LOL
Bloomberg: Ballmer may name Windows boss as new head of hardware / Xbox
- Thread starter gofreak
- Start date
If it's true, I suspect that we'll see tv and entertainment to be even more prioritised than games wih the Xbox One than before. They need to bring in someone that understands the industry before they've totally tanked.
Edit: Read the article and agree with many other posters, they'll most likely bring in someone else for the interactive entertainment position who'll report to her instead of her taking over.
Edit: Read the article and agree with many other posters, they'll most likely bring in someone else for the interactive entertainment position who'll report to her instead of her taking over.
IMO the purpose of merging WP and Windows is to hide the heavy lose of the WP8 division and RT sales inside Windows 8 division.
This made me laugh - if she got legit mad, she's delusional.
zomgbbqftw
Banned
Don was head of Xbox and the Interactive Entertainment Division and reported directly to the CEO. This reshuffle means Xbox is lower down the pecking order because the whoever is picked as the head of Xbox is now going to report to Julie rather than Ballmer like Don.
TheRagnCajun
Member
Tell us more
R3TRO
Member
Seriously.
hydrophilic attack
Member
Wow, seriously? They really seem to be in their own little universe, don't they?
There's a lot of IRL trolling potential going on there, which I wouldn't fail to execute on if I were him.
I think 'Entertainment & Devices' became pretty much a reporting division, not one reflected in management. Mattrick, IIRC, reported directly to Ballmer. There was a time when there were people between Mattrick and Ballmer, in E&D, but they were 'Xbox'/games people (Bach).
Under the assumed setup here Xbox would go back under another division, and maybe that won't be so different from the pre-2010 days. Except it seems like a non-games person will be heading up that division.
I think the question that's at the root of all this is who will assume Don Mattrick's duties. Will they go to a new person at Xbox with the hardware head being an intermediary ala Robbie Bach? Or will the new division head assume his responsibilities? Or partially assume some, with others shared among existing execs or a new post at Xbox?
As for synergy, I think it's a two-way street. Integration is good when appealing ideas cross pollinate. Not so good when bad ideas spread. IMO, Xbox's integration into MS as a whole hasn't seen appealing results. I would prefer if it actually was spun out into its own silo with its own, games-first vision and independent control to execute on that vision. Ballmer's fingerprints are all over Xbox One and not in a good way.
Baller. PhD
Banned
Hopefully she can bring some of that Windows 8 magic over to the Xbone, amirite fellas?
Maximilian Kolbe
Member
Nah it will be more engineer talking,if that means "gaming" must be dumb down,even we have no clue about it,right?
Oh and there will be Xbox Surface,right?
Oh and office Xbox version i guess.
Don't think anyone in MS is nice according to gaf members
razgriz417
Member
Only met her once at my friend's wedding a few years back, seemed like a nice lady, know nothing about her
Microsoft to sell Xbox to EA confirmed! Google to buy Sega and release Dreamcast 2!
Please, tell me, are they going to kill their multi-billion dollar investment before or after launch?
fluffydelusions
Member
Ask the kin phone lol
Neuromancer
Member
I think it's smart. Windows 8 has been an unmitigated success, clearly she knows what she's doing.
razgriz417
Member
Well it was a like 20 second interaction during her daughter's wedding lol
Neuromancer
Member
Wait what
Maximilian Kolbe
Member
Maybe you should don't say something like #152(at least in gaf,because you know,crazy place) if you really know nothing about her though
Phat Michael
Banned
terrible analogy. good thing you laughed at your own joke though.
Having a single organization where the divisions compete with each other is a very, very bad idea. Friendly competition is good, where the "opposing" division would be proud if the other division did well, of course -- as in, all the divisions know they are divisions, but feel like they are part of the company, not the divisions; if a division gets respect, the company gets respect, and all the divisions get respect, and the work of one division feeds into the works of the other divisions. But it doesn't sound like that is what you meant, and I don't know if this is possible with a company like Microsoft.
I have the perfect candidate.
What are they waiting for?
Are you serious? Have you read some of the gaming related stuff he's been saying?
razgriz417
Member
Eh it was a funny anectdote I was told by my friend, never said I knew her personally
They're spending more on game development for Xbone than they did on the entire Kin project but if your point is that they're clearly not afraid to kill off under performing projects, I agree. I've been saying that for a while.
Key words: under performing. We don't actually know how Xbone will do yet (contrary to a few frothy forum postings).
ThoughtsOfSpeaking
Banned
*Raises hand* Wouldnt be good to have an engineer head up the hardware division? Doesnt that mean she would push for the most powerful hardware available?
Or is this woman purely on the software side of things?
Or is this woman purely on the software side of things?
Having been part of the Windows team before I am a little bit the wrong person to comment fairly about it, but there is no doubt in my mind that the Windows org and collective power behind it is far more capable and veteran than the Xbox org. It is just a reality that lots of people in Windows have been there a LONG time and have made enough mistakes to smell one a mile away, they have been pushed hard by Apple and mobile to adapt and adapted so fast that consumers couldn't handle that much change at once. It is pretty easy to argue that Windows 8 is even from a objective perspective clearly better than Windows 7...it is more stable, has an application publishing platform that is easier for devs to sell their homebrew/indie games on (to potentially hundreds of millions of users if they actually fix the Storefront to be nice), performance is better, some power user tools are better, etc. I personally think the good outweighs the bad. Hopefully Windows 8.1 turns the perception around.
Terry hasn't been able to ship Windows Phone 8 in Japan so I am not very happy with that situation. Windows 8 team is actually doing pretty damn well in Japan right now believe it or not...against tougher and tougher competition.
Then there are other capable execs like Qi Lu who is like the Enter the Dragon dominate the entire team the second he enters the room level of bad ass.
So anyway, whatever happens there are two key things 1) Is the person at top a gamer, 2) If not, do they have kids that are gamers. If either two of these things are true then we will be fine (if the kids are Gaffers then it is even better) If it is Qi Lu, he is definitely more on the brainiac side of the bunch so more like a Bill Gates type guy.
Terry hasn't been able to ship Windows Phone 8 in Japan so I am not very happy with that situation. Windows 8 team is actually doing pretty damn well in Japan right now believe it or not...against tougher and tougher competition.
Then there are other capable execs like Qi Lu who is like the Enter the Dragon dominate the entire team the second he enters the room level of bad ass.
So anyway, whatever happens there are two key things 1) Is the person at top a gamer, 2) If not, do they have kids that are gamers. If either two of these things are true then we will be fine (if the kids are Gaffers then it is even better) If it is Qi Lu, he is definitely more on the brainiac side of the bunch so more like a Bill Gates type guy.
zomgbbqftw
Banned
I think the problem is that senior MS management and Ballmer supposedly see Xbox as a gallery of executive rogues who are too free spirited and this brings them all under control and stamps out that spirit. It forces Xbox to become part of Microsoft where right now they almost operate without too much interference and it has served them well for the last 12 years. Naturally gamers are worried that Xbox's assimilation into MS will not serve them or the division.
"And like...the next xbox...will like, give you mountain dew...oh and Doritos! Those are so good when you're hig--I mean, our like target market will like them. lolololol what were we talking about again?"
Phat Michael
Banned
what the hell are you on about? have you even heard her speak? just remember, Microsoft is not going to hire a "gamer" to run the xbox division ns, just someone with a great business track record who understands the industry.
posts like this are ridiculous.
Forcing a touchscreen interface onto a desktop os has worked great for MS thus far - It worked so great that they will finally allow to not boot into this interface with 8.1 after the stellar perfomance of W8 since launch....
She looks high in that pic. He's probably talking about that.
Your post comes across as more ridiculous because you are getting all mad about a joke he made.
Well this mistress involved with W8 and Surface, so...
Phat Michael
Banned
what are you even talking about? there are a lot of uneducated leaps and bounds in this thread I swear.
This has clearly not been true of the Xbox division at least since Moore left.
I don't actually know MS's corporate organisation that well; presumably there will still be a head of the Xbox division below her who would make most of the decisions, no? I find it hard to believe that they would treat the Xbox as 'just another device'.
Please tell me which part of my post was uneducated.
I don't really care about business related stuff like this, but this got me thinking, and it sounds like there are lots of interesting personalities at the higher levels in powerful organizations (Not the people who have to be PR minded, like the more public figures and such.). They are people who need to deal with rooms full of millionaires, billionaires, powerful people, other powerful organizations and industries on a weekly basis or something like that.
Does anyone know if there are any books with interesting "stories" or interviews related to this?
Phat Michael
Banned
the tenuous or absent link between failings of windows 8 and how this person will make changes to the running of the entertainment devices division.
Phat Michael
Banned
I agree with you on this. engineers make fantastic leaders in my own personal experience. let the CFOs and the COOs handle the day to day running and let the leaders guide the corporate vision of the company.
zomgbbqftw
Banned
That head of Xbox will now report to Julie, and not Ballmer, and that's a big change for Xbox. Their division head no longer has the ear of the CEO. It's a big internal demotion for Xbox.
She's a programmer by background. She's also really, really smart, for whatever that's worth.
I hope he has linux on his laptop and a MAC air. That would be the ultimate trolling of Mother in Law.
diffusionx
Gold Member
Pushing the Xbox side closer to the Windows side would be a great thing, and would show that Ballmer is dead serious about turning MS into a "device & services" company (like Apple and Google).
ThoughtsOfSpeaking
Banned
I dont think anyone here will deny this. However, being more "capable" doesnt mean that gamers will get a better deal. In fact it actively suggests they will get a worse one. Game development is costly and can be largely unprofitable. Would a windows person want to concentrate on that over making money? I dont think so.
Basically we may be witnessing the death of the xbox brand and the birth of Windows:Home. Whether that is a good thing for the hobbyist gamer is very very much up in the air.
RumblingRosco
Member
I love that Microsoft provides giant images of their execs. Here guys and gals, stare into the face that tried to murder the Xbox brand:
YOU DO NOT DESERVE TO BE SPARED BY MY QUOTING OF THIS IMAGE, GAF
YOU DO NOT DESERVE TO BE SPARED BY MY QUOTING OF THIS IMAGE, GAF
Most of the smart people I know are idiots...
Interesting choice. Has there ever been a woman in charge of one of the console manufacturers? Women are such an untapped market as far as video games are concerned. She'd have a big influence on the types of games being made and for obvious reasons will be more interested in games that appeal to women.