List of Microsoft Gaming studios

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Blizzard Irvine and Mojang Stockholm are examples of Microsoft Gaming studios.

This is a list of Microsoft Gaming video game studios, including development studios, support studios, satellite studios and offices. Microsoft Gaming is an American video game company headquartered in Redmond, Washington, US, founded on January 18, 2022. After several acquisitions, Microsoft Gaming has become one of the largest video game companies, and it has one of the largest in-house development team, with more than 20,100 employees working in over 40 studios in 17 countries as of February 2024. [1] [2] The three subsidiaries consist of: Xbox Game Studios, ZeniMax Media, and Activision Blizzard. It owns 5 video game publishers labels, including Activision Publishing, Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks, Blizzard Entertainment, and King Digital Entertainment.

Contents

Microsoft Gaming opened and acquired studios in 17 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Sweden, France, Spain, Mexico, China, Japan, Ireland, Malta, Australia, Hungary, Taiwan, South Korea and Poland.

North America

Canada

Mexico

United States

Europe

France

Germany

Hungary

Ireland

Malta

Poland

Spain

Sweden

United Kingdom

Asia

China

Japan

South Korea

Taiwan

Oceania

Australia

Former studios

See also

Related Research Articles

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Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one of the largest third-party video game publishers in the world and was the top United States publisher in 2016.

Bethesda Softworks LLC is an American video game publisher based in Rockville, Maryland. The company was founded by Christopher Weaver in 1986 as a division of Media Technology Limited. In 1999, it became a subsidiary of ZeniMax Media. In its first 15 years, it was a video game developer and self-published its titles. In 2001, Bethesda spun off its in-house development team into Bethesda Game Studios, leaving Bethesda Softworks to focus on publishing operations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xbox Game Studios</span> American video game publisher

Xbox Game Studios is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, for the development and publishing of video games for Microsoft Windows. It has since expanded to include games and other interactive entertainment for the namesake Xbox platforms, other desktop operating systems, Windows Mobile and other mobile platforms, web-based portals, and other game consoles.

Arkane Studios SASU is a French video game developer based in Lyon. It was founded in 1999, and released its first game, Arx Fatalis, in 2002. Besides the Lyon studio, Arkane Lyon, Arkane Studios operated Arkane Studios LLC in Austin, Texas, from July 2006 until its closure in May 2024. The studio has created the popular Dishonored series as well as developing Prey (2017), Deathloop (2021) and Redfall (2023). Marvel's Blade is under development.

ZeniMax Media Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Rockville, Maryland. The company was founded in 1999 by Christopher Weaver and Robert A. Altman as the parent company for Weaver's video game publisher Bethesda Softworks. The company additionally owns the development studios Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, Arkane Studios, MachineGames (Wolfenstein), and ZeniMax Online Studios. Microsoft acquired ZeniMax Media for $8.1 billion in March 2021 and operates it under the Microsoft Gaming division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bethesda Game Studios</span> American video game developer

Bethesda Game Studios is an American video game developer and a studio of ZeniMax Media based in Rockville, Maryland. It is best known for its action role-playing franchises, including The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Starfield. Bethesda Game Studios was established in 2001 as the development unit of Bethesda Softworks, separating from publishing operations. Todd Howard serves as the studio's executive producer, leading it with managing director Ashley Cheng and studio director Angela Browder. As of November 2023, Bethesda Game Studios had 450 employees.

Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. Activision Blizzard currently includes five business units: Activision Publishing, Blizzard Entertainment, King, Major League Gaming, and Activision Blizzard Studios.

ZeniMax Online Studios LLC is an American video game developer and a subsidiary of ZeniMax Media, specializing in massively multiplayer online games. The company developed The Elder Scrolls Online and its downloadable content. ZeniMax Online Studios had around 250 employees in 2012. In addition to the main Hunt Valley, Maryland based office, ZeniMax Online also maintains a satellite studio in Budapest, Hungary as well as a customer support center in Galway, Ireland.

Sledgehammer Games, Inc. is an American video game developer company formed in 2009 by Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey. The pair formerly worked at Visceral Games and are responsible for the creation of Dead Space. The company is based in Foster City, California. The studio has developed and co-developed various video games in the Call of Duty series. The company is owned by Activision.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Video games in the United States</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">MachineGames</span> Swedish video game developer

MachineGames Sweden AB is a Swedish video game developer based in Uppsala. The studio was founded in 2009 by seven former employees of Starbreeze Studios, including founder Magnus Högdahl. After unsuccessfully pitching game ideas to several publishers, MachineGames agreed with Bethesda Softworks to develop an entry in the Wolfenstein series in July 2010 and was acquired by Bethesda's parent company, ZeniMax Media, in November. In the Wolfenstein series, MachineGames developed The New Order (2014), The Old Blood (2015), The New Colossus (2017), Youngblood (2019), and Cyberpilot (2019). The studio is developing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (2024) as well as another Wolfenstein game.

Tango Gameworks is a Japanese video game developer based in Tokyo. Founded in March 2010 by Shinji Mikami, previously of Capcom, the company was acquired by ZeniMax Media in October that year after suffering financial issues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xbox Game Pass</span> Video game subscription service by Microsoft

Game Pass is a subscription service as part of Xbox and offered by Microsoft Gaming. Launched on June 1, 2017, the service allows users to download and play video games for Xbox video game consoles, Microsoft Windows, Android, iOS, iPadOS, web browsers, smart televisions and cloud. From a rotating library, with the games remaining accessible as long as the user has an active subscription. Game Pass subscribers also receive discounts on purchases of games from the service's library and their respective downloadable content (DLC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alpha Dog Games</span> Canadian video game developer

ZeniMax Halifax Ltd. was a Canadian mobile video game developer based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The company was acquired by ZeniMax Media in October 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microsoft Gaming</span> Division of Microsoft

Microsoft Gaming is an American multinational video game and digital entertainment division of Microsoft based in Redmond, Washington established in 2022. Its five development and publishing labels consist of: Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks, Activision, Blizzard Entertainment, and King. It produces the Xbox video game consoles and services, in addition to overseeing production and sales, and is led by CEO Phil Spencer, who has overseen Xbox since 2014.

On January 18, 2022, Microsoft announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. The acquisition was completed on October 13, 2023, with its total cost amounting to $75.4 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft brought Activision Blizzard under its Microsoft Gaming business unit as a sibling division to Xbox Game Studios and ZeniMax Media. With it, Microsoft gained ownership of several franchises under Activision, Blizzard Entertainment, and King, including Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, Overwatch, and Candy Crush. As of 2023, the acquisition is the largest video game acquisition by transaction value in history.

Microsoft recognizes 7 trade unions representing 1,750 workers in the United States at its video game subsidiaries Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax Media. US workers have been vocal in opposing military and law-enforcement contracts with Microsoft.

<i>FTC v. Microsoft</i> American court case

Federal Trade Commission v. Microsoft Corp. and Activision Blizzard, Inc. is a lawsuit brought against multinational technology corporation Microsoft and video game holding company Activision Blizzard in 2022. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sought a temporary injunction against Microsoft in their efforts to acquire Activision Blizzard.

<i>Doom: The Dark Ages</i> Upcoming video game

Doom: The Dark Ages is an upcoming first-person shooter game developed by id Software and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is intended to be the eighth main entry in the Doom franchise and the third installment of the modern series, following Doom Eternal (2020). The game narratively serves as a prequel to Doom (2016). It is scheduled to be released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S in 2025.

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