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Xbox Execs Gain Clout

Posted by Zonk on from the doing-a-good-job dept.

C|Net reports that Microsoft's Entertainment and Xbox division heads have been given new positions with greater influence in the company. J. Allard is now the leader of the new Experiences and Design for Gaming and Entertainment Group, while Robbie Bach now oversees a reorganized Entertainment and Devices division. Gamasutra has commentary as well. From that article: "Once confirmed by Microsoft themselves, the changes will essentially give a larger company-wide influence for executives involved with the Xbox, presumably to counter rival next generation formats being released next year. It will also help with the integration of the Xbox brand and technologies with other areas of Microsoft's business - such as the compatibility between Xbox Live and MSN that has already been hinted at by the company."

19 comments

  1. Only in America... by badasscat · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...can you lose your company four BILLION dollars and get promoted.

    I'm just waiting for Peter Moore to take over as CEO.

    1. Re:Only in America... by Midnight+Warrior · · Score: 1

      If Microsoft really wants to kill themselves on this, not only will the /. crowd love it, but so will Sony, and Nintendo. Of course, all those commercial companies that have figured out how to run an actual business on top of MS's OS may not appreciate having a bunch of gaming/entertainment execs that can tug on the ship helm at will.

      I'm sure shareholders won't look too lightly on the profit losing division which represents the XBox. Shareholders are likely to examine the idea quality vs. profitability ratio from this division and smell bad news. Microsoft will probably just claim that they are being given access to more areas of the company hoping to foster horizontal integration, but they'll forget that only PHBs like buzz-phrases like that and shareholders will see the fluff for what it is.

    2. Re:Only in America... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You geeks know nothing about business.Its called an investment.

    3. Re:Only in America... by Generic+Guy · · Score: 1
      You geeks know nothing about business.Its called an investment.

      Riiiiiight!

      Just like in the late 90s how all those internet businesses lost money on every sale... but they'd be sure to make it back on volume.
      Because it was an investment!

      --
      { - Generic Guy - }
    4. Re:Only in America... by cortana · · Score: 1

      You are assuming the purpose of the Xbox division is to make money.

      Every Xbox purchased means a Playstation or Gamecube unpurchased. Every Xbox game played means a Playstation or Gamecube game unplayed...

    5. Re:Only in America... by Luigi30 · · Score: 1

      ...I have all three. What's that unpurchased?

      --
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    6. Re:Only in America... by cortana · · Score: 1

      So you admit that you have spent money on a Microsoft product, rather than a competing product.

      MS' objective is not to make a profit in this market; it is to drive their competitors out of the market. The price of the Xbox is only constrained by a desire to avoid accusations of dumping.

    7. Re:Only in America... by alvinrod · · Score: 1

      Not really.

      Somehow I manage to own a PS2, Gamecube, and an Xbox.

      Buying an Xbox does not somehow magically prohibit you from buying a Gamecube or a PS2.

    8. Re:Only in America... by cortana · · Score: 1

      You're not listening. If you hadn't bought an Xbox, you would have more money that might have gone Nintendo or Sony's way instead.

      The Xbox division does not exist to make a profit. It exists to increase Microsoft's mindshare, push the adoption of their own Xbox-compatible products, and to reduce the amount of money that would otherwise go to Nintendo and Sony.

    9. Re:Only in America... by Luigi30 · · Score: 1

      Huh? I said I have all three, not just an Xbox!

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  2. wrong by the+computer+guy+nex · · Score: 1

    "can you lose your company four BILLION dollars and get promoted"

    Current numbers show their losses are
    Despite the losses, the Xbox1 was a *glowing* success.

    These promotions are not suprising, the 360 is now a media center for the living room. Watch DVD's, listen to music, voice message friends, download demos, download trailors, stream media from PC's, etc.

    1. Re:wrong by pappy97 · · Score: 1

      "Current numbers show their losses are
      Despite the losses, the Xbox1 was a *glowing* success."

      Exactly. M$ is willing to take a loss to get a bigger market share w/r/t consoles. They figure eventually to make money (At a point in the future when Sony and Nintendo will face losses they cannot handle).

      What I find intriguing (and please note that I am always attacking M$ trolls who unconditionally love Sony/Nintendo and this is no knock, just an observation) is that this seems like a back door way to get into the PC market.

      Start out by making a console, then a console that can take advantage of PC's with Media Center XP and so forth...seems to like we are heading to Microsoft actually selling full blown PC's (or more accurately, consoles that have 100% PC functionality).

      I am surprised that many of you M$ hating trolls have not picked up on this. I've seen many people ask why M$ wants into the console market, and I think the answer is that M$ came up with a clever idea to sell PC's without just doing it directly (And getting a lot of bad publicity as people would start screaming monopoly).

      People are always applauding Nintendo for thinking outside the box, but I think this may be an example of thinking outside the box from M$ (of course it benefits them and not us, but Nintendo is a corporation too: their actions benefit them in the end too).

    2. Re:wrong by sesshomaru · · Score: 1
      Both Sony and Microsoft have definitely been going for this with their convergence box. In fact, if you look at Microsoft you will realize this is why they got into console gaming as far back as the Dreamcast (just like it's the reason why they got into Web Browsers and Word Processors.). Bill or someone fired up the ol' Destiny Prognostication Engine, looked at one possible future where the average person was using a Playstation Mark X for the majority of computing functions, and recognized the threat to Windows domination of the OS market. (I'd have been happier if he had just sent some Guymelefs to take care of Sony, we'd all be better off.)

      Incidentally, this may explain the push for High Def, despite the fact that it causes huge problems with expenses. To fully replace computers, you need a display with a higher resolution than current TVs. Still, that is certainly reaching on my part... since you also need a comfortable setup for using mice and keyboards, and I don't see them providing that any time soon.

      Ultimately, though I think this is about Microsoft protecting their current revenue streams, which is why they are willing to subsidize their console for now.

      --
      "MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."
  3. Interesting by voice_of_all_reason · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can already hear their first proclamations regarding the "market terrorists" known as Sony and Nintendo

    "hunt them down, wherever they hide"
    "if they're not with us, they're against us", etc

  4. The Dilbert Principle by oGMo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's the Dilbert Principle.

    --

    Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage

  5. Promoted? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


    Shouldn't they be fired for a horrible XBox 360 launch?

    I mean, c'mon, if you are going to hype the thing up, at least have some units for people to buy.

    1. Re:Promoted? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Its called marketing and building scarcity.If they didnt do it this way people would not want it as badly

  6. Promotions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Uh, I don't think so...

    This is a shakeup after the 360 has crashed and burned.

  7. Gates says they are doing a heckuva job by thundar2000 · · Score: 1


    After the XBox 360 launch, maybe they should run FEMA now.