Microsoft's Robbie Bach: Making The Division Work
"...PC, an Xbox, a Zune, a phone, whatever works."
Robbie Bach - president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division (E.D.D.)- has been speaking to The San Francisco Chronicle about the competition and about making money for Microsoft once again.
Strangely, it appears that only now is the E.D.D. actually coming together as a group. Here's Bach's take:
Okay, we thought this - aside from Zune - had been happening for quite some time, since the launch of 360 for example. It now appears that Bach is still 'forming' his group. He continues:
Look at the wording closely here. We are not talking about Xbox (including Live) we're talking about a range of Microsoft assets (software, services and hardware) contributing as profit as a single division. Gaming per se is not seen as a road to profit - that's quite an admission and may strike people such as Shane Kim of Microsoft's Game Studios as a novel method of career motivation.
Read the full interview here.
Strangely, it appears that only now is the E.D.D. actually coming together as a group. Here's Bach's take:
"From a strategy perspective, we've been focused for a while on what we call connected entertainment. It's the idea that your media, whether it's music, video, photos, games, whatever -- you should have access to that wherever you are and on whatever device you want -- a PC, an Xbox, a Zune, a phone, whatever works and in whatever room it works. In order to do that, Microsoft has taken assets from across the company and consolidated them in this division.
Part of my job now is forming that into a group. We're working on the specific areas of video, music, gaming and mobile, and also trying to work to make all those things come together in a coherent, logical way."
Part of my job now is forming that into a group. We're working on the specific areas of video, music, gaming and mobile, and also trying to work to make all those things come together in a coherent, logical way."
Okay, we thought this - aside from Zune - had been happening for quite some time, since the launch of 360 for example. It now appears that Bach is still 'forming' his group. He continues:
"It's a strategy where Microsoft can differentiate itself, because it's a strategy that relies on software and services. Those are both things where we have a competitive advantage.
"Regarding profitability, when you make an investment in a business like this, you're doing two things. When you make the investment, you're building assets. The trick as a manager is, when the assets get built, you have to turn that into operating income. We think next fiscal year, which starts in July, we'll do that for entertainment and devices."
"Regarding profitability, when you make an investment in a business like this, you're doing two things. When you make the investment, you're building assets. The trick as a manager is, when the assets get built, you have to turn that into operating income. We think next fiscal year, which starts in July, we'll do that for entertainment and devices."
Look at the wording closely here. We are not talking about Xbox (including Live) we're talking about a range of Microsoft assets (software, services and hardware) contributing as profit as a single division. Gaming per se is not seen as a road to profit - that's quite an admission and may strike people such as Shane Kim of Microsoft's Game Studios as a novel method of career motivation.
Read the full interview here.
Read More Like This
Comments
alexh2o 28 May 2007 12:14
1/1
Id say that hes not omitting gaming from the making profit, but rather saying every aspect of the division will turn a profit. Whats the point in just gaming making money and the rest just losing it?