Microsoft opening new London studio for casual games

Microsoft has announced its plans to open a new games development studio in London, with staff there set to work on future casual games. The company is currently in the process of hiring developers, so if you wanted to get your foot in the door at a Microsoft studio, now might not be a bad time to fire off a CV.

“EMEA is a key market for us and we continue to cultivate the best talent and focus on growing our business, with this role focused on the continued expansion of our Microsoft Studios business in the region,” Microsoft said while speaking with MCV.

Some analysts have suggested that the new studio will be focusing on developing first party, free to play games for the Xbox platform, or potentially online games and apps that tie in to much larger AAA releases to add more to the experience and flesh out the games a little more. Microsoft details the studio's focus as being on: “developing successful new products and services for current and future consumers”.

While it isn't known yet what this development centre will be known as, it joins the ranks of other Microsoft owned British studios like: Rare, Lionhead and Soho Studios.

KitGuru Says: With the Xbox 720 or Xbox 8 just around the corner, it could be that this developer will be producing some first party launch titles for the next-gen equivalent of the Xbox Live Arcade too.

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