Xbox Game Studios has appointed Craig Duncan, ex-studio head at Rare, to lead the charge from today. But just who is this industry veteran?
According to The Verge, Xbox Game Studios head Alan Hartman has announced his retirement, effective November of this year, marking the end of a more-than-30-year tenure with the company. Following Matt Booty’s promotion to president of sport content material and studios, Hartman assumed sole responsibility for the position last year. As Craig Duncan takes the helm, he brings with him a wealth of experience as the studio head at Sea of Thieves and Banjo-Kazooie developer Rare, a role he has held since 2011. As the new leadership takes shape, Joe Neate and Jim Horth have assumed their roles as joint leaders, while Uncommon Games remains committed to developing Sea of Thieves and Everwild.
“In his new role, Craig will focus on delivering high-quality, distinct sport experiences to our studios, driving profitable franchises and attracting more players by investing in new intellectual property,” Booty said of Hartman: “Alan’s career has been characterized by innovation, dedication, and an unwavering passion for gaming… His work advancing accessibility in gaming has set a standard for the industry, and under his leadership, Xbox Game Studios has successfully shipped several critically acclaimed titles this year, paving the way for highly anticipated games like Avowed, South of Midnight, Fable, and more.”
With a distinguished career spanning decades, Duncan has made a significant impact in the gaming industry, having contributed to iconic titles such as Colin McRae while at Codemasters, as well as other notable games like Clive Barker’s Jericho and Overlord. Afterward he labored on titles like Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing and Useless House Ignition at Sumo Digital, earlier than finally taking up as studio head at Uncommon, a developer with an enormous variety of titles beneath its belt, however clearly finest identified today for Sea of Thieves, which Duncan additionally oversaw in fact.
While it’s a significant jump to lead Xbox Game Studios, Rare has proven itself as one of Microsoft’s strongest studios, despite our lack of updates on Everwild lately. The transfer could mark the latest seismic shift Microsoft has undergone – following a year of flip-flopping on whether its games would be available on PS5 (a select few are already, with more to follow), and a push into mobile, Xbox may look vastly different within the next 12 months.
