Alan Hartman retiring after more than three decades, with Rare exec Craig Duncan taking over as head of Xbox Game Studios

Games industry veteran Alan Hartman is leaving Microsoft. Best known for his work on the Forza franchise, the executive will retire next month after more than three decades.

Alan Hartman (left), Image credit: Inside Sim Racing

• Hartman confirmed his retirement in a post on LinkedIn, saying that he is retiring after 36 years in game development with the title of corporate VP and head of Xbox Game Studios.
• “Being a Studio Head in Gaming is one of the most rewarding and challenging roles in entertainment,” he wrote. “I believe it is the best job at Microsoft. I always knew we had immense talent across XGS, but I didn’t realize how much I would enjoy spending time with our studio leaders and their teams.”
• As Hartman pointed out in his post, he first joined Microsoft in 1988 as a contractor in the CD-ROM group, with the title “Multimedia Specialist.” In the 1990s he served as executive producer at Dreamworks Interactive, working on games like Chaos Island: The Lost World — Jurassic Park and Trespasser.
• Between 2001 and 2005, Hartman worked on space sim Freelancer and action game Brute Force as a studio manager at Microsoft-owned Digitla Anvil. After Microsoft closed the studio, he became the head of Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 Studios, overseeing the production of key titles in the franchise.
• Since September 2021, Hartman has also been serving as corporate VP of both Forza and Fable series. He was named head of Xbox Game Studios last October, replacing Matt Booty, who was then promoted to president of Game Content and Studios.

Alan Hartman will be succeeded by Craig Duncan, another games industry veteran who has been heading Sea of Thieves developer Rare since 2011. He also worked in various positions at companies such as Codemasters, Midway Games, and Sumo Digital.

“In his new role, Craig will continue to focus on helping our studios deliver high-quality, differentiated game experiences that can grow into successful franchises and reach more players by investing in new IP,” Matt Booty told staff (via The Verge).

Two other Rare veterans, executive producer Joe Neate and studio director Jim Horth, will become the studio’s co-leads.