Microsoft Puts Minecraft Boss In Charge of Xbox Games (theverge.com)

Microsoft is promoting its Minecraft boss to the head of the company's games studios. "Matt Booty's new role sees him oversee Microsoft Studios, second only to Microsoft's games chief Phil Spencer," reports The Verge. "Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella previously promoted Phil Spencer from head of Xbox to a new role overseeing all games, associated hardware, and game strategy." From the report: Spencer reports directly to Nadella, with Booty now reporting directly to Spencer. GamesBeat reports that Booty's new role will see Microsoft devoting more resources to its games business. Booty will be looking after Microsoft's relationships with 343 Industries, The Coalition, Mojang, Rare, Turn 10 Studios, and Global Publishing. Booty first joined Microsoft back in 2010, and helped launch games for Windows phones. He's also helped develop Xbox Live Arcade, and oversaw Minecraft maker Mojang after Microsoft acquired the company for $2.5 billion back in 2014.

Comments

Where the booty at?

[TimothyHollins]

I guess the booty at Microsoft these days.

Minecraft boss

[Nofip]

So... Ender dragon?

Re:Minecraft boss

[Barny]

Wither

huh?

[TWX]

I didn't think that having written some little find-the-bomb puzzle game in the late eighties would qualify one for modern gaming unless he'd kept with the progress of game development over the last thirty years.

It has to be said...

[Miles_O'Toole]

"Spencer reports directly to Nadella, with Booty now reporting directly to Spencer."

There has always been a place for Booty in e-games. I think it's described in detail in Rule 34.

TIL

[thegarbz]

I didn't know Minecraft had a boss. I mean buying something for a fortune, then doing nothing with it other than failing to get it into schools as some form of education didn't seem like something worthy of needing a boss to oversee, much less praise that boss enough to promote their failure.

Re:TIL

[Baron_Yam]

Minecraft is one of those big disappointments in life - so much potential, squandered until you just don't care anymore.

Minecraft has languished

[drinkypoo]

It's been years since Microsoft took over MC (fuck you, Notch, you lying sack of shit) and development has been even slower than before, and long-standing bugs have not been fixed. For example, placing half-slabs while lagged results in placing them where you physically could not place them, the net code is pure garbage, the game still punches your GPU in the nuts for no apparent reason (minetest uses like 10% of the GPU of MC for the same visual quality) and placing more than a couple dozen hoppers without capping them off with furnaces still lags the game to hell and back. They've done absolutely nothing to fix bugs, so that's vintage Microsoft, I guess.

If what has happened to MC under this tool's watch is any indication, Microsoft Games will go entirely down the toilet.

Re:Minecraft has languished

[oic0]

Thats not how businesses work. They dont care about your bugs. They care about one thing: "how much proffit did it make?"

Re:Minecraft has languished

[Dare978Devil]

Microsoft purchased Minecraft in Sept 2014. At the time, the game had sold 60 million copies worldwide across all platforms. By February 2017, the game had sold 121 million copies, doubling the number since the acquisition, and making it the best-selling PC game of all time (2nd best across all platforms). That's why Notch got the promotion.

Re:Minecraft has languished

[PingSpike]

Notch isn't this Booty guy. Notch mostly tweets and swims through pools full of cash these days. Booty's main claim to fame is being placed in the driver seat of an already running money printing machine and not fucking it up by messing with the levels to much. Which I guess counts as top tier leadership at Microsoft these days based on how many of their other acquisitions have worked out.

Re:Minecraft has languished

[rhazz]

That's why Notch got the promotion.

Notch sold Minecraft to Microsoft and left. The guy being promoted is (I guess) the guy Microsoft put in charge of the product after they bought it from Notch. But you're right, Minecraft has had continued success under Microsoft. However from a layman's view you might compare this to putting a guy on a train that is already moving at top speed, then later rewarding him for not fucking it up.

Re:Minecraft has languished

[Gravis Zero]

It's been years since Microsoft took over MC (fuck you, Notch, you lying sack of shit)

No, fuck you. Do you think you could turn down a billion dollars? He made the right choice too.

Re:Minecraft has languished

[tlhIngan]

However from a layman's view you might compare this to putting a guy on a train that is already moving at top speed, then later rewarding him for not fucking it up.

You know how freaking hard that is?

Usually someone comes in and wants to dabble with this and that to "put their mark on it" and that leads to all sorts of crap going on and changes for the worse.

To h ave someone able to put all that aside and let things run is quite unnatural. SO yes, the fact it isn't all screwed up by now is amazing. The fact it's sold twice as much since acquisition is amazing.

Also, how many times have you heard of X acquiring Y and Y getting completely messed up? It happens almost always despite promises to the contrary. Thus, if Minecraft is even more successful under Microsoft, it took a lot of restraint in not screwing it up.

And for someone to manage a game studio, I suppose that's an excellent trait - if Microsoft were to acquire a bunch of studios, this guy would likely have a very light touch on things so it likely wouldn't be Microsoft that screwed up.

Re:THIS is gonna end well lol

[michelcolman]

But which boss is it? The Wither or the Ender Dragon?