If Microsoft is going to make a comeback in the mobile phone business, it will need to play to its strengths, and newly surface job listings suggest that the company is making a new effort to do just that. Microsoft Game Studios is hiring engineers and business development specialists for a new studio dubbed MGS Mobile Gaming, according to postings spotted by Download Squad and Neowin (via Engadget).

One of the listings describes what the new studio will be trying to accomplish.

Our vision is to deliver games and entertainment so good that people will want them always with them, on a service that makes them social, connected and relevant anywhere their life goes. The Mobile Gaming team is building industry leading products that showcase our Windows Phone platform as well as emerging mobile platforms, and will help realize Microsoft's connected entertainment vision. The Mobile Gaming studio will be the hub for MGS franchises and titles on mobile devices and a center of excellence for mobile games.

For all the grief that investors give Microsoft over the billions that were sunk into building the Xbox business, the simple fact is that it's a rare example of traction for Microsoft in a key consumer market, with 42 million Xbox 360s sold and 25 million people using the Xbox Live online service. That gives Microsoft an inside line on a large potential audience for its mobile audience.

In other words, the sooner they can get Halo ready for Windows Phone, the better for Microsoft's mobile business.