The Coalition (formerly Zipline Studios, Microsoft Game Studios Vancouver and Black Tusk Studios) is a Canadian video game developer and a studio of

Xbox Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher and part of the Microsoft Gaming division based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, ...

based in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. The Coalition is best known for developing games in the '' Gears of War'' series after the franchise's acquisition by Xbox Game Studios from Epic Games.

History

The studio was formed in February 2010 as Zipline Studios, and under that name developed the

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

game ''Relic Rescue''. In May 2011, the studio was renamed Microsoft Game Studios Vancouver as it shifted its focus away from social games, instead working on ''

Microsoft Flight ''Microsoft Flight'' is an amateur flight simulation from Microsoft Studios created as a spin-off of the ''Microsoft Flight Simulator'' series. The game is offered "free-to-play"; charging players for downloading extra content, aircraft or s ...

'' and Kinect

shooter game Shooter video games or shooters are a subgenre of action video games where the focus is almost entirely on the defeat of the character's enemies using the weapons given to the player. Usually these weapons are firearms or some other long-range ...

''Project Columbia''. On July 25, 2012, ''Project Columbia'' and further development on ''Microsoft Flight'' were cancelled, with all 35 employees being laid off. On November 29, 2012, the studio was renamed Black Tusk Studios, and tasked with creating a new major franchise for Microsoft Studios to rival their popular ''

Halo Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to: * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Video games * ''Halo'' (franch ...

'' franchise. On January 27, 2014, it was announced that Microsoft had acquired the '' Gears of War'' franchise from Epic Games, and that Black Tusk Studios would take on the development of future games in the series. As part of the ''Gears of War'' acquisition, Microsoft also hired

Rod Fergusson Rod Fergusson is a Canadian video game producer, best known for overseeing the development of the '' Gears of War'' franchise, originally at Epic Games and then as head of The Coalition. More recently, Fergusson moved over to Blizzard Entertai ...

, who was the executive producer on the first three ''Gears of War'' games, to oversee development. On June 3, 2015, Fergusson announced that Black Tusk Studios had been renamed The Coalition; similarly to Microsoft's ''Halo'' studio

343 Industries 343 Industries is an American video game developer located in Redmond, Washington, part of Xbox Game Studios. Headed by Pierre Hintze, the studio is responsible for the ''Halo (franchise), Halo'' series of military science fiction games, origin ...

, the studio's name references an entity within the ''Gears of War'' franchise—the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Fergusson announced his departure as studio head in February 2020 to move over to

Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, Inc. by three gradu ...

to oversee the '' Diablo'' series.

Games developed

Cancelled

* ''Project Columbia'' (2012)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coalition (company), The 2010 establishments in British Columbia Canadian companies established in 2010 Companies based in Vancouver First-party video game developers Microsoft subsidiaries Video game companies established in 2010 Video game companies of Canada Video game development companies Xbox Game Studios