Microsoft Announces Reason Behind Xbox Game Studios Rebranding

02/05/2019 08:49 pm EST

It has been revealed that Microsoft Studios has switched things up with a rebrand, and the developer will now be known as Xbox Game Studios.

This is in an effort by the company to raise the Xbox brand above its consoles. The announcement arrived on Tuesday by way of a statement from corporate vice president Matt Booty.

"At Xbox, we believe when everyone plays, we all win," Booty said. "It's why we're passionate about building a portfolio of games for players across console, PC and mobile. As we've expanded our focus beyond the console, the Xbox brand has also evolved from its original roots.

"Today, Xbox is our gaming brand across all devices, no matter how or where you want to play, or who you want to play with. In that spirit, I'm pleased to share that we are changing the name of our game development organization from Microsoft Studios to Xbox Game Studios."

Booty continued, mentioning that the company is excited to see how the developers they acquired last year will "maximize their creative potential" under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella. For those who may not recall, Microsoft added seven new studios to their portfolio in 2018, including the likes of Ninja Theory and Obsidian Entertainment.

Of course, this move has been one in the making for some time. In an interview with Variety last year, Booty said: "Xbox, for us, is our home base. It is the root of our origins, a place where we built out a strong community of gamers. As we look around the world and we think about the bigger collection of gamers on the planet, that goes beyond a console.

"It absolutely means we are going to have to pursue ambitions on PC and mobile as well. We need to go to where the gamers are, where the players are. But by no means does that mean to imply that we will spend less attention on Xbox and its fans on that journey. This is very much an additive situation."

Now that Microsoft has fully embraced the Xbox Game Studios brand, what do you think is next for them? Drop your thoughts in the comment section below, or hit me up over on Twitter @anarkE7!

(Hat tip to Variety for the scoop!)

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