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| Type | Video game |
| Current owner | Microsoft |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Introduced | 2002 |
| Related brands | Games for Windows, Xbox |
| Markets | Worldwide |
| Website | http://www.microsoft.com/games/ |
Microsoft Game Studios is a brand owned by Microsoft and introduced in 2002 to represent the company as a video game publisher, coinciding with the launch of the Xbox. Games published by Microsoft under the MGS label are typically released for the Windows and/or Xbox (360) platforms exclusively, regardless of whether the developer is a first or third party.
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Microsoft Game Studios have acquired and lost many game development houses since its inception.
In September 2002, MGS acquired Rare Ltd. from Nintendo and the Stamper brothers (Chris and Tim), who owned 49% and 51% of the company respectively in what is believed to be one of the most expensive purchases of a video games development company yet, at a cost of around USD375 million.[1] This also meant Microsoft acquired the rights to Rare’s own original IPs such as the Banjo-Kazooie, Conker and Perfect Dark franchises.
In April 2006, MGS announced that they had purchased Lionhead Studios for an undisclosed sum. This has allowed them to further bolster the range of exclusive titles for their Xbox platforms, notably with the Fable video game series.[2] The following month, MGS also acquired Massive Incorporated, an in-game advertising company to provide additional revenues from their gaming platforms such as PCs and the Xbox 360.[3]
In May 2007, Microsoft announced it would be opening a European office of MGS in Reading in the United Kingdom (the present location of Microsoft's General UK offices). This office will be headed by Phil Spencer, who was General Manager for the games division before the announcement.[4]
In September 2007 Microsoft disbanded FASA Studio best known for their MechWarrior series.
In October 2007, Bungie announced that it had split with Microsoft and become a privately held independent company.
In March 2008 Microsoft disbanded their casual games studio - Carbonated Games.
In May 2008, Microsoft announced the formation of a newly created internal games studio to create "high quality digital content" for Xbox Live Arcade.[5]
In January 2009, Microsoft closed both Ensemble Studios and ACES Game Studio due to a process of ongoing job cuts due to financial crisis and restructuring of their game studios.
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This list of games is sorted by platform and includes games published by Microsoft. For those games not developed under the Microsoft name, the developer is noted after the game's release date.
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This company category is a stub. Help us expand it with details as well as a {{company}} infobox. Reliable information can be researched on wikipedia or you can just search for "Microsoft Game Studios" on Google. Do this and you get a cookie.
Company stub
This company category is a stub. Help us expand it with details as well as a {{company}} infobox. Reliable information can be researched on wikipedia or you can just search for "Microsoft Game Studios" on Google. Do this and you get a cookie.
This category has the following 2 subcategories, out of 2 total.
The following 49 pages are in this category, out of 49 total.
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| Microsoft Game Studios | |
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| Type | Private |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Headquarters | |
| Products | |
| Parent Company | N/A |
| Website | Microsoft Game Studios |
Microsoft Game Studios is a seperate branch of computer-conglomerate Microsoft. They are among the leading worldwide publishers and developers in the gaming industry. And since they're operated under the name of 'Microsoft', they develop console games exclusively for Microsoft Xbox. They've also been known as simply 'Microsoft' (original publisher) and 'Microsoft Games' (publisher from 1999 to mid 2001).
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The real birth of Microsoft Game Studios comes with the beginning of Microsoft itself. In April 1975, William Gates III, along with Paul Allen founded Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The company originally had only three employees. In November the following year, Microsoft was opted as a registered trademark.
Six years later, in 1982, Microsoft U.K. Ltd. was incorporated and the following year, Windows was shown to the world for the first time. In 1986, Microsoft offered its first shares to the public market at $21. At the end of the day, its worth was up to $28.
Almost fifteen years later, Microsoft released DirectX 8.0 and shipped Mechwarrior 4, developed by an (acquired) in-house FASA Interactive team. One year later, Microsoft released the Xbox, the company's first home entertainment console. It also shipped with Bungie's widely-acclaimed first-person shooter, Halo.
In 2002, Microsoft released its official online service, Xbox Live. In September of that year, Microsoft bought out game developer Rare, best known for their development roles in Goldeneye: 007 and Perfect Dark. January of 2004, Xbox team lead Ed Fries left the company. His efforts helped launched the Xbox and top games such as Halo and the Age of Empires series. February of that year Microsoft canceled their fantasy MMORPG, Mythica. Also, in early February the following year, the company recalled more than 14.1 million Xbox power cords due to concerns regarding a rare electrical failure that posed a fire hazard. Hironobu Sakaguchi, original creator of the Final Fantasy series, founded Mistwalker with financial help from Microsoft Game Studios to develop new RPGs for the company's next console, the Xbox 360.
In March of 2005, the company signed Epic's Unreal Engine 3 technology for future development.
Microsoft currently owns:
Microsoft Game Studios have developed, published and ported more than 150 games from 1982 to current.
  | Microsoft's Official Xbox Site - Xbox.com | Home |
| | ''Microsoft Game Studios'' - MobyGames - Microsoft Game Studios |
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