Today I'm sharing news about leadership changes on our team. After more than 30 years at Microsoft, Alan Hartman is retiring at the end of November.
Alan's career has been one of innovation, dedication and an unwavering passion for games. Alan started at Microsoft in 1988 as a contractor in the fledgling CD-ROM group and has worked on a variety of projects in his time here, from Age of Empires to Brute Force as studio head of Digital Anvil to the founding of Turn 10. Im Over the years, Alan, Turn 10 and Playground Games 13 delivered Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon games, making Forza one of the best racing franchises in the world and regularly expanding the capabilities of our hardware. His work to improve accessibility in gaming has set a benchmark for the industry and under his leadership, Xbox Game Studios has released several critically acclaimed titles this year and set the stage for highly anticipated games such as Avowed, South of Midnight, Fable and more prepared.
As we search for our next leader to manage the complexities of our business and foster the creativity needed to make our games successful, we worked with Human Resources to evaluate both external and internal candidates, taking into account the unique requirements the XGS role must be taken into account.
I'm pleased to announce that Craig Duncan will be taking on the role of Head of Xbox Game Studios. Craig brings extensive experience from working at Codemasters, Midway Games and Sumo Digital before moving to Xbox in 2011 to lead Rare. During this time, Rare has achieved sustained business success and developed new IPs, most notably the ever-evolving Sea of Thieves, a cross-platform franchise with over 40 million players.
In his new role, Craig will continue to focus on helping our studios deliver high-quality, differentiated gaming experiences that can grow into successful franchises and reach more players through investment in new IP. Craig will report to me and join the leadership team at Game Content and Studios, working closely with Alan during the transition. The existing XGS leadership team that Alan built will remain in place and report to Craig.
I'm also pleased to announce that Joe Neate and Jim Horth will be taking over as co-directors of Rare. Their leadership has played a critical role in Rare's growth and I am confident they will take the studio and its games even further forward.
Please join me in congratulating Alan on his retirement and welcoming Craig, Joe and Jim to their new roles.
Frosted