Microsoft might have acquired Playground Games

[Master Disaster]

According to documents held by the UKs official company register Keith Ranger Dollinger has recently been appointed as the new director over at the Forza Horizon development studio. That news in itself doesn't say anything but a quick Google of that name will show he's listed as director for the following companies, LinkedIn, Rare, Skype, Lionhead, Groove Networks, Havok and Xamarin. What do these companies all have in common? They were all acquired my Microsoft.

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UK developer Playground Games could be about to be acquired by Microsoft(NASDAQ:MSFT 101.67 0.01%). A PDF document posted on the UK Government’s Companies House website reveals that on May 29th, Keith Ranger Dolliger was appointed as a new director within Playground Games.

 

Even the service address listed points to Microsoft, and that’s no coincidence. A quick Google search shows that Mr. Dollinger has been a Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Business and Corporate Development at Microsoft Corporation for quite a long time. Furthermore, and here’s the bulk of the rumor, he has been appointed as Director on a long list of companies such as LinkedIn, Rare, Skype, Lionhead, Groove Networks, Havok, Xamarin and more. What do all these companies have in common? That’s easy – at some point, they were acquired by Microsoft.

Let's not forget that Playground have only ever made games for Microsoft platforms so this acquisition makes perfect sense anyway.

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This move would make perfect sense, given the close relationship Playground Games has had with the software giant ever since the studio was founded. In fact, all of the games released so far have been Xbox and Windows 10 PC exclusives.

Outside of Forza Horizon, of which a new version is expected to be announced at this year's E3, Playground are also rumored to be working on a new RPG type game from a little franchise called Fable.

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The announcement could be coming during the Xbox E3 2018 Briefing, where Playground Games is expected to officially unveil Forza Horizon 4, the fourth entry in their highly successful open world racing game. Early rumors suggested a Japanese setting, though the latest one actually points to the United Kingdom as a possible setting for the game.

 

That’s not the only game Playground Games is working on, anyway. A second studio was opened to work on an open world action RPG, with developers who’ve worked on titles like GTAV, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain hired for the occasion.

 

More recently, a strong rumor suggested that it could be a new entry in the Microsoft-owned Fable IP. Again, this makes a lot of sense given that Lionhead has now disbanded and a UK studio like Playground Games could be the perfect choice to carry the torch and develop new games in this highly British-styled fantasy universe.

https://wccftech.com/microsoft-could-acquire-playground-games/

 

This acquisition makes sense tbh but what's with MS splashing the cash around recently?

[ZcanKal]

Oh great, Microsoft: Disney of Electronics.

[asus killer]

there was some talks they wanted to do other type of games and even open a new studio for it, maybe they sold the company to MS to finance it. Will probably be the end for them as it was for all the other game companies MS bought.

[AskTJ]

Looks like Microsoft is on a spending spree.

[Arika]

I thought they were already a subsidiary of Microsoft Games Studio. This seems more of a formality at this point given that they only work with Microsoft anyway