Microsoft Rebooting Vancouver Game Industry To Create New 'Halo' Like Franchise

Amidst multiple studio closures in the area, Microsoft christens Black Tusk Studios.

Citing a desire to create the "next 'Halo,'" Microsoft has green lit a AAA project at the studio who's launch has been building over the last year, a development that bucks two recent trends.

Multiple studios have closed in the Vancouver in recent months, in part due to the comparative absence of tax credits for the area, and a trend that studio manager Mike Crump answered directly, “Tax credits, for sure, are a challenge here in Vancouver. But Microsoft’s commitment to Vancouver goes way beyond tax credits."

Microsoft has also shied away in past years from AAA development and studio maintenance, focusing instead on the casual market. The "next 'Halo'" refers not to the next 'Halo' title which is likely already underway at 343, but the next AAA system-seller akin to the 'Halo' series, hardly a minor ambition.

Source: The Escapist