Private Division, the label created by Take-Two specifically to publish high-quality games from independent developers, is expected to publish its first two games this year. These will be Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey by Panache Digital (founded by Assassin's Creed creator Patrice Desilets) and The Outer Worlds by Obsidian Entertainment, which however has since been acquired by Microsoft.
In an interview published on MCVUK, Private Division head Michael Worosz discussed specifically Microsoft's acquisitions in 2018, which were clearly geared towards the same kind of middle-sized studios that Private Division is partnering with. According to Worosz, Microsoft will have to prove ongoing Xbox Game Pass growth to be able to do additional acquisitions of this kind and even then not every independent studio will want to be under their control.
Right now it seems clear that Microsoft is trying to accrue value to their Game Pass value proposition, by having uniquely available content there. I think that makes sense to a degree, I think they’re going to have to demonstrate Game Pass’s growth over time to be able to continue to do acquisitions like this, and if it does work for them, then I can see them doing more acquisitions to build out exclusive content.
Certain developers want to to be independent for that reason, they’ve worked at larger companies and want to be able to control their own destiny to a larger degree, they want more creative freedom. Having a larger corporate parent, particularly one with a trillion dollar market cap like Microsoft, sometimes gets in the way.
Elsewhere in the interview, it was revealed that there are additional unannounced studios Private Division is working with, with numerous unannounced projects also on the way. That's on top of Project Wight by The Outsiders and the sci-fi first-person shooter game in development at V1 Interactive (founded by Marcus Lehto, co-creator of Halo), since both of these were mentioned already on the unveiling of Private Division.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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