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Don Mattrick about to be promoted?

Joeki11a said:
Damage has been done, the way MS started this leads to pretty much
MS sales lagginf behind Sony, add to the fiasco they still at 499.99
adds more to that.
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So you trying to tell me from now to november that nothing will change on Microsoft end to get the consumers to buy their product?
 
Interfectum said:
Sometimes people who do shitty jobs get 'promoted' to a less meaningful position to avoid the bad shit that comes from a firing. Most likely he'll be 'promoted' and put on a 'special projects' team and never be heard from again.
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That even had a name, right?
 
I sort of like him.
He's like the old family dog with three legs that occasionally pisses on the carpet, yet nobody can work up the courage to put him down.
 
This (old) news shouldn't shock anyone who works at a big company- businesses reward high performers with promotion after promotion, and then just as quickly whisk away the same high performers into 'special project' roles if they stumble.

It'll be fine. Donny Boy will give us plenty of quotes and interviews before XBONE gets to retailers.

[edit] beat like a MS exec

Interfectum said:
Sometimes people who do shitty jobs get 'promoted' to a less meaningful position to avoid the bad shit that comes from a firing. Most likely he'll be 'promoted' and put on a 'special projects' team and never be heard from again.
Click to expand...
 
GoddyofAus said:
Yeah because it's served them so well from a PR perspective.

"Ever seen the bottom of an Avatars shoe?...."
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Who cares about the PR perspective? It didn't cause enough PR problems to stop it making a boatload of money. If you were running a company and fired everyone who made your company profitable solely because of a few PR bungles you'd be bankrupt in a year.
 
Kajiba said:
Xbox One didn't even come out yet. How do you know if it will fail?
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It will pretty much be a disaster. I don't see how it cannot. It's like the PS3 all over again.... The most expensive console made to be suitable for everyone. And this time around it isn't even the best when it comes to hardware.... Assuming MS doesn't convince us that we need this thing for some reason in the coming months it will bomb hard.
 
Protome said:
Who cares about the PR perspective? It didn't cause enough PR problems to stop it making a boatload of money. If you were running a company and fired everyone who made your company profitable solely because of a few PR bungles you'd be bankrupt in a year.
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You're forgetting the Wii effect. Just because MS got a return on their investment off the back of the casual hype surrounding the original Kinect does not mean that those same people will even be aware that the new Kinect comes bundled with the One, or even care.

Receive with one hand, throw away with the other.
 
Wildstar75 said:
The Xbox One might do just find despite the last month, but I don't think too many people here will argue that the last month was a PR Disaster. Perhaps instead of the word launch I should say unveiling + E3.
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Ahh okay. Unveiling was complete shit if you talk DRM policies and all that other crazy stuff.

And to be on topic. I don't think Don is getting a "Promotion"

I honestly don't think anything good will come to him after these two weeks alone.
 
Silly.Mikey said:
Doesn't mean anything. The casual consumers know nothing of this. Just like the Netflix fiasco a while back, separating their departments and charging more, people will forgive and forget within a month or two.
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Keep telling yourself that, also those mass casuals you keep talking about only see Price, they will see COD in a 399 machine vs 499.99 COD.
 
fire everyone.

hire me to run gaming division.

xbox one will only come in purple and have 'conci wuz here' carved into them. all games will be made by me. marketing spokesman will be william h. macy.
 
GoddyofAus said:
You're forgetting the Wii effect. Just because MS got a return on their investment off the back of the casual hype surrounding the original Kinect does not mean that those same people will even be aware that the new Kinect comes bundled with the One, or even care.

Receive with one hand, throw away with the other.
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Irrelevant? He wouldn't be fired for something the outcome of which hasn't been seen yet, again that would be a terrible way to run a business.

The man has a track record of making a shit-load of money with the Xbox 360 and yes, the Kinect. Whether the Xbox One and its Kinect do well or not is something he can't be judged on yet.
 
I welcome our new overlord..

793899-kotick3.jpg


who knows ..
 
Mattrick hasn't been awful, hes been good for business and he only came off like an asshole corporate suit during the shitty xbone messaging.

He has a goofy stage presence, but is a developer and designer going back to the original Test Drive. There's worse people they could have in the position.
 
Protome said:
Irrelevant? He wouldn't be fired for something the outcome of which hasn't been seen yet, again that would be a terrible way to run a business.

The man has a track record of making a shit-load of money with the Xbox 360 and yes, the Kinect. Whether the Xbox One and its Kinect do well or not is something he can't be judged on yet.
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That would suggest they've learned nothing from the failures of their competition, which it seems they have.
 
Mattrick's results are good (revenue-wise), but how much of that can be attributed to being in the right place at the right time? Who knows. Regardless, I believe he's a competent business man (though his presentation skills could use improvement), but better suited in an alternative division; wouldn't be opposed to a transfer/promotion, and letting someone else take over the xbox division (hail agent Harrison).

edit: He seems to be right up at Ballmer's ballpark though. All about that short-term; fuck the long-term.
 
infinityBCRT said:
Based on performance, he's done pretty damn well since he's joined Microsoft. The fruits of his bumbling over the last month have yet to be seen, and won't be seen until much later in the year.
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Apple fired their retail head after mere months, on top of good retail performance, all over stupid moves that brought about bad press.

I don't care how solid 360 financial performance has been the last few years... everything he has done for the last month has harmed the xbox brand and business. Maybe a lateral shift or a demotion... but promotion? Not in any fortune 500 company I've ever seen or worked for.
 
I wonder who's responsible for opening up all of Microsoft's new studios. Keep that guy around.

And bring back J. Allard.
 
GoddyofAus said:
>Responsible for Kinect

That alone is enough for him to get the arse, in my opinion.
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So... a device that managed to be the fastest-selling consumer electronic device ever and that brought Microsoft few millions new customers (even thought there's very few good games for Kinect) is a reason to get rid of Mattrick? OK.
 
Woo-Fu said:
Microsoft can't fire Sony execs.



You say that is if the PS3 is still $599. The PS3 didn't gain any real traction until price cuts.
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And there wont be price cuts this generation? Thats news to me. You seem to think that the launch month and sales equal the end of the line for MS. Are you serious?

What a very short sighted forum this is.
 
Leflus said:
I wonder who's responsible for opening up all of Microsoft's new studios. Keep that guy around.

And bring back J. Allard.
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This. Whoever fought with the execs to get the largest budget in MS history for game development needs to be the one leading Xbox division. At least he/she has the right idea.
 
I don't understand why gamers believe (or want) Don Mattrick will be fired. In hindsight, "screwing up" E3 and the reveal are small road bumps, that may or may not matter to the general public and Microsoft, if it does matter, they can easily recover. Mattrick is responsible for making Kinect, a commercial success that sold 10 million units, and actually making the Entertainment Division of Microsoft profitable.
 
Ah, the classic Lethal Weapon 4 promotion!
Riggs and Murtaugh were promoted to prevent them from causing further damage to the city.
 
GoddyofAus said:
That would suggest they've learned nothing from the failures of their competition, which it seems they have.
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Your assumptions suggest that actually. You're assuming Microsoft is relying on Kinect getting the attention of the casual audience with the Xbox one the same way as it did on the Xbox 360. The lack of Kinect-controller games shows that they've learned from Nintendo's mistakes and aren't doing that.
The Kinect implementations we've seen are much more focussed on things that a casual audience would probably be interested in with all the TV stuff (although admittedly it seems really poorly designed if you think about it for longer than 10 seconds, but casuals won't...) The main issue with attracting that audience is not the Kinect, it's the price. Microsoft are betting on people being willing to pay a silly amount for their console because they already pay a silly amount for iPads and such which I'd guess is a big mistake. But again, it's too early to tell and it'd be stupid to fire someone who has made a company so much money without actually knowing.
 
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