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Last month, it was revealed Rare's boss Craig Duncan would become the new leader of Xbox Game Studios, replacing Forza Motorsport's Alan Hartman.
Now, in an update on Rare's socials, it seems Duncan has "recently started" in his new role, with his existing team celebrating his tenure after "13 years and 10 months".
"Today we're celebrating @Gamerboss' tenure at @RareLtd; after 13 years and 10 months, our head honcho recently started a new role as Head of Xbox Game Studios! We'll still see plenty of him, but he'll miss out on daily cake. Thanks for everything, Craig, from all of us. You rock!
If you need an update on the current structure at Microsoft's gaming division - Phil Spencer is Microsoft Gaming CEO, Sarah Bond is the president of Xbox, and Matt Booty is the president of game content and studios.
In other words, Duncan still has plenty of higher-ups to report to and is walking a similar pathway to certain other Xbox employees in the past. Until now, Duncan was leading Rare on projects like Sea Of Thieves and has years of industry experience.
What are your thoughts about Duncan stepping into the role as the new head of Xbox Game Studios? Let us know.
Comments 33
Congrats....and I sincerely wish him good luck as it won't be easy to manage the studios when his own boss and CEO is just thinking about the bottom line.
Let's hope people like him in their new positions can turn things around for the best.
@Major_Player for goodness sakes. enough already. Just leave the platform if you hate it so much. Play games and have fun. Don't worry about what execs are doing.
‘We at Xbox aspire to fast food industry rates of employee turnover’
@cburg yeah, agreed. If Xbox annoys these trolls so much, ps5 and PCs are available.
And if Xbox doesn't work out in the long term (I think it will) then we can all go buy a ps6 in the future and play Xbox studio games there. Either way I'll be having fun with their output!
"he'll miss out on daily cake" 😂. If I were Craig Duncan, I'd IMMEDIATELY ask for a demotion.
@cburg The opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference.
@Coletrain I truly don't understand why anyone at this point would swap from one closed off ecosystem to another. The "fears" everyone is worried over if Xbox leaves the console market have literally been the norm in the console market anyway. Backwards compatibility is hardly the norm and the leading platforms, Nintendo and Sony, literally scoff at game preservation. Every other generation people already had to deal with not having access to their last gen games.
The only reason I'm still on Xbox is because they have the most open ecosystem and the least volatility in terms of my library. Really if you don't like what Xbox is doing... why bother with a console at all? Like the notion is bonkers to me. If I were afraid of Xbox sinking and my library going with it... I wouldn't go swap to a platform where backwards compatibility had to be confirmed in the year 2024 for its successor (Switch 2) and for good reasons as with prior generations Nintendo went as far as to nuke backwards compatibility on later models within the same generation of hardware (like the first Wii model could play game cube games and after a while new models couldn't). Same for PS. They'd rather sell you a remaster than consistently offer backwards compatibility and protect your library.
And if you're complaining because of exclusivity... I mean everyone's putting their games on Steam. Really it's just a matter of time for Nintendo, but even then with emulators you can access more Nintendo games on PC than Nintendo hardware because again they don't really care about game preservation.
If I only gamed on console and was truly worried for my platform of choice, I'd just start mainly gaming on PC. It's not even that expensive anymore and is for some reason console gaming is becoming just as expensive (if you swapped to PS and just wanted cloud saves (which are free on Xbox and everywhere on PC)) you'd be paying like $80 a year minimum now with how much they raised prices for the lowest tier of PS plus)).
I wish him luck. He’s starting at a good pivot point in the generation, it seems. Hope he does a good job making Xbox a better platform.
what happened to the old guy he replaced?
@Utena-mobile
So... He's right because the other guy is commenting so that means he's not indifferent?
Every. Single. Comment. Section. Yawn. Seriously - stop posting quite so much and go play some games.
@WildConcept6 preach. Xbox is the best ecosystem by a mile. I only switched over in 2021 and I haven't had as much fun since PS2 days. I'm the only one that's allowed to be a sad dad in my house 🤣
@MeanBeanEgg I think that you set up an account a few days ago and haven't said anything positive yet. We see you. It's an Xbox enthusiast site, not reddit
@VisitingComet1 they took the old goat out back and shot him
.
(Alan Hartman retired)
@VisitingComet1 the old guy got ported to Playstation
@K1LLEGAL 😂😂😂😂
I bet he's also enhanced now that PS5 Pro is out lol
@K1LLEGAL not even the executives are safe!!!
I just need some clarification on what I am, and am not, allowed to do, @Coletrain @cburg. Even if I feel things are not being run very well right now, even if I disagree with the direction the company is taking, and even if I think that Microsoft's communication is abysmal, I'm not allowed to say that right? If I post anything remotely critical of Xbox, I'm a troll and I should leave the platform, despite having pre-ordered the OG Xbox, having bought every iteration of the consoles thereafter, and having over 1600 digital games in my Xbox library?
I just feel that myself, and @Major_Player, need some clarification on the subject, because I would hate to fall foul of these rules that I did not know existed...
Good luck to the guy.
Hopefully he brings some quality testers with him!
@Fiendish-Beaver nope no criticism allowed. Even if deserved.
@Fiendish-Beaver actually I don't find you to be in the category of troll. You tend to have mixed opinions, a lot of which I agree with.
There's a difference between that, and every single comment being negative. Come on now.
Obviously the messaging at times has been horrendous. Don't think anyone in their right mind could disagree with that. But on the whole, and in my opinion, Xbox has got a lot more right this gen than wrong. Now the games are coming at a nice pace, they have made inroads into cloud, and have stronger partnerships with 3rd party Devs than they did 4 years ago.
I enjoy discourse about that kind of stuff. Every single comment being "Xbox bad, Xbox doomed" etc., much less so.
@MeanBeanEgg I could do that, although a few of your comments were removed lately. Easier to wait until we find something fun to have some discourse about. Sure we will find common ground on something or other sooner or later.
Fair enough, @Coletrain. I'm cool with that...
@WildConcept6 I've recently been guilty/honestly opinionated with a sometimes negative interpretation of MS business practices, particularly with regard to their handling and communication about their games division but everything you say rings true. We're all online impulsive and emotive commentators nowadays but I maintain that we've never had it better as gamers. Adjusted for inflation games aren't more expensive, there are frequent sales and I'm fairly certain we all have seemingly never ending backlogs. The only point of concern which you mention is game preservation and the inevitable disappearance of physical media. It is what is it.
@Fiendish-Beaver The community rules are available here if you have doubts about what you can do:
https://www.purexbox.com/rules#:~:text=Please%20always%20remain%20constructive%20in%20your%20response.%201,be%20respectful%20in%20your%20response.%20...%20More%20items
Multi-account users that have their comments removed because of trolling and harassment is certainly not your case as far as I know, even when you are pessimistic or negative.
@Fiendish-Beaver Criticism is 100% fine and healthy. It only becomes a problem when people are ALWAYS negative and don't add anything constructive to the conversation. You DO usually add to the conversation so you're all good imho.
The rules are pretty clear. But I think it's simple as long as you stay on topic, are posting in good faith without trying to rile others up and not endlessly doom posting about Xbox then you're fine.
Some people don't like ANY Xbox criticism though, that is their problem, there's an ignore button for that. But then i've been criticised of being a Sony shill here...and an Xbox fanboy on Push Square... so what do I know. Keep up the posts
At this point it is all about the games and if new guy can do it then it is a great hire… I personally have been disappointed in the lack of games as I get really hyped at the June showcase and it’s been a real slow trickle in 2024…
@WildConcept6 exactly. MS literally told multiple times over the year that they are committed to hardware, here are the 3 new boxes, next gen in the works and portable device in the works. People just scared and prefer to believe "insiders" posting doom & gloom all the time as it gets clicks.
Oh, and MS is pushing the play anywhere program heavily. So your library is actually the most intact with MS. worst case it will be accessible on PC/cloud in 20 years if they stop pushing consoles.
@Fiendish-Beaver there is a difference between criticism and negativity. Not even talking about you but we all see same trolls all the time. Also, I noticed when something good happens people tend to ignore it.
Another observation: If something bad/similarly bad happens to a competitor - guess what - "we are not talking about PS/nintendo here" however when they have a W - guess what - "look at PS GOTY contenders, look at the record sales, etc".
It's the hypocrisy that pisses me off even more - like things always 100% of the time are bad and doomed for the xbox narrative, which is simply not true.
@K1LLEGAL that was darn funny thanks!
Guy that has done literally nothing with all the Rare ips people love now runs XBOX.
What a great omen!
@dreadful That's my concern. Has Rare had any successful project in the last decade besides Sea of Thieves? And even that didn't launch well from memory. Idk, seems like a weird choice. At least it wasn't Todd Howard...
Sea of Thieves made PlayStation exclusives look like children's drawings. Now it's time to put PlayStation itself out of business. LET'S GO!!!!!!
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