Published , by Donovan Erskine
Published , by Donovan Erskine
The completion of Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition meant a full reshuffling of the leadership at Xbox. With Matt Booty promoted to the roles of president of Xbox game content and studios, there was a vacancy to fill atop Xbox Game Studios. It looks like Microsoft has opted for an internal hire, as Turn 10 Studios’ Alan Hartman has been named the new head of Xbox Game Studios.
The announcement came from Hartman himself in a LinkedIn post yesterday. “Thrilled to be representing such an elite set of game creators in my new role leading Xbox Game Studios!” the message reads. The post is accompanied by images depicting several of the studios in Microsoft’s stable, including Obsidian, Mojang, and Playground Games. We can add Activision Blizzard to that tally following the completion of that purchase last month.
Hartman previously served as the head of Turn 10 Studios, the team behind the Forza Motorsport games. The team recently shipped Forza Motorsport, the ninth game in the racing sim series, last month. This was presumably Hartman’s last game with Turn 10, and it’s currently unclear who will assume the role as head of the studio.
Alan Hartman’s promotion comes amid a full reorganizing of Xbox leadership following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Other moves include Matt Booty’s promotion to president of game content and studios and Sarah Bond being named president of Xbox. Now that he’s in a more public-facing role, it’ll be interesting to see if and where Hartman pops up in regard to future Xbox events and showcases. Shacknews’ Xbox topic page is a great place to stay caught up on everything happening on the business side of one of the gaming industry’s biggest players.