On 10 June 2018, during E3 2018, Microsoft announced that they had entered into an agreement to acquire Ninja Theory alongside three other studios as part of Microsoft Studios. Studio creative director Tameem Antoniades said that they opted for the acquisition as "We want to be free from the AAA machine and make games focused on the experience, not around monetization", and would allow them to continue building smaller, risky games with creative independence. For Microsoft, Ninja Theory was seen as a studio that would produce good content that fits with the Xbox Game Pass subscription service, according to head of Microsoft Studios Matt Booty.