But here, courtesy of Google's webcache, is how it looked at the end of last week (below/right):
Microsoft
Gone too are BigPark, [Fun]ction, Good Science, LXP (Leap Experience Pioneers), Project Spark, and Sota. Of those, several are more closely involved with Hololens development, and their removal from the Microsoft Studios umbrella could be to align them more closely with the augmented reality headset. Indeed, click on any of those links through the cached page now and you're redirected to the Hololens site.
BigPark is an exception, as it was focused on NFL stats, fantasy football, and viewer engagement, features which mostly only worked in the US and integrated with the Xbox One's media centre ambitions. It now redirects to a dedicated NFL page.
Project Spark is a big outlier though. The game, which itself is a creation suite, was announced at E3 in 2013, shortly after the Xbox One's reveal in May of the same year. While also available for Windows, it was positioned as one of the console's "killer apps", offering a vast world to adventure through while simultaneously providing tools to create and share new worlds.
Project Spark has its devoted fans and some incredible content has been made in it (including Linkin Park's music video for the track Guilty All the Same), but it's fair to say it never quite exploded in popularity in the way Microsoft likely hoped. Further, its servers have been offline since at least Friday 4 March, and the only update offered on the developer's site is that the team is investigating.
The exact fate of these studios and games is unknown at present, but it's telling in what studios remain. The top four -- 343 Industries, The Coalition, Mojang, and Turn 10 -- create arguably Microsoft's four biggest franchises in Halo, Gears of War, Minecraft, and Forza, while Rare (currently at work on Sea of Thieves) and the indie focused ID@Xbox are also still standing.
Lift London is something of a curiosity -- founded in 2012 by Microsoft, the studio has yet to release a single title, though it is also seen as an incubator for other studios -- while Casual Games and Xbox Fitness seem to represent long-term, non-core gamer prospects for Microsoft.
WIRED has contacted Microsoft for comment, and will update this story as required.
