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[Cyberpunkd]

Hard to imagine that you think that experience from 20 years ago is more relevant than the past few years. Anyway, let's check it out:

She worked ONE year at Nintendo (marketing) and THREE years at Sega (marketing) more than 20 years ago. Those are NOT Director-level managerial positions, don't give me that crap.

After that, she did many things, mostly not related to videogames, which was precisely my point.

No, in my opinion, she doesn't have the credentials for HEAD OF BETHESDA.

See, this is someone that knows how to use LinkedIn and read it correctly.

Someone mentioned how Microsoft is an enterprise software company, and will always be one. I think it was Steve Jobs that said people from Microsoft don’t go to work at Apple and vice versa, the culture differences are just too much.

First Xbox team were visionaries, and at that time Microsoft had absolutely no idea what to do so it left the division alone.
Some time after it was clear the mindset shifted to “ok, so we have this product, how we can use it to do EXACTLY WHAT WE KNOW HOW TO DO - SOFTWARE”?

Thus the “media hub”, this the online DRM, etc.

 

[Yoda]

Ybarra was an OG employee? He got booted for someone with basically no meaningful game dev achievements of her own? Did they learn nothing with Bonnie Ross? I really hope King was worth the money.

 

[havoc00]

shes hot

 

[FeralEcho]

I love Cox and Booty.

Where's Jane Jayjay and Anna Booba?

 

[Party McHardy]

schwing.gif

 

[DenchDeckard]

Am I missing where her credentials don't line up?

What am I not seeing, that's bad?

 

[geary]

You guys confuse CEO needed skills and aptitudes with the Game director ones.

I never heard of her and might not have what it takes to not sink Blizzard even more, but i doubt that an “OG” can as well.

 

[{insert code here}]

So, Blizzard is officially dead now.

 

[FalconPunch]

I don't think she'd have gotten this job with her CV only a few years ago.

As a minority, I wish I can get put on the same DEI fast track she's on. Had to work my ass off just to make it to managing my own team and she has it in a year? 1 year to manager, 1 year to director, 4 years to vp? Something smells fishy af.

 

[Banjo64]

https://query.prod.cms.rt.microsoft.com/cms/api/am/binary/RW1e53b

Microsoft’s latest DEI annual report.

Vanguard and BlackRock are the 2 larges institutional shareholders in Microsoft by some way, holding combined shares worth approx. $500b.

Microsoft are truly pathetic. They’ve spent $70b on ABK and it’s clear that the strategy will be to rely on CoD’s name recognition over creating quality games. But that’s just par for the course.

 

[onQ123]

If Sarah bond is the T-1001 then she's the T-1002:

 

[alienator]

How long untill the inevitable "going to spend more time with my family" resignation ?

 

[GHG]

Am I missing where her credentials don't line up?

What am I not seeing, that's bad?

Dench, you might well have better credentials than her.

How long untill the inevitable "going to spend more time with my family" resignation ?

It's already right there in her introductory email:

So inspiring.

 

[Banjo64]

Am I missing where her credentials don't line up?

What am I not seeing, that's bad?

Oh come on man FFS

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

One would think the new head of Blizzard would be a veteran from the team, like a high-level ambitious creative, who would have some great ideas to lead the team and develop their world-renowned IPs...

But what do I know...

MS still hasn’t understood this business after 2 decades and I don’t get if that’s sad or hilarious honestly.

 

[Kenpachii]

Dench, you might well have better credentials than her.



It's already right there in her introductory email:

So inspiring.

Obviously its bullshit she aint playing games lol, but diablo 4 of all things she could say haha. Game is a corpse.

 

[BlueLyria]

Obviously its bullshit she aint playing games lol, but diablo 4 of all things she could say haha. Game is a corpse.

How do you do fellow gamers kinda bs.

I don't expect CoD to improve at all

 

[Ozriel]

Hard to imagine that you think that experience from 20 years ago is more relevant than the past few years. Anyway, let's check it out:

She worked ONE year at Nintendo (marketing) and THREE years at Sega (marketing) more than 20 years ago. Those are NOT Director-level managerial positions, don't give me that crap.

After that, she did many things, mostly not related to videogames, which was precisely my point.

No, in my opinion, she doesn't have the credentials for HEAD OF BETHESDA.

‘Leadership position’ is what I said, not ‘director level’. And you missed out 6 years as an SVP in Glu Mobile, along with leadership role in other (smaller) companies prior to joining Xbox in a leadership role.

Business leadership of any company requires acknowledged skills in making good business decisions. Jim Ryan moved from being a Marketing lead at Sony to a director level position at SIE/Playstation, for example.
Bobby Kotick moved from being CEO of a cartoon company to owning and leading Activision. Prior to that, he co-founded a small scale software company.

Business leadership of any company requires acknowledged skills in making good business decisions.

One would think the new head of Blizzard would be a veteran from the team, like a high-level ambitious creative, who would have some great ideas to lead the team and develop their world-renowned IPs...

But what do I know...

Could have sworn I’ve heard complaints day and night here about how Blizzard’s lost their way with WoW, the Warcraft remaster and Overwatch 2. Not to mention the 6 years meandering around with their now canceled survival game.

Could have also sworn I’ve seen multiple posts praising Kotick as a savvy, ruthless businessman who knows how to get shit done.
Now the person he picked to oversee the COD franchise is apparently a ‘bad fit’ to oversee Blizzard, because reasons.

 

[Porticus]

‘Leadership position’ is what I said, not ‘director level’. And you missed out 6 years as an SVP in Glu Mobile, along with leadership role in other (smaller) companies prior to joining Xbox in a leadership role.

Business leadership of any company requires acknowledged skills in making good business decisions. Jim Ryan moved from being a Marketing lead at Sony to a director level position at SIE/Playstation, for example.
Bobby Kotick moved from being CEO of a cartoon company to owning and leading Activision. Prior to that, he co-founded a small scale software company.

Business leadership of any company requires acknowledged skills in making good business decisions.



Could have sworn I’ve heard complaints day and night here about how Blizzard’s lost their way with WoW, the Warcraft remaster and Overwatch 2. Not to mention the 6 years meandering around with their now canceled survival game.

Could have also sworn I’ve seen multiple posts praising Kotick as a savvy, ruthless businessman who knows how to get shit done.
Now the person he picked to oversee the COD franchise is apparently a ‘bad fit’ to oversee Blizzard, because reasons.

Are you really comparing the career of Ryan and Kotick to her? If you don't see the differences then there's nothing to discuss.

 

[Negotiator101]

https://query.prod.cms.rt.microsoft.com/cms/api/am/binary/RW1e53b

Microsoft’s latest DEI annual report.

Vanguard and BlackRock are the 2 larges institutional shareholders in Microsoft by some way, holding combined shares worth approx. $500b.

Microsoft are truly pathetic. They’ve spent $70b on ABK and it’s clear that the strategy will be to rely on CoD’s name recognition over creating quality games. But that’s just par for the course.

Well let's take a look at this year's COD which Microsoft had no part in. Hardly a classic is it? I presume you're claiming it will decline even more than this one?

 

[Ozriel]

Are you really comparing the career of Ryan and Kotick to her? If you don't see the differences then there's nothing to discuss.

No. I’m merely pointing out that credible business leadership of a videogame publisher doesn’t necessarily require growing through the ranks within that publisher as the other dude claimed.

 

[Banjo64]

Well let's take a look at this year's COD which Microsoft had no part in. Hardly a classic is it? I presume you're claiming it will decline even more than this one?

with worse leadership, a random culling of staff amd Microsoft’s record; I’d be shocked if it’s better in the short or long term.

 

[BlackTron]

You guys are a riot. Even if you never saw her history you could tell she's not the right fit from her introductory tweet.

 

[Panajev2001a]

No. I’m merely pointing out that credible business leadership of a videogame publisher doesn’t necessarily require growing through the ranks within that publisher as the other dude claimed.

Ok so trying to wear the discussion out by incessant damage control and changing goal posts . Gotcha, standard playbook hehe.

 

[GymWolf]

2027.

Are the tools gonna be available by then?

 

[Porticus]

No. I’m merely pointing out that credible business leadership of a videogame publisher doesn’t necessarily require growing through the ranks within that publisher as the other dude claimed.

No problem with that, the issue is that her credentials simply don't match the weight of her new position and there's no way to spin it positively.

 

[Ozriel]

No problem with that, the issue is that her credentials simply don't match the weight of her new position and there's no way to spin it positively.

Didn’t seem to be a problem when Kotick made her GM of the multi billion dollar Call of Duty franchise, eh?
Did they match the weight of her old position?

 

[EverydayBeast]

Cod modernized shooters in 2008, the ranking system changed the world, and things like map rotation, perks, unlocking weapons are small changes but account for the experience. Now the cod industry still operates like that, revenue is up.

 

[Ozriel]

Ok so trying to wear the discussion out by incessant damage control and changing goal posts . Gotcha, standard playbook hehe.

I’m not responsible for any lapses in comprehension on your part

Not entirely your fault. Many of you seem
unaware of how businesses are run, the other guy up there didn’t know how to scroll in LinkedIn and a couple assumed being a member of the board of a tattoo company meant you’re out in front inking customers

 

[Negotiator101]

with worse leadership, a random culling of staff amd Microsoft’s record; I’d be shocked if it’s better in the short or long term.

56mc mate, you're just making yourself look even more silly than usual. Just so you can shit post about Microsoft/Xbox

 

[Daneel Elijah]

No. I’m merely pointing out that credible business leadership of a videogame publisher doesn’t necessarily require growing through the ranks within that publisher as the other dude claimed.

You should have taken Reggie Fils Aime as example, it should be better IMHO as a non gamer that rose to the top of a gaming company, even if Nintendo is special and have some caveats. But we just need to look at who took the place before her to see why some people are surprised. Ybarra was a man that could have been CEO of Xbox at some point, and I think that there are more than one level between someone like him and someone like her, and that is said without wanting to be offensive. Good for her, and that is all I will say about it for now.

 

[Panajev2001a]

You should have taken Reggie Fils Aime as example, it should be better IMHO as a non gamer that rose to the top of a gaming company, even if Nintendo is special and have some caveats. But we just need to look at who took the place before her to see why some people are surprised. Ybarra was a man that could have been CEO of Xbox at some point, and I think that there are more than one level between someone like him and someone like her, and that is said without wanting to be offensive. Good for her, and that is all I will say about it for now.

Reggie… how much authority did he really have though? Compared to directors in Japan?

 

[kruis]

‘Leadership position’ is what I said, not ‘director level’. And you missed out 6 years as an SVP in Glu Mobile, along with leadership role in other (smaller) companies prior to joining Xbox in a leadership role.

Business leadership of any company requires acknowledged skills in making good business decisions. Jim Ryan moved from being a Marketing lead at Sony to a director level position at SIE/Playstation, for example.
Bobby Kotick moved from being CEO of a cartoon company to owning and leading Activision. Prior to that, he co-founded a small scale software company.

Kotick was never the "CEO of a cartoon company". Unlike most of these modern managers who seem to have landed by accident in video games publishing, Kotick was involved in computer software and video games for his entire career.

Kotick started his own software company when he was 20 years old as a developer of business software for the Apple II and Commodore C64. He was just 27 years old when he bought a 25% share in Mediagenic in 1990. He restored the original company name to Activision, and then led Activision for 30+ years until his company was bought by MS. Whatever you think of Bobby Kotick, Activision franchises like Call of Duty, Spyro the Dragon and Crash Banditcoot were all started under his watch.

 

[kruis]

Reggie… how much authority did he really have though? Compared to directors in Japan?

Reggie had the authority to stop excellent 1st party Nintendo games from being localized and published in the US and Canada.

 

[Banjo64]

56mc mate, you're just making yourself look even more silly than usual. Just so you can shit post about Microsoft/Xbox

 

[Daneel Elijah]

Reggie… how much authority did he really have though? Compared to directors in Japan?

That is why I said that nintendo had some caveats and was special. But I think that Reggie probably had more autority that Blizzard woud have because being 1 level under Nintendo Japan is way better than Microsoft->Xbox->ABK->Blizzard.

 

[GymWolf]

I love Cox and Booty.

Spoiler

sorry hamtaro, i have to do it

 

[Daneel Elijah]

Whatever you think of Bobby Kotick, Activision franchises like Call of Duty, Spyro the Dragon and Crash Banditcoot were all started under his watch.

Your post was good until that point. Spyro and Crash Bandicoot were first made by Insomniac under Universal for Sony, and later got taken by Activision.

 

[kruis]

Your post was good until that point. Spyro and Crash Bandicoot were first made by Insomniac under Universal for Sony, and later got taken by Activision.

Ah. I checked Wikipedia and they were listed among the Activision franchises. (I knew of course about the games having been created by Insomniac and Naughty Dog)

 

[Daneel Elijah]

Ah. I checked Wikipedia and they were listed among the Activision franchises. (I knew of course about the games having been created by Insomniac and Naughty Dog)

And that's why our teachers were telling us to not use Wikipedia! I often do the same when I need to be sure of something before posting too. You simply got unlucky when choosing what IP to use to make your point.

 

[Ogbert]

Bet you she’s never cleared 1-1 of Super Mario Bros.

 

[Daneel Elijah]

Bet you she’s never cleared 1-1 of Super Mario Bros.

It reminded me of this comic.

 

[U n i o n 0015]

That used to be the norm. But then you'd get all these old white guys as CEOs, studio heads, etc and you can't have that in 2024. Much better to promote women of color and see that DEI rating go up and up!

The best part about DEI is that old white guys are still in charge, they just fill the rank below them with DEI hires that have no real autonomy (and are usually shuffled in and out of positions every 1-2 years). So Davos Man gets the brownie points of seeming virtuous and caring for minorities without actually have to be so. Never underestimate the ingenuity of Davos Man!

 

[Negotiator101]

Bet you she’s never cleared 1-1 of Super Mario Bros.

What's that got to do with it? Phil Spencer games yet most on here think he's terrible at his job

 

[GHG]

Are the tools gonna be available by then?

Depends on what kind of tools will be required for the job.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

The best part about DEI is that old white guys are still in charge, they just fill the rank below them with DEI hires that have no real autonomy (and are usually shuffled in and out of positions every 1-2 years). So Davos Man gets the brownie points of seeming virtuous and caring for minorities without actually have to be so. Never underestimate the ingenuity of Davos Man!

The CEO's of Microsoft, Google, AMD, and Nvidia are all not white

I don't like DEI at all but tech companies have some of the most diverse CEO demographics around

 

[King Dazzar]

in some photos she looks identical to Sarah... are they actually two separate people? MS cloning to save headcount costs?

 

[Porticus]

Didn’t seem to be a problem when Kotick made her GM of the multi billion dollar Call of Duty franchise, eh?
Did they match the weight of her old position?

I guess P Panajev2001a was right, changing goal posts is a behaviour of yours.

End of the discusssion then.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

The CEO's of Microsoft, Google, AMD, and Nvidia are all not white

I don't like DEI at all but tech companies have some of the most diverse CEO demographics around

How is it working for them if we discount the general trends of the market?

Microsoft - enterprise software great, Xbox LOL
Google - killedbygoogle.com
AMD - wut?
Nvidia - Bitcoin mining and AI hypetrain


The last great story of tech redemption was Apple with Jobs, you could see how they went from being almost bankrupt (Jobs said somewhere at the lowest point they had a cash runway of 3 weeks) to dominating any market they entered. Jobs made Apple, all the CEOs you listed are execs, they never had the same, stake in the business.

 

[Ozriel]

How is it working for them if we discount the general trends of the market?

Microsoft - enterprise software great, Xbox LOL
Google - killedbygoogle.com
AMD - wut?
Nvidia - Bitcoin mining and AI hypetrain

You’d be laughed out of any room where you tried to paint a picture that the CEOs of Microsoft, Google and Nvidia weren’t doing poorly at their jobs. MS and NVIDiA in particular