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Ed Fries Leaves Microsoft's Game Unit
jnguy writes "According to Reuters, Ed Fries, Microsoft's game studio head, has resigned. The last major person to leave Microsoft in this fashion was Seamus Blackley. I wonder if this has any other meaning - I've seen Fries at many of Microsoft's parties and launch events, and consider him one of the biggest figures in Xbox history." CNN Money has further information on Fries' departure, noting that "he plans to remain in the gaming industry", and commenting that he was "actively involved in the development and launch of the Xbox gaming system and oversaw the acquisition of several major game developers, including Bungie Software... and Rare." They also have comments from Fries himself, as he muses on his future: "I'm looking for a situation where I have a lot of freedom around the development of our products and the way those products come to market. I've had some of that to date, but not as much as I would like."
Translation: "My stock options are vested, and I'm getting the hell out before they go down the toilet."
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
With two of the three top xbox honchos gone, I wonder how does this affect the development of xbox 2? or even the release of Halo 2.
"I'm looking for a situation where I have a lot of freedom around the development of our products and the way those products come to market. I've had some of that to date, but not as much as I would like." So, Microsoft pushes products out the door in an effort to only make profits, with no interest in the integrity and development of its products??
Wow, who'd have thought it?
...I suppose you could say "Freedom Fries". But I'm not going to.
The only major "product" that they would be developing just now would be the early stages of XBox2. Also he is far more likely to leave close to the beginning of the process, not bailing when its far into development.... basically what I'm trying to say is that development problems big enough to make one of the head developers of the console quit at such an early stage do not bode well for the future of the console
Of course it could be something totally unrelated or development of something else...who knows
"Fries began his career at Microsoft in 1985 as a lowly intern in charge of online tutorials. Ten years later, he was put in charge of the Microsoft's games division, and brought an impressive group of developers--including Ensemble Studios' Bruce Shelley and Big Huge Games' Brian Reynolds. Fries was also at the helm during the Xbox launch in 2001, and was instrumental in Microsoft's acquisition of Halo-makers Bungie. "
Too bad you don't see many intern-to-ceo (mailroom-to-ceo, janitor, etc) stories like this anymore.
I think that with his close ties to Microsoft, Fries will continue to be affliated somehow to the xbox in his future endeavors.
I predict there'll be a lot of theories about how this is evidence that Microsoft is bad even though the simplest explanation is that it isn't his dream job.
"Derp de derp."
why are you posting in non english on an english site in response to an english article?
why are you posting in non english on an english site in response to an english article?
Or...why has it been marked as, thus far, +3 Funny?
Just a WAG, but I would venture to say that this means that there very well may be problems at M$ with respects to the XBox and the XBox 2...
The XBox hasn't really been labeled a huge success yet...and for a major exec to leave at the end of the XBox's life will not look good on his resume...
This probably means that there are both problems with current XBox sales (this is pretty well know), current game development (companies like EA not developing for your console can have this effect), XBox 2 development (it's likely that they are making the same mistakes they made on the XBox)...
But, then again, maybe this means that the XBox is getting ready to make a comeback and shoot past Sony for overall dominance in the console market and Ed just wanted to give someone else the limelight <snicker>
The purchase of them was sort of stupid and cost alot of money. That's probably why he's "persuing other options."
From what I hear Rare imploded after the acquisition.
End result: bad product, bad karma and a bunch of angry MS henchmen planning to kill them.
Mod Wisely.
how should I know, as I can not understand it
Fries left this year.
Blackley and Fries were the 2 'game guys' out of the 4 of the main executive Xbox guys (Bach and Allard being the other 2). The other 2 are the 'technology and power!!!!' guys.
Notice this announcment, even though it was apparently months in the making, comes almost right after Gates unveied the Xbox Media Extender at the CES. I hardly doubt that MS put the Xbox Media Extender together right before the CES.
Perhaps the thought of the next Xbox being the UltimateTV-MSN TV-Media Extender Device-Xbox are true, then? Maybe Fries wanted it to be a game console only (or at least first), and Microsoft has decided that the next Xbox must become the center of the living room and the "Digital Lifestyle Experience" with as many MS products integrated in as possible?
Whatever the case truly is, expect more talk to be of hardware, specs, and sh33r p0w3r!!!! over anything else when talking about the Xbox, and it's future incarnation (if it has one given the $2.135 BILLION lost since its launch) now that Fries and Blackley are both gone.
"and consider him one of the biggest figures in Xbox history."
Yes, what a long and illustrious history it has been too. Certainly a figure that has been with Xbox the entire three years of its life deserves a lot of respect.
What language is it, anyway? It kinda looks like Italian, with all the -i words, but then again it might also be Finnish or Dutch. I'm completely baffled, and I usually have a pretty good eye for identifying languages, even if I can't understand them....
It is a sad, sad day when "r0x0rs j00r b0x0rs" is the only recognizable part of a post.
"Why Subscribe?" Good question...
Sorry but you'd be an idiot if you didn't see this coming.
Game programmers require that gaming culture. That is not to say the Microsoft development group didn't have any... but let's face it. MS is a corporate environment where one wall is developing spreadsheet software and another is programming games.
Look at the company in Japan making Gran Turismo 4. There was some insane article on the programmer's lifestyle in game informer magazines. Live, breathe, drive and program in style 24x7.
Holy crap this is a big deal. This dude was the figurehead up here in Redmond. I have no idea what this means or what the details are, but wow, now what?
One cheerleader down...
Kip Hawley is an idiot.
it would be cool if he went to work for Burger King - he'd get a big kick out of saying, "Would you like Fries with that?" ;>
You don't have a good eye for languages if you think the post was written in Dutch.
"Those innocent fun games of the hallucination generation"
..or Italian, or Finnish.
I think it's just gibberish.
Once again, get the facts straight before you shoot your mouth off. Rare was a declining company and most of the talented people that worked on the popular games like Goldeneye had left to other companies. GBTG was a bad game not because of Microsoft, but because of the lack of talent left at Rare. Microsoft bought the name and past glory. Nothing more.
Oh and one other thing... your comment about the dev teams hating the hardware of the Xbox. You must once again be either ignorant or naive to think that considering it is the easiest console to program for (DirectX tools, Windows core) out of all three. If any dev team has a piece of gaming hardware to bitch about, it would be the PS2. Hard to program for development tools, lack of AA and memory, and it screams ancient 2000 technology.
Ha ha. Idiot.
Looks like Waray-Waray to me, a dialect of the Philipines, also known as Samareno or Samar-Leyte.
From what I've read of Ed Fries in his interview, he was way too intelligent, independent, and ethical to work at Microsoft. His latest decision to leave Microsoft comes as no surprise to me - in fact, I've been expecting it.
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