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Seamus Blackley says Microsoft's focus is on AI, and all else will be subsumed into it.
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Phil Spencer's surprise retirement announcement last week, coupled with the equally unexpected resignation of Xbox president Sarah Bond and elevation of former Instacart exec Asha Sharma to Microsoft Gaming CEO, left a lot of unanswered questions. Was Phil forced out? Why didn't Bond, his presumed successor, get the job? Who's this new boss, who only joined Microsoft in 2024 and was previously all about AI? And of course, the big one: What does it all mean?
Frankly, I don't know. I initially suspected shenanigans, due primarily to the very pronounced silence of Bond, the one person among everyone involved who didn't have something nice to say about everyone else. (An absence emphasized by the fact that no one but Phil—not Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, nor incoming Xbox boss Asha Sharma or newly promoted chief content officer Matt Booty—even acknowledged Bond's existence, much less thanked her for her work.) A later report by The Verge claimed that the retirement announcement was supposed to go out today but the cork popped early because of leaks, which is why it all seemed so messy.
Another person who doesn't know what it all means is Seamus Blackley, famed as a programmer on games including System Shock, Flight Unlimited, and Terra Nova, and more particularly for his work in leading the creation of the original Xbox console. Blackley does, however, have thoughts.
"[Microsoft CEO] Satya Nadella has made an incredible number of bets and invested an incredible amount of money and credibility" into AI, Blackley said in an interview with GamesBeat.
"Xbox, like a lot of businesses that aren’t the core AI business, is being sunsetted. They don’t say that, but that’s what’s happening. I expect that the new CEO, Asha Sharma, her job is going to be as a palliative care doctor who slides Xbox gently into the night."
Full respect to Blackley for just laying it all out on the table—I like bold pronouncements, the wilder, the better—but I am obligated to say, again, that Blackley has no special insight into the matter. He left Microsoft in 2002 and while he's remained active in the field of game development, he hasn't gone back to Microsoft. He currently holds the role of CEO of tech startup Pacific Light and Hologram.
That said, it's not an entirely unreasonable proposition. After asking rhetorically whether it would make sense to put someone who doesn't like movies in charge of a major movie studio, Blackley said the consequence of focusing on AI "is that AI ...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?
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Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
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From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
Phil Spencer's surprise retirement announcement last week, coupled with the equally unexpected resignation of Xbox president Sarah Bond and elevation of former Instacart exec Asha Sharma to Microsoft Gaming CEO, left a lot of unanswered questions. Was Phil forced out? Why didn't Bond, his presumed successor, get the job? Who's this new boss, who only joined Microsoft in 2024 and was previously all about AI? And of course, the big one: What does it all mean?
Frankly, I don't know. I initially suspected shenanigans, due primarily to the very pronounced silence of Bond, the one person among everyone involved who didn't have something nice to say about everyone else. (An absence emphasized by the fact that no one but Phil—not Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, nor incoming Xbox boss Asha Sharma or newly promoted chief content officer Matt Booty—even acknowledged Bond's existence, much less thanked her for her work.) A later report by The Verge claimed that the retirement announcement was supposed to go out today but the cork popped early because of leaks, which is why it all seemed so messy.
Another person who doesn't know what it all means is Seamus Blackley, famed as a programmer on games including System Shock, Flight Unlimited, and Terra Nova, and more particularly for his work in leading the creation of the original Xbox console. Blackley does, however, have thoughts.
"[Microsoft CEO] Satya Nadella has made an incredible number of bets and invested an incredible amount of money and credibility" into AI, Blackley said in an interview with GamesBeat.
"Xbox, like a lot of businesses that aren’t the core AI business, is being sunsetted. They don’t say that, but that’s what’s happening. I expect that the new CEO, Asha Sharma, her job is going to be as a palliative care doctor who slides Xbox gently into the night."
Full respect to Blackley for just laying it all out on the table—I like bold pronouncements, the wilder, the better—but I am obligated to say, again, that Blackley has no special insight into the matter. He left Microsoft in 2002 and while he's remained active in the field of game development, he hasn't gone back to Microsoft. He currently holds the role of CEO of tech startup Pacific Light and Hologram.
That said, it's not an entirely unreasonable proposition. After asking rhetorically whether it would make sense to put someone who doesn't like movies in charge of a major movie studio, Blackley said the consequence of focusing on AI "is that AI ...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?