Gaming IndustryA week after Microsoft closed 4 game studios, Microsoft-owned Activision announces a new game studioWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

Gaming IndustryA week after Microsoft closed 4 game studios, Microsoft-owned Activision announces a new game studioWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Bloomberg (Getty Images))

Activision company logo

Just over a week after Microsoft abruptly shuttered four studios—Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog Games, and Roundhouse Games—Microsoft-ownedActivisionhas announced the launch of a new internal studio calledElsewhere Entertainment, “exclusively focused on creating a new narrative-based and genre-defining AAA franchise.”

The new studio is based in Warsaw, Poland, and is made up of “storytelling experts” who have previously worked on games including The Last of Us, Uncharted, The Witcher, Cyberpunk, Destiny, Tom Clancy’s The Division, and Far Cry.

“The new studio has full access to Activision’s resources and tools as it continues to increase production and development,” Activision said. “Elsewhere is opening its search for best-in-class talent from across the industry and around the world to help create a state-of-the-art and next generation gaming experience.”

Elsewhere Entertainment is working on something entirely new—it’s not Call of Duty, which is a nice change of pace. And, as an Activision project, it’s unrelated to last week’s studio closures. Aside from the fact that Microsoft owns Activision, of course, which you have to imagine gives it some say in what Activision does when it comes to things like launching new studios orlaying off employees.

Work on the new game has been underway for some time now, though—this is merely the first public mention of the new studio and whatever it’s got cooking—so in all fairness, it’s not a case of killing four studios and then immediately setting up another one amongst their rubble.

(Image credit: Activision)

Elsewhere Entertainment announcement image - a stylized definition of the word “elsewhere” on a blurry background

There’s no word on when Elsewhere’s debut project will be revealed, but the studio is ramping up hiring to get things going in earnest.

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