Craig Duncan, head of Sea of Thieves studio Rare, will take over as the Xbox Game Studios boss later this year.
According to GamesIndustry.biz, Xbox Game Studios’ current boss Alan Hartman will retire from the company at the end of November after being in the position for one year.
Duncan, who had led Rare for almost 14 years, has not only worked on the popular first-person, live-service pirate game but also the studio’s Kinect titles. He has previously worked at multiple studios like Sumo Digital, Midway, and Codemasters, in different leadership roles over the years.
As the new head of Xbox Game Studios, Duncan will oversee Microsoft’s Xbox teams, including the recently 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 position, Duncan will report to the president of Game Content and Studios, 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 the Rare in 2013 after also working at Sumo Digital and Midway, while Horth has worked in several positions at the studio for over 20 years.
“Alan’s career has been marked by innovation, dedication, and an unwavering passion for gaming,” Booty said in an email to staff.
“Starting as a contractor at Microsoft in the fledgling CD-ROM group in 1988, Alan has worked on a variety of projects in his time here, from Age of Empires, to Brute Force as the studio head of Digital Anvil, to the founding of Turn 10.
“Over the years, Alan, Turn 10 and Playground Games delivered 13 Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon games, building Forza into one of the top racing franchises in the world and regularly pushing 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 shipped multiple critically acclaimed titles this year and set the stage for highly anticipated games like Avowed, South of Midnight, Fable, and more.”
Hartman also shared a statement on his LinkedIn, saying, “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 immense talent across XGS, but I didn’t realize how much I would enjoy spending time with our studio leaders and their teams.
“It has been an honor to represent XGS, and I truly mean this – a pleasure getting to spend time with all of our studios.”
Talking about Duncan’s new position as head, Booty added, “In his new role, Craig will continue to focus on helping our studios deliver high-quality, differentiated game experiences that can grow into successful franchises and reach more players by investing in new IP.”
