E3 2018: Microsoft Acquires Four Studios, Opens New One

In a surprising announcement during the Xbox E3 2018 briefing, Xbox head Phil Spencer revealed that Microsoft has acquired several game development studios to be a part of the Microsoft Studios family, and the company has also created a brand new studio based in Santa Monica, named The Initiative.

The announcement reinforced the idea that Xbox is all-in on games and is focused on delivering quality experiences that people can return to “not just for ten hours”, according to Spencer, but for ten, twenty, even thirty years to come.

The reveal of the newly-acquired studios also comes on the heels of many gamers frustrated by delayed console exclusives like Crackdown 3; underwhelmed by the lackluster experience of Sea of Thieves; annoyed that highly-anticipated games like Scalebound were canceled altogether. Acquiring new studios will hopefully prove to be a great investment for the Xbox and its dedicated fans in the long run. Hopefully, it will even be able to attract new gamers into the Xbox ecosystem.  Check out the list below of Microsoft’s newly-acquired studios:

The Initiative

• The Initiative is a brand new studio based in Santa Monica. The company is currently focused on bringing the bringing designers and storytellers to its team, in order to create “new and groundbreaking experiences.

Compulsion Games

• Its second title, We Happy Few will be released for Xbox One and PC on August 10th.

Playground Games

• The developer behind the beloved Forza series announced Forza Horizon 4 will be coming October 4th.

Ninja Theory

• With the success and popularity of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Ninja Theory will undoubtedly be a great studio to help bring more narrative-driven titles exclusively to the Xbox One.

Undead Labs

• The studio that brought us State of Decay, Undead Labs rounds off the studios coming into the Microsoft fold. Spencer stated Undead Labs “caught our attention in its visionary approach to building a zombie-surival franchise.”

This is definitely a big move for Microsoft, and will be great in building the Xbox’s library of games. Keep checking for more E3 2018 news here!