Craig Duncan, head of Sea of thieves studio Rare, will take over as boss of Xbox Game Studios later this year.
According to GamesIndustry.bizCurrent Xbox Game Studios boss Alan Hartman will retire from the company at the end of November be in office for one year.
Duncan, who led Rare for nearly fourteen years, has worked not only on the popular first-person, live-service pirate game, but also on the studio’s Kinect titles. He has previously worked at multiple studios such as Sumo Digital, Midway and Codemasters over the years in various leadership roles.
As the new head of Xbox Game Studios, Duncan will oversee Microsoft’s Xbox teams, including the newly renamed 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 more.
In his new role, Duncan will report to Game Content and Studios President Matt Booty.
Sea of thieves executive project, Joe Neate, and Rare studio director, Jim Horth, will replace Duncan at Rare following his departure.
Neate joined Rare in 2013 after also working at Sumo Digital and Midway, while Horth has worked at the studio in various roles for more than 20 years.
“Alan’s career has been defined by innovation, dedication and an unwavering passion for gaming,” Booty said in an email to staff.
“Alan started as a contractor at Microsoft in 1988 in the fledgling CD-ROM group and has worked on a variety of projects during his time here, from Age of empiresUnpleasant Brute force as studio head of Digital Anvil, until the founding of Turn 10.
“Over the years, Alan, Turn 10 and Playground Games have delivered 13 Forza Motorsport And Forza Horizon games, building Forza to become one of the best racing franchises in the world and regularly expand the capabilities of our hardware.
“His work to advance accessibility in gaming has set a benchmark for the industry and under his leadership, Xbox Game Studios has released multiple critically acclaimed titles this year and paved the way for highly anticipated games like Avowed, South of Midnight, Fable and more. “
Hartman also shared a statement about his LinkedInsaying, “Being a studio head in gaming is one of the most rewarding and challenging roles in entertainment. I believe it is the best job at Microsoft. I always knew we had tremendous talent within XGS, but I realized not how much I would enjoy spending time with our studio leads and their teams.
“It has been an honor to represent XGS, and I really mean that – it has been a pleasure to spend time with all of our studios.”
Commenting on Duncan’s new position as head, Booty said: “In his new role, Craig will continue to focus on helping our studios deliver high-quality, differentiated gaming experiences that can grow into successful franchises and reach more players by investing in new IP. “