Black Tusk will be handling Microsoft's "next big entertainment franchise" according to the studio, as they reveal they're dedicated to "creating immersive, AAA games" for the core.
"Being a first-party studio at Microsoft means having both the mandate and the opportunity to think and act big," blurbs the 'new' studio. It doesn't hurt to have huge coffers.
"Black Tusk is able to leverage resources, technology, and experience from other first-party studios such as 343 Industries, Turn 10 Studios, Rare Ltd., Lionhead Studios, Good Science Studio, and Twisted Pixel Games" along with nearby BigPark and Microsoft Studios Victoria." According to superannuation, Crysis 2 lead designer Sten Huebler now resides at Black Tusk, apparently working on a multiplayer shooter "on the scale of a Gears or Halo".
Black Tusk studio manager Mike Crump recently said in an interview: "...we are working on Microsoft's next big entertainment franchise. We're not working on an existing franchise, we're looking to build the next Halo here in Vancouver, for example, which is really exciting. We are building something from the ground up."
