Microsoft garnished a big E3 presentation with the news that it had formed a new studio in Santa Monica called The Initiative, and perhaps more notably, bought four game developers. Ninja Theory (Hellblade, DmC), PlayGround Games (Forza Horizon), Undead Labs (State of Decay), and Compulsion Games (We Happy Few) are now under Microsoft’s aegis, part of a broad plan to bring more exclusive games to the Xbox One and Windows.
Being bought up by Microsoft should be a good thing for game studios. They’re now tethered to one of the titans of the game industry, and that cuts a sure course for success, doesn’t it? Well, if the fortunes of game development houses previously snatched up by Microsoft are any indication, a studio could face anything from hit games to complete annihilation.
FASA STUDIOS
- Founded: 1995
- Bought by Microsoft: 1999
- Status: Closed in 2007
FASA is a name better known for tabletop roleplaying hits like Shadowrun and Battletech, but those popular titles lent themselves quite well to video games. FASA’s game division emerged in 1995 under the name FASA Interactive Technologies and, true to Battletech’s theme, made games about mecha. In 1999 Microsoft bought and renamed them FASA Studio, and they continued with various forms of MechWarrior 4. When Microsoft branched out into consoles with the Xbox, FASA delivered two MechAssault games, though their best-known work has no futuristic battle-bots; it’s the 2003 flight-shooter Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge.
Microsoft set FASA Studio to work on a game based on Shadowrun and its magical cyberpunk trappings, though the developer crafted a first-person shooter instead of any RPG. It arrived in May of 2007, and Microsoft gave FASA Studio a good four months before shutting them down. Shadowrun games would survive, however, as the license found its way back to series creator Jordan Weisman and the Kickstarter-fed RPG series Shadowrun Returns.
BUNGIE
- Founded: 1991
- Bought by Microsoft: 2000
- Status: Alive, but Separated
Bungie is forever tied to Halo, whether it’s the entire series or the original game that single-handedly made the Xbox stand out at its 2001 launch. Yet Bungie’s roots go back further to ‘90s computer titles like Marathon and Myth---and even to an anime-action game called Oni. The developer’s success undoubtedly led Microsoft to acquire them in late 2000. From then on, Bungie was the house of Halo, devoted to the series even after separating from Microsoft in 2007.
Microsoft still owns the rights to all things Halo and remains on seemingly good terms with Bungie. Even so, the detachment led Bungie to seek newer ground. As 343 went to work on Halo sequels, Bungie’s space-opera shooter Destiny emerged as a multiplayer hit under the developer’s new alliance with Activision. Whatever Bungie’s future might be, Microsoft isn’t controlling it directly.
DIGITAL ANVIL
- Founded: 1996
- Bought By Microsoft: 2000
- Status: Closed in 2006
Microsoft might have eyed Digital Anvil for a while. The studio’s founders included many former staffers from the popular Wing Commander titles, and their first game, Starlancer, evoked the same style of spaceship dogfight upon its March 2000 debut. Digital Anvil was a Microsoft company by the end of that year, and changes were in store. Several Digital Anvil projects shuffled to other developers, with the racing game Loose Cannon disappearing entirely, and the company concentrated on Starlancer’s ambitious sequel, Freelancer.
Freelancer arrived as a Windows-only game in 2003, and the developer turned to an Xbox exclusive with the terrestrial, squad-based action game Brute Force that same year. It met with decent sales and middling reviews. Microsoft folded Digital Anvil’s staff into the larger Microsoft Game Studios in 2005, though the developer technically existed until 2006.
ENSEMBLE
- Founded: 1995
- Bought by Microsoft: 2001
- Status: Closed in 2008
Ensemble rose on the success of simulations like Age of Empires and Age of Mythology. Microsoft published both series, so it seemed a natural, prosperous fit when Microsoft bought up the developer in 2001. It seemed even less surprising when Ensemble turned a strategy-game project into Halo Wars, a spin-off of Microsoft’s biggest video game lineage.
In development throughout 2006 and 2007, Halo Wars was near release when Microsoft carried on the time-honored game industry tradition of closing a studio just after it finishes a high-profile game. Remarks from former Ensemble employee Paul Bettner pointed to high development costs and long production times as the chief reasons for the shutdown. Ensemble wouldn’t rise again, but its staffers would form numerous other studios, ranging from Newtoy (Words with Friends) to Boss Fight Entertainment (Dungeon Boss).
RARE
- Founded: 1985
- Bought By Microsoft: 2002
- Status: Alive
It was a surprising coup in 2002: Microsoft had stolen away Rare, the staunch Nintendo ally whose hits had sold systems from the Super NES’s Donkey Kong Country to the Nintendo 64’s GoldenEye 007. The purchase put Rare squarely in the Xbox camp, and the company’s first few years at Microsoft were rocky, due to the ill-received Grabbed by the Ghoulies and the under-selling Conker: Live and Reloaded. The Xbox 360 treated Rare better, with Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero arriving at launch, and the developer followed it up with characteristically lighthearted fare like Viva Pinata and Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. In 2009, Rare switched gears and devoted their efforts to Microsoft’s motion-sensing peripheral, the Kinect.
Rare survives today, but in a very different form. The company went through layoffs, the failure of their Kinect Sports Rivals, and Microsoft shutting down the Kinect. The recent Rare Replay compilation won a lot of praise, and while the launch of Sea of Thieves was enjoyable, the longevity of the open-world pirate adventure remains to be seen.
LIONHEAD STUDIOS
- Founded: 1997
- Bought By Microsoft: 2006
- Status: Closed in 2016
Like many of these acquisitions, Lionhead were closely tied to Microsoft well before any buyouts ensued. The studio, arising from dissatisfied Bullfrog productions employees, made a name with the god-simulator Black & and White on PC, and their first console game was the much-hyped Xbox exclusive Fable. Despite the lower sales of Black & White’s sequel and a filmmaking simulation called The Movies, Microsoft saw potential and invited Lionhead into its ranks in 2006.
Microsoft was quick to play favorites among Lionhead’s catalog, however, and the developer crafted Fable sequels for the next eight years. It was not without cost: co-founder Peter Molyneux and a host of other employees left the company in 2012. The studio continued to produce Fable games, but it came to an end in 2016. Fable: Legends was in a beta phase when Microsoft canceled the game and closed Lionhead’s doors.
BIGPARK
- Founded: 2007
- Bought By Microsoft: 2009
- Status: Alive
One of Microsoft’s quieter purchases, BigPark hadn’t released any games before joining the fold in 2009. Microsoft turned BigPark’s Joy Ride game into an early Kinect offering, and the developer worked on two Kinect titles after that. BigPark’s been relatively reticent since, seemingly focused more on Microsoft apps than games.
TWISTED PIXEL GAMES
- Founded: 2006
- Bought By Microsoft: 2011
- Status: Alive but Separated
Twisted Pixel’s romance with Microsoft was short-lived. The developer started off releasing cartoony action fare like The Maw and ‘Splosion Man on Xbox Live Arcade, and their Kinect shooter The Gunstringer led to Microsoft acquiring the studio in 2011. Twisted Pixel delivered one of the odder Xbox One launch titles with Lococycle, but it would be their last game released under Microsoft’s money. The two companies parted ways in 2015, and Twisted Pixel returned to an independent track. Their latest release is the Oculus Rift horror title Wilson’s Heart.
PRESS PLAY
- Founded: 2006
- Bought By Microsoft: 2012
- Status: Closed in 2016
Press Play went just about everywhere with their 2010 debut, Max and the Magic Marker. It arrived on the Wii, the PlayStation 3, mobile devices, the PC…but not the Xbox 360. That changed after Microsoft snapped up the developer in 2012, and Press Play’s later games, Max: The Curse of Brotherhood and the totem-puzzle game Kalimba, appeared on Xbox platforms as well as Windows.
Press Play branched out from kid-friendly games and was at work on an intriguing cooperative-survival action game called Knoxville in 2016. That’s when Microsoft pulled the plug and shuttered the studio, leaving several employees to launch a new development house known as Flashbulb Games.
MOJANG
- Founded: 2009
- Bought By Microsoft: 2014
- Status: Alive
The headlines didn’t read “Microsoft Buys Mojang” nearly as much as they proclaimed “Microsoft Buys Minecraft.” Mojang arose from the creation of its open-world cultural phenomenon game, and the rampant popularity of Minecraft explained Microsoft paying $2.5 billion for the company and its properties in 2014.
Mojang has since created the action game Cobalt, but Microsoft clearly wants the studio for its Minecraft roots and has no intention of restricting it to the Xbox or PC. Telltale’s Minecraft: Story Mode arrived on multiple systems in 2015, and adaptations of the original Minecraft appeared on new systems, with the Switch being the latest to receive a port. Microsoft also launched an educational version of the game with MinecraftEdu.
There’s no clear fate outlined for Microsoft’s latest game-studio shopping trip. Will these newly bought developers disintegrate after pumping out one popular sequel too many? Will they vanish into the broader mass of Microsoft Game Studios? Or will they strike out on their own in a few years? As with any large company that buys a smaller one, history makes one thing clear: there’s no guaranteed success.
Of the 10 studios we profiled that Microsoft has acquired over the past 20 years, five have been closed, two are still around but separated, and three are still active members of the Microsoft family. This isn’t to speculate on the fates of Ninja Theory, Playground Games, Compulsion, or Undead Labs -- the Xbox division of the past few years under the leadership of Phil Spencer is night-and-day different than the Xbox of the 360 era.
