Microsoft sells off sports game studio to Take Two

By Games Industry.biz Published 17 December, 2004

No more sports games for Microsoft Game Studios as Indie Built goes to Take Two.

The Salt Lake City based development studio behind titles including Top Spin, Amped and Links has been sold to Take Two Interactive, in a move which finalises Microsoft Game Studios' move out of the sports market.

The sale was confirmed last night by Take Two president Paul Eibeler, but no details have yet been announced regarding which of Take Two's labels will run the studio, or what games are in development at the company.

The studio, known as Indie Built, was responsible for creating the Amped and Amped 2 snowboarding titles, and Microsoft's Links series of golf games, as well as supervising the creation of critically acclaimed tennis title Top Spin.

It's believed that Indie Built are currently focusing their efforts on next-generation development, and following the Take Two acquisition, the studio will undoubtedly be looking to develop across multiple platforms rather than just on Xbox consoles.

The acquisition represents a further move into the sports game area for Take Two, which this year signed a deal giving it publishing rights for Sega's ESPN series of videogames - although after a successful few months for the franchise thanks to an aggressive price point, that bubble burst earlier this week when EA announced that it has signed exclusive rights for the NFL for five years.

It also signals the end of Microsoft's ambitions in the sports sector, which were launched with much fanfare at E3 in 2003 under the XSN Sports name. The company initially suggested that it was simply putting the XSN brand on hiatus for a year, but back in August it made the teams behind NFL Fever, Inside Drive and NHL Rivals redundant, and with the sale of Indie Built, has now effectively dropped all of its sports game development teams.

However, with Electronic Arts now committed to fully supporting the Xbox Live service with its hugely successful EA Sports range - and almost certainly prepared to launch EA Sports games early in the lifespan of the Xbox 2 - Microsoft undoubtedly feels that this particular sector is well-covered on Xbox.

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Comments (14) 7 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Blerk #1 7 years ago

    Blimey! Microsoft selling something rather than beating a company into submission with its wallet?

    /checks to see if he's blundered into a parallel universe

  • Dizzy #2 7 years ago

    The price MS had to pay to get EA on Live.

    Like the article says.. I am sure MS prefers having EA sport games.

  • alcolepone #3 7 years ago

    shame ea fucked live up.

    burnout 3 really suffered because of ea

  • sturgeon #4 7 years ago

    errr, wasn't Top Spin developed by the french guys PAM? and not Microsoft Game Studios.

  • Lothar Hex #5 7 years ago

    Well this seems like a bit of a daft move.

  • Tiitiz #6 7 years ago

    RIP Top Spin

  • mlitman #7 7 years ago

    I was looking forward to them putting right all the little glitches and errors in Top Spin with Top Spin 2. Now I'll never see the day :(

  • sam_spade #8 7 years ago

    Bit of a bad choice, the XSN sports brand which was perfectly integrated into Live. Or EA with its shonkiness.

  • Nemesis #9 7 years ago

    As long as they don't ruin Amped3 I'll be a happy chappy.

  • asha #10 7 years ago

    There better be an Amped3!

  • Feanor #11 7 years ago

    Links is an extremely fun and rewarding game, despite its obvious flaws like the crappy commentary and only having four pro golfers in the game.

  • skalmanxl #12 7 years ago

    Links is actually one of the best golf games on any console right now. Atleast if you like real digital golf, and not some silly wannabees (Tiger Woods).

  • Royal Fool #13 7 years ago

    Microsoft will still own the Amped, Top Spin, Links and other sports licenses unless they made them part of the sale.

    Microsoft originally bought Access Software to get Links... ironic how these licenses manage to float around from owner to owner.


    There's more to this than just the loss of Microsoft's sports games, of course - this also further solidifies EA's position as a dominant force in the industry.

  • malloc #14 7 years ago

    Interesting move for Take Two though. Maybe will see them diversify, not just blood and guts games.

    Anyone know the price?