author: Zuzanna Domeradzka
Changes at Xbox Division Brass; Reaction to Flops and Activision's Blizzard Acquisition
Microsoft has decided to reorganize the management of its Xbox division. Changes in specific positions are mainly due to the recent finalization of the Activision Blizzard deal.
At Microsoft, following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, finalized less than two weeks ago, there have been big changes. These include job rotations at the highest levels of the Xbox division (via The Verge), although Phil Spencer, who is the face of the company, will remain the CEO.
Matt Booty, who until now headed Xbox Game Studios, has been promoted to president of content for games and studios belonging to the Xbox family. This means that he will now play, among other things, a larger role at ZeniMax and its member company Bethesda. Phil Spencer himself has commented on the change:
"ZeniMax will still operate as an entity with limited integration, led by President and CEO Jamie Leder, but reporting to Matt. [...] We believe that the expansion of the gaming-related organization - leading to effective collaboration between Xbox Game Studios and ZeniMax development studios - will allow for these global teams to do their best work in developing our portfolio of games that the fans will love."
The fact that Booty has been promoted will certainly bring Xbox even closer to ZeniMax, and at the same time will influence Bethesda's future games. Perhaps as a result, we will no longer witness the release of such weak games as Redfall.
Sarah Bond, who was vice president of the Xbox brand, was also promoted. She will now hold the position of president - leading this team, she is to be responsible for everything related to hardware, software, as well as strategy and development of platforms and consoles.
Chris Capossela, meanwhile, is leaving Microsoft after 32 years with the company. He most recently served as executive vice president and chief marketing officer. His place will be taken by Takeshi Numoto, who played an important role in Microsoft's "cloud" transformation. In addition, another company veteran who has been with the company for more than 31 years, Yusuf Mehdi, will now hold a new senior position.
There is no doubt that all of the above changes are related to Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard and its desire to attract even more gamers to the company's releases and its platforms and services. As, by the way wrote Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella: "Through the recently finalized acquisition of Activision Blizzard King, we are doubling down on our business related to the video game market.".
It is also worth remembering that Bobby Kotick, the current CEO of Activision Blizzard, is expected to step down from his position early next year. His role will also have to be taken over by someone else, which will probably further affect the games released by the company.
