjunction with first and third party development studios under their publishing label . contents 1 history 2 software development studios 3 owned franchises and properties 4 game quality 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit microsoft game studios logo 2002 2011 in 2007 microsoft studios announced the opening of a european office in reading england headed by general manager phil spencer . 1 it disbanded fasa studio best known for their work on the mechwarrior series . former halo developer bungie announced that they would split from microsoft studios in order to become a privately held independent company . peter moore leaves microsoft studios to join electronic arts as the head of the company s sports division on july 17 2007 and don mattrick joins microsoft studios as senior vice president in july 2007 . in 2008 microsoft studios disbanded casual games studio carbonated games announced the formation of xbox live productions to develop high quality digital content for xbox live arcade . 2 it also began to recruit for 343 industries to take over development of the halo franchise after the former developer bungie regained independent status . 343 industries was first officially revealed as steward of the halo series in mid 2009 with the announcement of the animated project halo legends . in 2009 microsoft studios disbanded both ensemble studios and aces studio due to the effects of the late 2000s financial crisis and the restructuring of their game development studios . phil spencer was promoted to corporate vice president of microsoft studios in order to replace the retiring shane kim . 3 in 2010 microsoft studios forms a mobile gaming studio focused on developing gaming and entertainment multimedia for windows phone . 4 it also expanded rare ltd. to a second additional 90 person in digbeth birmingham to produce further titles . 5 formed new internal studios named microsoft game studios vancouver 6 and microsoft flight development team to bring microsoft flight to pc . 7 in october 2010 don mattrick is promoted to president of the interactive entertainment business . citation needed in 2011 microsoft studios opened new development studios in soho london redmond washington and victoria british columbia . 8 9 10 the splatters is an xbox live arcade game that was developed by a third party studio and published by microsoft studios in 2012 in 2012 phil harrison the former sony worldwide studios head joins microsoft as head of microsoft studios europe and ieb . 11 microsoft studios recruited for new development studios in redmond including playful learning 12 and the connected experiences . 13 microsoft studios acquired developer press play known for developing tentacles and max & the magic marker . 14 the studio announced plans to expand microsoft studios victoria to between 80 100 people 15 and reveals new plans including the final name of their sports entertainment development studio skybox sports 16 and a new games development studio in london england . 17 later microsoft downsized microsoft studios vancouver due to the cancellation of the kinect family title project columbia and announces ongoing development of the free to play pc title microsoft flight has ceased due to portfolio evaluation 18 renamed microsoft studios vancouver to black tusk studios . they aimed to create microsoft studios next big ip to rival their most successful series halo . citation needed microsoft also recruited for a new development studio in los angeles california to develop interactive televised entertainment for microsoft platforms . 19 in 2013 microsoft established a new european studio lift london a studio that would create digital cloud games for tablets mobiles and tvs 20 and officially reveals the xbox one on may 21 2013 . later microsoft recruited for emea publishing to manage relations with third party developers making microsoft published games in emea regions . 21 and for new deep tech team inside its developer and platform evangelism dpe unit ; the new team is charged with working with top developers outside the company to build next generation applications on top of microsoft platforms . 22 microsoft studios announced that they would publish fifteen xbox one exclusives within 12 months of launch 8 of which would be new franchises . citation needed phil harrison corporate vice president at microsoft s interactive entertainment business announces microsoft studios is investing over billion into exclusive xbox one games content twice of that of its competitors.julie larson green is appointed head of the xbox division succeeding don mattrick who leaves microsoft studios to join zynga as chief executive officer on july 1 2013 ; and jason holtman formerly valve s steam boss joins microsoft studios as the head of pc gaming division and strategy . on december 6 microsoft decided to close the victoria studio with explanation to focus on vancouver based studio black tusk . however victoria didn t develop any games . 23 on january 11 2014 microsoft studios announced they had signed multi year multi title publishing contract with undead labs developers of state of decay . 24 on january 27 it acquired the rights to the gears of war franchise and announced that the series will continue under black tusk studios . 23 on february 13 jason holtman left microsoft studios just 6 months after he joined the company . 25 and phil spencer was appointed as the new head and boss of microsoft studios . 26 on april 5 phil spencer announced that a couple of internal game development studios that had not been publicly revealed are currently working on exclusive titles for the xbox one platform . 27 on may 31 it was revealed that microsoft has acquired the rights of rise of ip rise of nations and legend . 28 on july 17 the head of microsoft studios phil spencer confirmed that xbox entertainment studios would close in the coming months . on september 15 microsoft announced a deal to acquire mojang the developer of minecraft as their 21st first party studio along with the minecraft intellectual property . the deal was closed on november 6 . 29 on march 4 2015 microsoft announced that they were merging uk based studios lift london and soho productions for further games development . the amalgam will operate under the lift london name 30 on march 7 microsoft announced at gdc that microsoft hololens games were coming to xbox one . 30 on march 9 microsoft announced that kudo tsunoda s role was expanding and that he would be the new studio team leader for studios such as press play lift london and a new internal studio called decisive games . decisive games was previously mentioned in job postings saying that they were hiring for work on a beloved strategy game for xbox one pc . this is the first public acknowledgement of the team s existence as a first party studio . 31 on june 3 microsoft announced that their first party studio black tusk studios was officially renamed to the coalition and would be focused on gears of war experiences . 32 on september 30 microsoft relinquished ownership of twisted pixel games . 33 on november 19 microsoft announced that kudo tsunoda had left the xbox division for the development of hololens and microsoft edge and other projects that can improve means of human interaction including voice and gesture . 34 on march 7 2016 microsoft announced the imminent closure of press play and that lionhead studios would close in the near future . 35 on march 8 microsoft confirmed that bigpark good science studio leap experience pioneers function studios and sota had been consolidated during the past several years into other microsoft studios and teams 36 and on april 29 lionhead studios officially closed . 37 software development studios edit microsoft studios contains 17 studios worldwide 9 for game development 343 industries rare turn 10 mojang the coalition etc. and 8 for non game development first party united states 343 industries halo series decisive games kids and lifestyle entertainment xbox fitness microsoft casual games team solitaire mahjong minesweeper bingo jigsaw turn 10 studios forza motorsport series united kingdom lift london rare banjo kazooie series viva pi ata kameo elements of power conker kinect sports sea of thieves . europe mojang minecraft canada the coalition gears of war series non game development non game development microsoft studios emea publishing connected experiences microsoft studios sentient team microsoft studios skype xbox engineering team microsoft studios games testing organization microsoft studios technology and incubation group microsoft studios xbox core platform team microsoft studios deep tech team microsoft studios msn games team second party partners united states certain affinity crimson alliance halo 2 map packs halo reach map packs halo combat evolved anniversary map packs halo waypoint harmonix dance central series iron galaxy studios wreckateer ms. splosion man ios windows phone 7 ports killer instinct saber interactive halo combat evolved anniversary the behemoth game 4 undead labs state of decay signal studios toy soldiers ascend hand of kul armature studio recore europe remedy entertainment quantum break alan wake vanguard games halo spartan assault canada skybox labs age of mythology hd extension age of empires 2 hd rise of nations hd united kingdom frontier developments kinectimals kinect disneyland adventures zoo tycoon screamride playground games forza horizon reagent games crackdown 3 ruffian games crackdown 2 asia and oceania grounding inc crimson dragon platinum games scalebound former and defunct former first party bungie halo series twisted pixel games the gunstringer lococycle the maw the adventures of captain smiley splosion man series defunct first party aces studio microsoft flight simulator series digital anvil brute force freelancer ensemble studios age of empires series halo wars fasa studio mechwarrior series shadowrun hired gun halo 2 for windows vista lionhead studios fable series black & white series microsoft game studios japan magatama phantom dust press play max the curse of brotherhood kalimba xsn sports nhl rivals 2004 former second party beep industries voodoo vince bioware mass effect jade empire fuel industries tinker defunct second party artoon blinx series blue dragon bizarre creations project gotham racing series carbonated games hexic series feelplus lost odyssey game republic every party hudson soft fuzion frenzy 2 realtime worlds crackdown southend interactive lode runner 2009 ilomilo owned franchises and properties edit 0x10c adera aegis wing age of empires age of empires online age of mythology ascend hand of kul azurik banjo kazooie bankshot billiards battletech battletoads black & white blast corps blinx bloodforge blood wake blue dragon brute force bullet asylum cobalt cobra triangle combat flight simulator wwii europe conker crackdown crimson alliance crimson dragon crimson skies deadly tide eden falls endless skater every party fable forza motorsport fragments freelancer fusion genesis fuzion frenzy galactic reign game chest series gears of war