• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

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

Prepare Season 7 GIF by Game of Thrones
 

Ozriel

M$FT
Inventing job titles they already had.

Everybody is president now

Responsibilities are different. You’d know this if you’d bothered to read the article.

Wonder if this is why Pete Hines left. Looks to me like Bethesda has been knocked down a peg or two. No longer a separate pillar alongside Xbox Game Studios.

Not necessarily. Kotick is there because he reports directly to Spencer in the interim until he leaves, but it’s feasible his replacements are put under Matt Booty too. Were already seeing signs the separate arms of ABK will be treated independently post purchase.

Greenberg was head of marketing for Xbox. Looks like he either got demoted or overlooked for the equivalent Microsoft Gaming role. Good.

Doesn’t look like a demotion. The article says the marketing for every single Microsoft consumer product has been moved under Microsoft Gaming. Including Surface, HoloLens etc. He’ll just be subsumed into that organization at his level. Nobody’s putting him to oversee Surface.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
Not necessarily. Kotick is there because he reports directly to Spencer in the interim until he leaves, but it’s feasible his replacements are put under Matt Booty too. Were already seeing signs the separate arms of ABK will be treated independently post purchase.

I doubt it. You don't do a reorg only to have to reorg again a couple of months later when someone leaves.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Microsoft Gaming org chart now only has a single reference to "Xbox".

Will Smith Reaction GIF
I can't wait for the day when the "change" actually comes in form of an official announcement and/or become the new reality, and people act surprised 😄 The writing has so been on the wall.

Sarah is going to manage the Xbox hardware and software platforms, being the President of Xbox. What is Phil gonna do being the head of Microsoft Gaming? These are now fast becoming two separate entities: (1) console and (2) game publishing and mobile gaming.
 
Last edited:
So, Sarah Bond's basically taking over for Phil's old spot managing the day-to-day of XGS? I'm not quite up to speed on this.

Also, where is any listing for Zenimax? They are completely absent here. I know Pete Hines is leaving but they don't have an interim in the meantime? But decided to post this updated graphic with Zenimax conspicuously absent?

Greenberg was head of marketing for Xbox. Looks like he either got demoted or overlooked for the equivalent Microsoft Gaming role. Good.

He should be fired TBH. But a demotion would be the next-best thing.

I’m here asking the important questions...

Where’s lulu?

She'd be somewhere under ABK, but not a Kotick equivalent rank-wise. She's probably still getting a promotion though.

Now she can go back to suppressing lobbying efforts for the ABK employees :)

I have no thoughts on Sarah Bond but Matt Booty getting anything other than fired is a travesty…so of course his worthless ass gets promoted.

A lot of the problems with XGS studios at current could be blamed on him but somehow, he gets an upgrade.
 
Last edited:

GHG

Member
So, Sarah Bond's basically taking over for Phil's old spot managing the day-to-day of XGS? I'm not quite up to speed on this.

Also, where is any listing for Zenimax? They are completely absent here. I know Pete Hines is leaving but they don't have an interim in the meantime? But decided to post this updated graphic with Zenimax conspicuously absent?



He should be fired TBH. But a demotion would be the next-best thing.



She'd be somewhere under ABK, but not a Kotick equivalent rank-wise. She's probably still getting a promotion though.

Now she can go back to suppressing lobbying efforts for the ABK employees :)



A lot of the problems with XGS studios at current could be blamed on him but somehow, he gets an upgrade.

Zenimax have been rolled into XGS. It seems like they are no longer a self-contained subsidiary.
 

Darsxx82

Member
Wonder if this is why Pete Hines left. Looks to me like Bethesda has been knocked down a peg or two. No longer a separate pillar alongside Xbox Game Studios.
Regardless of the reasons for Hines' departure, I believe that Zeni-Bet's approach to XGS was inevitable. Even more so, you will see situations like Redfall. It is not that it will be total, but it would be very beneficial for the entire Studios to have more direct ties to collaborate and exchange technologies and ideas. And why not borrow IPs (ID doing Halo campaign is still my wet dream).

We'll see what that relationship translates to in the future.
 
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?

No, they aren't.

President is an operational role. She'll be in charge of the day-to-day operations and execution of strategy for hardware and platform. For example, Matt Booty doesn't report to her.

Everyone reports to Phil Spencer.
 
Wonder if this is why Pete Hines left. Looks to me like Bethesda has been knocked down a peg or two. No longer a separate pillar alongside Xbox Game Studios.

Zenimax have been rolled into XGS. It seems like they are no longer a self-contained subsidiary.

Wow, I'm almost at a loss for words. Welp, I guess that validates the emails, and it makes sense why Hines is leaving. He didn't like that stunt Phil pulled making all of their games going forward exclusive to Xbox, but giving ABK full leniency to stay multiplat.

I actually feel kinda bad for Pete Hines now, seems like he cares out his fanbase and knew many were getting screwed over when Zenimax got acquired. But he probably still had hope it would be a "case-by-case" thing, until he found out and those email exchanges happened. I'd dip too after getting duped like that.

Now to play another round of "Is the poster talking about Phil or Booty?"

Sad in a way it can be applied to either of them, isn't it?
 

GHG

Member
“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.

Not at all.

Ah didn't see that. Thanks for the correction.

Wow, I'm almost at a loss for words. Welp, I guess that validates the emails, and it makes sense why Hines is leaving. He didn't like that stunt Phil pulled making all of their games going forward exclusive to Xbox, but giving ABK full leniency to stay multiplat.

I actually feel kinda bad for Pete Hines now, seems like he cares out his fanbase and knew many were getting screwed over when Zenimax got acquired. But he probably still had hope it would be a "case-by-case" thing, until he found out and those email exchanges happened. I'd dip too after getting duped like that.



Sad in a way it can be applied to either of them, isn't it?

Not the case as it seems based on the org chart, see the post from D Darsxx82 above.
 
Last edited:
Ah didn't see that. Thanks for the correction.



Not the case as it seems based on the org chart, see the post from D Darsxx82 above.

Yeah, just saw it. Nice catch D Darsxx82 .

Still think Hines left over the decision of console exclusivity for Zenimax vs. ABK content by Spencer, but, that's a different topic. Granted if Zenimax games are going to be console-exclusive to Xbox going forward, why not more fully integrate them into XGS?

Seems like that'd make more sense.
 

JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
Haven't people been shitting on Diablo IV for the past few months?
Well yes, but he is known as a guy who can get games made. Diablo IV has had it's issues, but was a fairly solid game upon release. He was head of Coalition when Gears 4 and 5 were released. Whether you like those games or not, he got them out in a timely manner and were largely bug free. He is not a designer that will push the envelope but can get you save and quick content, which is what MS has needed for YEARS now. He also saved Bioshock Infinite.
 
Now Sarah will be the fall guy/gal for Xbox…

Touché…Nicely played Phil

Booty will still get the axe before her. I still anticipate he'll be fired by the end of next year.

She's in a tough position, what's even more strange is that they have a COO of Microsoft Gaming and it isn't her.

Hard to tell from this org chart if she is in charge of GamePass or not. If she's just in charge of Xbox hardware, she doesn't really have a job or a future. That's kind of a promotion to nowhere, that I'd take the title and jump ship to someplace else before the bottom drops out.

With Booty in charge of the games, what levers does she have over the hardware? The price, revisions, whether or not they release a pro model? R&D on a next-gen unit?

Like if you think about it, there is no equivalent at Sony, that's Jim Ryan. So unless they are prepping for her to takeover for Phil, this doesn't add up and if that was the case you think they'd have made her COO of Microsoft Gaming.
 
That Matt Booty's title is President of Game Content and Studios should make everyone throw up... Exactly what we've been discussing on this forum that Microsoft sees games going into GamePass as content, which is one of the most disgusting phrases in entertainment today.

They're leaning into the idea that they can just pump out content into GamePass and people will continue to subscribe to it. It's pretty perverse and quite telling.
 

HeisenbergFX4

Gold Member
I can't wait for the day when the "change" actually comes in form of an official announcement and/or become the new reality, and people act surprised 😄 The writing has so been on the wall.

Sarah is going to manage the Xbox hardware and software platforms, being the President of Xbox. What is Phil gonna do being the head of Microsoft Gaming? These are now fast becoming two separate entities: (1) console and (2) game publishing and mobile gaming.
The writing has been on the wall before most people even knew it and internally some at Xbox knew the path Sarah was on and bailed because of it

Wish someone like Schreier would get wind of the promoting process that was at one time at Xbox and how people were given points based on other things than past experience and education because Sarah had 2 points before walking into the interview room
 
Top Bottom