Microsoft closes Sports Studio
by Kit

Friday, August 20 2004

Internal sports game development ceases.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is reporting today that Microsoft Corp. is shutting down its internal development studio responsible for team sports titles on the Xbox.

The closure of the studio effectively ends development on future NFL Fever, NBA Inside Drive and NHL Rivals titles, but won't affect non-team sports games such as Amped, Links, and Top Spin.

IDC analyst Schelley Olhava commented, "Competing in the video-game space is very hard. Competing in the video-game sports* space is incredibly different." Olhava then added, "At a certain point, you have to figure out where your resources are going to go."

This decision by Microsoft comes as little surprise after the company announced back in March that it was not planning to release new versions of its XSN Sports titles, and that it was going to "re-evaluate" the lineup. Additionally, at the E3Expo this past May, Electronic Arts and Xbox finally reached an agreement that would see EA titles (including sports) on Xbox Live. The new relationship with EA made justifying the existence of the XSN titles much harder, although MS certainly did not give this as a reason.

The closure eliminates 76 jobs, but MS said they would help the employees to find other available jobs within the company.

--- Kit