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Sarah Bond has been promoted to President of Xbox. Matt Booty promoted to President of Xbox Game Content and Studios

analog_future

Resident Crybaby
https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/26/23933049/microsoft-reorg-xbox-marketing-ai-leadership-changes

Sarah Bond will now take over the hardware and software platforms of Xbox. “To manage the platform of today, and build the platform of tomorrow, we are bringing together the teams that will make this possible,” explains Spencer. “Sarah Bond will lead this team as President of Xbox — bringing together Devices, Player & Creator Experiences, Platform Engineering, Strategy, Business Planning, Data & Analytics and Business Development.”

...Booty will now lead an expanded organization inside Microsoft Gaming that includes ZeniMax and Bethesda. “ZeniMax will continue to operate as a limited integration entity led by Jamie Leder, President and CEO, reporting to Matt,” explains Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer in an internal memo obtained by The Verge.

Booty’s expanded role should help Microsoft Gaming avoid scenarios like Redfall in the future, with Microsoft clearly focusing on better collaboration between the teams it acquired with the ZeniMax / Bethesda acquisition.


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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
For a moment there I thought Phil Spencer was stepping down and being replaced by Sarah. Aren't President and CEO generally the same things?

According to uncle google

While the CEO manages the overall direction of the company, the president focuses on the day-to-day operations. In companies with both a CEO and a president, the president reports to the CEO and is typically second in command.
 

analog_future

Resident Crybaby
For a moment there I thought Phil Spencer was stepping down and being replaced by Sarah. Aren't President and CEO generally the same things?

President of Xbox and CEO of Microsoft Gaming are two distinct roles. Sarah's appears to be more specific to the Xbox hardware/software platform & day-to-day responsibilities, whereas Phil oversees everything pertaining to Microsoft gaming, whether it be PC, mobile, cloud, or Xbox.
 
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Dick Jones

Gold Member
Wait... Aaron Greenberg isn't head of communications. I apologise Aaron for shittalking you all these many years.
 

Withnail

Member
So Kotick stays? I thought people were saying he would retire.

Activision Blizzard is under Phil but not part of the Xbox first party dev org. Clear indication that those games are staying multi-platform IMO.
 

GHG

Gold Member
Yes, despite both Bobby and MS already confirming he has until the end of 2023.


You're really grasping a straws here.

It's not "grasping" when it would actually be the best solution for the organisation.

A couple of months to hand-over an organisation as large as Activision-Blizzard is nothing. They will still require his knowledge beyond the period defined.

Look at that chart and tell me what you think happens to Activision Blizzard in the event that he goes. It gets given to Matt Booty on top of Zenimax and all the other studios he already has to oversee? I'm not seeing it.
 

StueyDuck

Member
Weren't these people all doing basically the same things they got promoted to already anyway.

There is no interesting or new dynamic shift here, this is basically who cares type of news
 
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Shut0wen

Banned
Redfall wasn’t an anomaly, Booty has been terrible at managing their studios for years & giving him even more to watch over isn’t going to suddenly be a miraculous cure
Tbf redfall was doomed on arrival, by the time MS brought redfall it was to late, even if redfall wasnt a buggy mess the game is still terrible, cant really blame matt for that, though i would blame him for halo, especially allowing 343 to make there own engine which they struggle to programme on
 
Redfall wasn’t an anomaly, Booty has been terrible at managing their studios for years & giving him even more to watch over isn’t going to suddenly be a miraculous cure
Redfall was conceived years before the Microsoft acquisition and was going to be a GAAS game. Once Microsoft took over, they allowed the team to finish the game with the caveat that they remove the GAAS components and make it a more story and co-op focused experience. The only thing Microsoft could have done to make the situation better was tell the team to cancel the game altogether and start on a new project, but that would mean no new content from Arkane for many years.
 

Shut0wen

Banned
So Kotick stays? I thought people were saying he would retire.

Activision Blizzard is under Phil but not part of the Xbox first party dev org. Clear indication that those games are staying multi-platform IMO.
Kotick hinted hed leave early 2024
 
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