The head of Xbox Game Studios Alan Hartman will retire from the corporate on the finish of November, with Uncommon boss Craig Duncan taking up.
Hartman is greatest identified for main Flip 10 and the Forza franchise since 2005, and stepped up to lead Xbox Game Studios final yr. He is additionally labored on hit Microsoft franchises together with Age of Empires and Fable.
Taking his place is Uncommon studio boss Craig Duncan. Duncan has led Uncommon for the most effective half of 14 years, overseeing the studio’s Kinect titles and the launch of its dwell service hit Sea of Thieves, which has had greater than 40 million gamers because it launched in 2018.
In September, he attended the 2024 GamesIndustry.biz Finest Locations To Work Awards, the place Uncommon picked up three awards.
Prior to Uncommon, Duncan has held a number of improvement management roles on the likes of Sumo Digital, Halfway and Codemasters. He is additionally VP of the charity SpecialEffect.
His new position encompasses Xbox groups together with Halo Studios, The Coalition, Flip 10, Playground Video games, Uncommon, Obsidian, Ninja Principle, Compulsion Video games, The Initiative, Double Wonderful, InXile, Undead Labs, World’s Edge and extra. Duncan will report into the president of Game Content material and Studios, Matt Booty.
Changing Duncan at Uncommon is Joe Neate and Jim Horth. Neate joined Uncommon in 2013 and has led the Sea of Thieves challenge as govt producer. Prior to Uncommon, he held senior roles at Sumo Digital and Halfway. In the meantime, Horth has been half of the Uncommon crew for over 20 years, and has held a number of roles, most lately as studio director.
“Alan’s profession has been marked by innovation, dedication, and an unwavering ardour for gaming,” Booty wrote to employees in an electronic mail.
“Beginning as a contractor at Microsoft within the fledgling CD-ROM group in 1988, Alan has labored on a range of initiatives in his time right here, from Age of Empires, to Brute Pressure as the studio head of Digital Anvil, to the founding of Flip 10. Over time, Alan, Flip 10 and Playground Video games delivered 13 Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon video games, constructing Forza into one of the highest racing franchises on the earth and repeatedly pushing the capabilities of our {hardware}. His work to advance accessibility in gaming has set a benchmark for the business and below his management, Xbox Game Studios has shipped a number of critically acclaimed titles this yr and set the stage for extremely anticipated video games like Avowed, South of Midnight, Fable, and extra.”
He added: “In his new position, Craig will proceed to deal with serving to our studios ship high-quality, differentiated sport experiences that may develop into profitable franchises and attain extra gamers by investing in new IP.”