How Microsoft's game studio bought Halo, Minecraft and more
Halo was originally planned as a computer game. Then in June 2000 Microsoft bought its developer, Bungie, and turned it into the flagship launch title for the first Xbox. That purchase set the pattern for Xbox Game Studios, a publisher that has grown largely by acquiring the teams behind games people already loved.
Microsoft's gaming ambitions were once modest. Steve Ballmer reportedly persuaded Bill Gates to play down games early on to make the company look more serious. By 1992 the games unit had just two people, expanding to six. The group was spun off as Microsoft Games in March 2000, alongside the announcement of the Xbox, and renamed Microsoft Game Studios a year later.
Buying sprees followed. Rare, a studio long associated with Nintendo, joined in 2002, and Lionhead came in 2006 to secure a Fable sequel. Some deals unwound: Bungie split away in 2007 as an independent company, but Microsoft kept the Halo rights and set up 343 Industries to make future games in the series. The Great Recession brought closures, including Ensemble Studios, maker of Age of Empires, in 2009.
The biggest change came with Satya Nadella, who became chief executive in February 2014 when the Xbox One was struggling as pricier than its rivals and too focused on non-gaming features. Phil Spencer took over the studios. That November Microsoft paid $2.5 billion for Mojang, maker of Minecraft, and promised to keep the game on rival consoles. It also bought the Gears of War rights from Epic Games.
Mojang was left largely alone, running as what executive Matt Booty called an unplugged studio. He later described that light touch as the template for future acquisitions. Today the publisher sits in Microsoft's Xbox division alongside ZeniMax, Activision Blizzard and Mojang.
Source: Xbox Game Studios
