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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."
"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'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."
Translation: "I would like to participate in the actual development of products instead of participating in purchasing other companies with existing products (AKA 'innovation')."
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
Real translation: "I'd like to do the entrepreneurship gig, and maybe get my own company bought out by MS in four or five years."
Alternate translation: "After noticing that I screwed over not only fans of Bungie, but also fans of Rare, Satan himself offered me a better-paying job."
I need to work just one sunday a week to know your statement is wrong.
The XBox is a huge success. I'm sorry but numbers or not, it has it's piece of the pie and to have a marketshare at all is a major success in this industry, especially in comparison to some other systems such as Dreamcast (which as well I would hardly define as a failure). To consider Xbox a failure, you must consider the PC as platform to be a failure as well because I sell more Xbox games in a day than PC games and they both share relatively the same amount of wallspace.
Just because it doesn't own the industry doesn't mean it's a failure.
Numbers don't lie. The Xbox has a notable percentage of the U.S. market, has a vast amount of cold hard cash to burn, and has enough hardware to still challenge next generation consoles.