Microsoft today announced it’s rebranding its Microsoft Studios games division as Xbox Game Studios, further cementing Xbox as Microsoft’s games brand — regardless of what platform those games are played on.
Due to a recent acquisitions spree the division currently encompasses 13 game-making teams, and this minor name change means all of them — from console mainstays like 343 to PC game vets like Obsidian and inXile — will now be making Xbox Game Studios games, even if those games end up releasing on PCs or other platforms beyond the actual Xbox console.
“Today, Xbox is our gaming brand across all devices, no matter how or where you want to play, or who you want to play with,” reads an excerpt of the announcement.
Microsoft has been making a show of pushing its games business cross-platform for months now, unveiling its in-development game streaming platform Project xCloud as Xbox frontman Phil Spencer promises to push Microsoft’s Game Pass game subscription service onto “every device” possible.
It’s a nice vision, one that’s easy to sympathize with when you consider that revenue from sales of Xbox consoles is slipping as the company’s earnings from the sales of games and Xbox services steadily climbs.