Support NeoGAF

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Microsoft has appointed former Turn 10 boss Alan Hartman as its new head of Xbox Game Studios.

Hartman, who joined the Forza Motorsport developer back in 2005, had spent the last two years working as corporate vice president of Forza and Fable.

“Thrilled to be representing such an elite set of game creators in my new role leading Xbox Game Studios!” he wrote on LinkedIn.

Hartman’s promotion follows several recently announced Xbox leadership changes.

He is taking on the role previously held by Matt Booty, who has been promoted to president of game content and studios, a role which incorporates overseeing the work of ZeniMax and Bethesda.

Sarah Bond was also promoted from corporate vice president at Xbox to Xbox president. In her new role, she has taken over the running of the division’s hardware and software platforms.

The leadership changes also coincide with Microsoft finally completing its $69 million acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Earlier this week, Xbox announced a multi-year deal with Inworld to build AI dialogue and narrative tools at scale.

Haiyan Zhang, Xbox’s general manager of gaming AI, said the goal of the partnership is to create new state-of-the-art tools for multiplatform developers of all sizes.

Former Forza boss Alan Hartman has been appointed head of Xbox Game Studios | VGC

He takes on the role previously held by Matt Booty…

www.videogameschronicle.com

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Forgot to add the LinkedIn post VGC is mentioning in the article.

 

[Sushi_Combo]

“Thrilled to be representing such an elite set of game creators in my new role leading Xbox Game Studios!” he wrote

 

[Punished Miku]

How does this impact the Booty?

 

[Tams]

Getting pretty bloated up at the top of the greasy exec pole over there.

Philly S. had better watch his back (or rather feet for grabbers on).

 

[Ozriel]

How does this impact the Booty?

That’s Booty’s old job

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Inferior Forza wins!

 

[Punished Miku]

That’s Booty’s old job

So he's in a new spot above this still? Sounds fine I guess. Just wondering.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Getting pretty bloated up at the top of the greasy exec pole over there.

Philly S. had better watch his back (or rather feet for grabbers on).

well, we should see if P.W.S. III was indeed the issue or not.

 

[Skifi28]

So he's in a new spot above this still? Sounds fine I guess. Just wondering.

Dont worry about the Booty. Let the Booty worry about you.

 

[Camreezie]

Corporate VP of Forza and Fable - no fable release in that time frame. Lool

 

[Ozriel]

Corporate VP of Forza and Fable - no fable release in that time frame. Lool

 

[Ozriel]

So he's in a new spot above this still? Sounds fine I guess. Just wondering.

Yeah. He’ll be reporting to Booty, I believe.

 

[ElCasual]

Hope that he will do a better job that the imbecile of Hermen Hulst.

 

[adamsapple]

 

[CatLady]

Corporate VP of Forza and Fable - no fable release in that time frame. Lool

Why was this guy corporate VP of Forza and Fable? Isn't Playground 2 is making Fable not turn10?

 

[Ozriel]

Why was this guy corporate VP of Forza and Fable? Isn't Playground 2 is making Fable not turn10?

He’d most likely left active duty at Turn 10 by then. Basically overseeing franchises at Turn 10 and Playground

Feels like too many management layers, unless he’s been looking at the Turn 10 - Playground ForzaTech integration.

 

[Elysium44]

This is hilarious, he is the man most responsible for Forza Motorsport's sustained sharp decline in quality over the last ten years, he is the last person you would want anywhere near the levers of power at Xbox.

 

[StueyDuck]

Does he know what publishers to buy though?

The answer is easy. It's all of them, Phil only will accept all of them

 

[quest]

This is hilarious, he is the man most responsible for Forza Motorsport's sustained sharp decline in quality over the last ten years, he is the last person you would want anywhere near the levers of power at Xbox.

Depends on what he is doing. If he will lead technology sharing between studios which Microsoft is way behind he be a good person. Turn 10 and playground share technology seamlessly. If he can bring that across all xbox studios that be a huge win.

 

[BusierDonkey]

After the state the last two Forza Motorsport titles released in, especially the latest entry, I would have fired the guy.

 

[Punished Miku]

Feels like too many management layers, unless he’s been looking at the Turn 10 - Playground ForzaTech integration.

They have a shitload of studios. It's not the end of the world to have people looking at shit to make sure it's working out. They just have to all be on the same page hopefully.

 

[M1chl]

They just falling upwards at this point

 

[Ozriel]

After the state the last two Forza Motorsport titles released in, especially the latest entry, I would have fired the guy.

The previous Forza Motorsport title was well received, and his role also covered Forza Horizon series so…

 

[Elysium44]

The previous Forza Motorsport title was well received, and his role also covered Forza Horizon series so…

FM7 was a failure and heavily panned on release. FM 2023 is even worse. He bears ultimate responsibility, with (dis)honourable mentions for Greenawalt and Esaki. These people should be fired, not promoted.

There is no better evidence than this that Phil doesn't know what he's doing. I don't think Xbox has a good future.

 

[rodrigolfp]

After the state the last two Forza Motorsport titles released in, especially the latest entry, I would have fired the guy.

What is the state of Forza 7?

 

[Elysium44]

What is the state of Forza?

 

[rodrigolfp]

That is not Forza 7.

 

[skit_data]

This will mean a lot more Hart but a little less Booty