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At the Game Developers Conference taking place this week in San Francisco, Indie studio Motiga announced its partnership with Microsoft to publish Gigantic on Xbox One and Windows 10 (due out later this year). This will give Microsoft’s two main gaming platforms a potentially solid, free-to-play entry in the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) shooter genre.
Gigantic is a five-on-five shooter that features a wide range of playable characters. Characters employ different classes, such as sniper, heavy weapons, and melee. Each team also has a computer-controlled giant creature called a “Guardian,” which they must protect while trying to take down the opposition’s monster.
The partnership between Microsoft and Motiga will see Gigantic become a cross-platform game, where players on Xbox One will be able to play and interact with people on Windows 10. This also includes having only one account that you can carry between both versions of the title.
When asked how deep the publishing relationship went, and if this was a sign of Motiga becoming an exclusive first-party studio for Microsoft, Gigantic’s creative director, James Phinney, was quick to fly his indie flag high, “Motiga is still Motiga. We value our independence a lot. Still, we’re able to get into a partnership that really made sense for publishing the game.”
When looking for confirmation on whether Gigantic would be a true Microsoft-exclusive product, Motiga’s head of communications, Troy Hewitt, would only say, “Right now, [the Gigantic team’s] focus is Windows 10 and Xbox One.”