Xbox management will experience new changes! While Alan Hartman took over the position of head of Xbox Game Studios last November, we learned today via GamesIndustry.biz that Craig Duncan, who was until now the head of the Rare studio, will succeed him in November.
Xbox studios are (already) changing heads, Craig Duncan will invest in new franchises
Before taking charge of Xbox Game Studios, Alan Hartman was known for having led Turn10 since 2005, the studio behind Forza Motorsport. Ultimately, he will only have held his new position for a short time, since he will be retiring.
Thus, Craig Duncan, as the new head of Xbox Game Studios, will take care of the many developers belonging to Microsoft, outside of Bethesda and Activision Blizzard King, such as Halo Studios, The Coalition, Turn 10, Playground Games, Rare, Obsidian, Ninja Theory, Compulsion Games, The Initiative, Double Fine, InXile, Undead Labs, World’s Edge and many more. Craig Duncan will report to Matt Booty, President of Games and Studios Content.
Changes will also logically be made on the side of Rare, the studio behind Sea of Thieves. Indeed, Joe Neate, executive producer on Sea of Thieves since 2013, and Jim Hoth will replace Craig Duncan. You’ve probably already seen Joe Neate in many Sea of Thieves videos, while Jim Hoth is much more discreet, but remains a veteran nonetheless. Indeed, he has been part of the Rare team for over 20 years and has held multiple positions, the last being that of studio director.
GamesIndustry.biz also shared part of the email sent by Matt Booty to the Xbox teams.
Alan’s career has been marked by innovation, dedication and an unwavering passion for games. Having started in 1988 as a contract worker at Microsoft in the fledgling CD-ROM group, Alan has worked on a wide variety of projects, from Age of Empires to Brute Force as studio director of Digital Anvil, to founding Turn 10. Over the years, Alan, Turn 10 and Playground Games have produced 13 Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon games, making Forza one of the biggest racing franchises in the world and regularly pushing the limits of our hardware. Under his leadership, Xbox Game Studios delivered several critically acclaimed titles this year and set the stage for highly anticipated games like Avowed, South of Midnight, Fable and more.
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In his new role, Craig will continue to focus on helping our studios deliver high-quality, differentiated gaming experiences that can become successful franchises and reach more gamers by investing in new intellectual properties.
The message is clear, Xbox therefore wishes to continue to invest in new intellectual properties, which was already clearly the case, with titles like Sea of Thieves, Pentiment, Grounded, HiFi-RUSH, Redfall, Starfield, Avowed, South of Midnight and much more.
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