Microsoft Studios has been rebranded Xbox Game Studios.

The corporate vice president of this newly-named division Matt Booty provided more details about this change in a post on Xbox's website, following an Inside Xbox broadcast on the subject.

The exec says that this change of name is a sign of the Xbox brand growing beyond its original hardware-focused remit with the plan being for Xbox to be a name for any platform.

With that in mind, it's interesting to note that Microsoft is preparing to roll out an SDK for Xbox Live on Switch and mobile devices. 

This follows Microsoft making a huge investment in its first-party line-up, with the Big M announcing the purchase of Ninja Theory, Compulsion, Undead Labs and Playground Games at E3 2018, as well as setting up a new studio in Santa Monica called The Initiative. That was before the firm snapped up RPG specialists Obsidian and InXile later that year.

That brings the total figure of owned Microsoft studios to 13. Hopefully, this is lucky for the Big M! 

We caught up with Booty in the wake of E3 to see why Microsoft had made such a huge investment in its first-party development portfolio as well as what the company was looking for in this regard.

"2019 is going to be a great year for Xbox gamers everywhere," Booty wrote.

"Exclusive games including Crackdown 3, Gears 5 and Ori and the Will of the Wisps will be available to Xbox Game Pass members on the same day they launch worldwide. We’re also working to deliver big content updates for games like Sea of Thieves, Forza Horizon 4 and Minecraft that players are going to love.

"We’re also excited to see how the seven new game development studios we added to our team last year maximize their creative potential as part of Xbox Game Studios. As a gaming organization, we have never been in a better position to deliver a diverse line-up of exclusive games for Xbox fans now, and in the future."