Craig Duncan is the new head of Xbox Game Studios

Changes in the top of Rare and Xbox Game Studios. Microsoft has announced that Alan Hartman, head of Xbox Game Studios, will retire at the end of November after decades of service and will be replaced by Craig Duncan, who will remain Rare’s manager until then. The change comes a year after Hartman was named head of Xbox Game Studios following the appointment of Matt Booty as president of content and studios.

Alan Hartman will leave Microsoft after more than 30 years with the company. His journey through the tech giant began in the late ’80s, and his greatest achievement, or at least the one for which he is best known, is the founding of Turn 10 Studios, home of Forza Motorsport and, for several years now, also that of Fables. Hartman is also known for working on the Age of Empires franchise and running Digital Anvil, the defunct Microsoft-owned studio that developed Brute Force. Digital Anvil was founded by brothers Chris and Erin Roberts, creators of the Wing Commander franchise.

When Craig Duncan takes over as head of Xbox Game Studios at the end of November, he will take control of an extensive roster of development teams that includes Halo Studios, The Coalition, Turn 10, Playground Games, Rare, Obsidian, Ninja Theory, Compulsion. Games, The Initiative, Double Fine, InXile, Undead Labs and World’s Edge and others. Craig, who will report directly to Matt Booty, led Rare for 14 years and previously held leadership positions at Sumo Digital, Midway Games and Codemasters. His position at Rare will be split between Joe Neate, producer of Sea of ​​Thieves, and Jim Hort, head of the studio.

In his new role, Craig Duncan will be responsible for helping the Xbox Game Studios teams develop “high-quality games that have the potential to become successful franchises and attract more players by investing in new IP.” You won’t get bored considering the number of activities and games you’ll have to pay attention to. For their part, Joe Neate and Jim Hort will take over the reins at Rare, meaning they will oversee the team that will continue to work on Sea of ​​Thieves, a game with over 40 million players, and Everwild. which has not shown any signs of life for several years.