Microsoft's game publishing brand formed in 2002, Microsoft Studios, had its second rebranding yesterday as Xbox Game Studios as the company head Matt Booty announced in an interview during Inside Xbox. 

Microsoft has been pushing the Xbox name beyond the console itself for some time now, and Booty said that it was important for them to insert the word "Game" in their name (despite the company being called Microsoft Game Studios already between 2002 and 2011). 

While they left the impression of only focusing on the Xbox console family in the late 2000s and early 2010s, Microsoft seems to have changed priorities since then. We've seen their revival of the Age of Empires franchise, which has always been a PC exclusive, minor returns of the Halo franchise to the PC with Halo: Spartan Assault/Strike and both Halo Wars games, and in general a growing range of Xbox One titles entering the UWP-powered Microsoft Store for both Xbox One and Windows 10 compatibility.

At this year's GDC, Microsoft plans to discuss a new SDK that would "enable game developers to connect players across platforms", the webpage of which Windows Central was quick enough to catch in an earlier and more detailed state where Microsoft stated that it would allow for connecting players on the Switch, Android, and iOS with any game on the Microsoft Store found on Xbox One consoles and Windows 10 PCs.

News from @mattbooty: Microsoft Studios is now Xbox Game Studios. https://t.co/eha2RWfsAz pic.twitter.com/gFkH37tHxU

— Xbox (@Xbox) February 5, 2019

All in all, a very strange set of news. Stay tuned to GameFront as we get more information on this and other subjects.