Today, Microsoft made some major executive changes in its marketing division. However, there were some similar big changes made in the company’s Xbox/Gaming division that were revealed today as well. The changes were announced just a couple of weeks after Microsoft officially closed the deal to acquire Activision Blizzard.
The Verge has posted an internal company memo from Phil Spencer, now labeled as CEO of Microsoft Gaming. In the memo, Spencer states that Matt Booty, who previously was the head of Microsoft Studios, is now Microsoft’s new President, Game Content and Studios.
In his new position, Booty will be in charge of the game development teams at ZeniMax Studios, in addition to his duties of being in charge of Microsoft’s first-party game teams and publishing efforts. Spencer stated:
ZeniMax will continue to operate as a limited integration entity led by Jamie Leder, President and CEO, reporting to Matt. All ZeniMax development studios and ZeniMax Central Services teams will continue reporting to Jamie to maintain and optimize current content development and production cycles. Also, to deepen our partnership and accelerate mutual learning, a number of ZeniMax leaders will now report to those Microsoft leaders with whom their work most closely aligns.
Booty’s promotion comes just a few days after Pete Hines, Bethesda Softworks’ head of publishing, announced his departure from the company after 24 years.
In addition, Sarah Bond, who has been the Corporate Vice President of Xbox since 2020, now has the title of President of Xbox. Spencer stated that Bond’s appointment will bring together several Xbox divisions under her leadership, including “Devices, Player & Creator Experiences, Platform Engineering, Strategy, Business Planning, Data & Analytics and Business Development.”
Spencer added:
I’m excited to partner with this team of leaders to advance our mission for the next era of Xbox in service of players and creators. I am confident that they will steer our organization to success in the months and years to come.
As previously announced Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision Blizzard will remain in that position until the end of 2023, helping Spencer with the transition of the company to Microsoft’s Xbox division before he departs.
