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Jill Braff has been appointed as head of Bethesda/ZeniMax studios

Draugoth

Gold Member
starfield-w-1440x653.jpg

Microsoft’s president of game content and studios, Matt Booty, announced Braff’s new role in an email to employees on Wednesday (via The Verge):

Jill has a wealth of experience in games and entertainment, with previous roles at Nintendo, Sega, Glu Mobile, Home Shopping Network and at Warner Bros. building the online and marketing business for the Ellen DeGeneres Show.

She was our leader for the integration work when ZeniMax/Bethesda joined Xbox, and through that work she has come to know many of their teams and leaders well.

Jill will be responsible for leading the ZeniMax/Bethesda game development teams, which will continue to operate as limited integration entities, as well as continuing to oversee the Microsoft Casual Games team. Reporting to Jill will be Todd Howard, Todd Vaughn, Matt Firor, Paul Jensen, and Heather Cooper.

Jamie Leder will remain in his role as CEO of ZeniMax/Bethesda, reporting to me, and will continue supporting the ongoing integration work. To support the development of the ZeniMax/Bethesda portfolio of games, Robert Gray (ZeniMax Quality Assurance) and Timothy Beggs (ZeniMax Release Management) will move to report Todd Vaughn.

Building on the successful launch of Starfield, all the ZeniMax/Bethesda studios are poised to create some of the most exciting and innovative games in the industry. I am confident that Jill’s leadership and support of the teams, along with her proven ability to build meaningful bridges back to Xbox, will further empower everyone at Bethesda to bring amazing experiences to our players.
 

Godot25

Banned
Jesus. It's starting to be confusing.
So Phil Spencer is head of Microsoft Gaming, Sarah Bond is president of Xbox and Booty is president of content and studios.

Under Booty we have
Alan Hartman who is boss of Xbox Game Studios
Jill Braff who is boss of all Bethesda studios
Rob Kostich who is boss of Activision studios
Mike Ybarra who is boss of Blizzard
Tjodolf Sommestad who is boss of King

So what's the point of keeping Jamie Leder as CEO of Bethesda if his studios have their own boss?
 

Godot25

Banned


Really, this is way too many people to run a ship.

Nah.

Hartman as head of XGS is managing 15 studios with almost 4K employees
Braff as head of Bethesda is managing 8 studios with almost 2,2K employees
Kostich as head of Activision is managing at least 9 studios with 3,5K employees
Ybarra is managing Blizzard with almost 6K employees
Sommestad is managing King with 5,5K employees

I would say that it is must to have structure like that. Nobody would be able to manage 21K employees across 34 studios alone.
 
Jesus. It's starting to be confusing.
So Phil Spencer is head of Microsoft Gaming, Sarah Bond is president of Xbox and Booty is president of content and studios.

Under Booty we have
Alan Hartman who is boss of Xbox Game Studios
Jill Braff who is boss of all Bethesda studios
Rob Kostich who is boss of Activision studios
Mike Ybarra who is boss of Blizzard
Tjodolf Sommestad who is boss of King

So what's the point of keeping Jamie Leder as CEO of Bethesda if his studios have their own boss?
Microsoft is notorious for their Byzantine corporate org chart, don't think too hard about it. But one big reason they always seem to be 4 steps behind the industry is possibly because everyone has 4 bosses and their bosses also have 4 bosses except Satya because Satya is the only CEO, it's impossible to make decisions there quickly.
 
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Godot25

Banned
Microsoft is notorious for their Byzantine corporate org chart, don't think too hard about it. But one big reason they always seem to be 4 steps behind the industry is possibly because everyone has 4 bosses except Satya because Satya is the only CEO, it's impossible to make decisions there quickly.
As I explained in next post, I don't have a problem with structure of heads of branches. I'm just confused what is the point of keeping Leder in CEO of Bethesda position when he isn't even managing Bethesda studios.
 
As I explained in next post, I don't have a problem with structure of heads of branches. I'm just confused what is the point of keeping Leder in CEO of Bethesda position when he isn't even managing Bethesda studios.
Zenimax/ Bethesda are limited integrated entities under the buyout terms. Which means they operate mostly independently with their own management layer and policies, and loosely report to Microsoft.
 
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Godot25

Banned
Zenimax/ Bethesda are limited integrated entities under the buyout terms. Which means they operate mostly independently with their own management and policies and loosely report to Microsoft.
Yeah. But Braff is from Xbox and is managing Bethesda studios. So it's pretty clear that Microsoft is tightening things in regards of "independence" of Bethesda. Can't blame them after Redfall though...
 
Yeah. But Braff is from Xbox and is managing Bethesda studios. So it's pretty clear that Microsoft is tightening things in regards of "independence" of Bethesda. Can't blame them after Redfall though...
Redfall wouldn’t have been good regardless of what layer of management ultimately accepted responsibility. It didn’t go well, suffered from lack of direction. And plainly wasn’t ready.
 
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Home shopping network….. Ellen dengenerete

I stopped reading after that.
Reggie came to Nintendo from VH1 and Pizza Hut. Zero console game company experience.

It doesn’t really matter what industry you come from when it comes to marketing, you get hired based on what results you achieved. Reggie was credited with the Bigfoot Pizza.
 
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Porticus

Banned
Reggie came to Nintendo from VH1 and Pizza Hut. Zero console game company experience.

It doesn’t really matter what industry you come from when it comes to marketing, you get hired based on what results you achieved. Reggie was credited with the Bigfoot Pizza.
You know that what you said doesn't make sense right?

She's working in the videogame industry for long and I only see nothing of importance.
 
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You know that what you said doesn't make sense right?

She's working in the videogame industry for long and I only see nothing of importance.
Just going off your own post, bro. You pointed out the example involving nothing to do with videogames. I gave a very clear example of that not mattering at all, in basically an extremely similar situation. Sorry you’re so upset.
 
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ADiTAR

ידע זה כוח
Nah.

Hartman as head of XGS is managing 15 studios with almost 4K employees
Braff as head of Bethesda is managing 8 studios with almost 2,2K employees
Kostich as head of Activision is managing at least 9 studios with 3,5K employees
Ybarra is managing Blizzard with almost 6K employees
Sommestad is managing King with 5,5K employees

I would say that it is must to have structure like that. Nobody would be able to manage 21K employees across 34 studios alone.
And yet Nintendo with around 5K employees managed to get more games out.
 

ADiTAR

ידע זה כוח
Reggie came to Nintendo from VH1 and Pizza Hut. Zero console game company experience.

It doesn’t really matter what industry you come from when it comes to marketing, you get hired based on what results you achieved. Reggie was credited with the Bigfoot Pizza.
She's heading development, not marketing. Reggie had zero say about game development. Heck, I doubt he ever touched ground in Austin to see what Retro are doing.
 

ReBurn

Gold Member
Jesus. It's starting to be confusing.
So Phil Spencer is head of Microsoft Gaming, Sarah Bond is president of Xbox and Booty is president of content and studios.

Under Booty we have
Alan Hartman who is boss of Xbox Game Studios
Jill Braff who is boss of all Bethesda studios
Rob Kostich who is boss of Activision studios
Mike Ybarra who is boss of Blizzard
Tjodolf Sommestad who is boss of King

So what's the point of keeping Jamie Leder as CEO of Bethesda if his studios have their own boss?
I suspect they will be wishing him luck in his next endeavor once they finish whatever "integration" is.
 

Godot25

Banned
And yet Nintendo with around 5K employees managed to get more games out.
Making a game with lower fidelity requires less people. Yeah. I'm shocked at this revelation.

All of Microsoft/Bethesda/ABK are just slightly bigger then Ubisoft for example. And I must say that King alone has 5K employees and is making games nobody in this forum cares about. So technically they have 17K employees in "core" gaming.
 
She's heading development, not marketing. Reggie had zero say about game development. Heck, I doubt he ever touched ground in Austin to see what Retro are doing.
Eh, that’s not accurate. He was the President/COO of the largest branch of Nintendo responsible for all sales and marketing in the western hemisphere. For fifteen years. He absolutely had a say in high level decisions. He was even made a member of the executive board the last few years after Iwata passed.

NoA management in particular does have a say in high level decisions based on what they feedback they provide on would sell vs what NCL might initially plan.
 
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ADiTAR

ידע זה כוח
Making a game with lower fidelity requires less people. Yeah. I'm shocked at this revelation.

All of Microsoft/Bethesda/ABK are just slightly bigger then Ubisoft for example. And I must say that King alone has 5K employees and is making games nobody in this forum cares about. So technically they have 17K employees in "core" gaming.
Lower fidelity?

Is Starfield's continuos loading high fidelity? Is hi-fi rush high fidelity?
 

ADiTAR

ידע זה כוח
Eh, that’s not accurate. He was the President/COO of the largest branch of Nintendo responsible for all sales and marketing in the western hemisphere. For fifteen years. He absolutely had a say in high level decisions. NoA management in particular does have a say in high level decisions based on what would sell vs what NCL might initially plan.
Zero say has he.

It was always obvious he's a mouth piece and the marketing lead, nothing more. There's no example where he had any say on anything they did. I think even the Nintendo Directs idea came from Japan.

She will actually lead development team with an experience in marketing? how does that make any sense.
 
Zero say has he.

It was always obvious he's a mouth piece and the marketing lead, nothing more. There's no example where he had any say on anything they did. I think even the Nintendo Directs idea came from Japan.

She will actually lead development team with an experience in marketing? how does that make any sense.
I’m sorry but that’s just not accurate. Not gonna argue about it tho. Clearly you are not open to additional information.
 

Godot25

Banned
Lower fidelity?

Is Starfield's continuos loading high fidelity? Is hi-fi rush high fidelity?
Stop acting stupid. Making a graphically demanding game is completely different beast than making a game like Tears of the Kingdom from "human resources" point of view. Hi-Fi Rush is maybe comparable and that's why it was made by few dozens of people. But it is also one of the 30+ games Xbox has in development.

Next time you will be wondering why there are 7K people in credits of Red Dead Redemption 2 and why there are "only" 1,4K people in credits of Tears of the Kingdom.
 
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Lower fidelity?

Is Starfield's continuos loading high fidelity? Is hi-fi rush high fidelity?
After seeing your other posts you’re just straight spam/cringe/not interested in actual conversations. I’ll be sure to ignore you permanently, going forward.
 
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If you have examples, please share I'm open to changing my mind.
He was a high level executive and involved in projects from an early stage of development. You’re asking for specific products. News flash, it’s more complicated than that. It doesn’t work that way. Maybe read more about it before you make yourself look so foolish, in the future. That’s entirely up to you
 

ADiTAR

ידע זה כוח
Stop acting stupid. Making a graphically demanding game is completely different beast than making a game like Tears of the Kingdom from "human resources" point of view. Hi-Fi Rush is maybe comparable and that's why it was made by few dozens of people. But it is also one of the 30+ games Xbox has in development.

Next time you will be wondering why there are 7K people in credits of Red Dead Redemption 2 and why there are "only" 1,4K people in credits of Tears of the Kingdom.
More graphically demanding doesn't mean more people, the amount of time and people Nintendo spends on concepting gameplay mechanics could be equal to the amount of time an artists creates a tree in Forza. How would we know?

I don't get regulating everything to graphics, esp since Nintendo isn't a slouch in that department either. There's a good chance they need to actually spend more time to "fake" outcomes on the low-powered Switch.

Not gonna derail this thread about this any longer.
 

Jakk

Member
Lower fidelity?

Is Starfield's continuos loading high fidelity? Is hi-fi rush high fidelity?
What are you even saying, he is obviously talking about visual fidelity. And yes, it takes much more time to develop Starfield than what Nintendo are making. Although obviously more demanding to make does not automatically mean better.
 

Godot25

Banned
More graphically demanding doesn't mean more people, the amount of time and people Nintendo spends on concepting gameplay mechanics could be equal to the amount of time an artists creates a tree in Forza. How would we know?

I don't get regulating everything to graphics, esp since Nintendo isn't a slouch in that department either. There's a good chance they need to actually spend more time to "fake" outcomes on the low-powered Switch.

Not gonna derail this thread about this any longer.
Of course it means more people. Why on earth do you think budget of Spider-Man 2 was almost triple of budget of Spider-Man? More technology you cram into the game, more people are required to manage it. More detailed assets you need to create, more people you need to create them.

Not to mention fact that if you want to create story-driven game with "realistic" visuals you also need mocap sessions which is expensive as hell. Have you missed that Insomniac spent 30 million dollars on cutscenes for Spider-Man 2 alone?

Nintendo games have great artstyle. Which is overshadowing fact that their games are ancient in terms of technology which is helping them keeping costs of development down. That's nothing shocking.
 
Home shopping network….. Ellen dengenerete

I stopped reading after that.
Microsoft sure know how to pick them smh. Like there isn’t other talent they could have poached from their competitors? Like this lady has 0 experience in the games industry. She worked at Nintendo for one year doing consumer research according to a poster above way back in the 90s. Like how is she even qualified for this position?
 

SodaZA

Member
Nah.

Hartman as head of XGS is managing 15 studios with almost 4K employees
Braff as head of Bethesda is managing 8 studios with almost 2,2K employees
Kostich as head of Activision is managing at least 9 studios with 3,5K employees
Ybarra is managing Blizzard with almost 6K employees
Sommestad is managing King with 5,5K employees

I would say that it is must to have structure like that. Nobody would be able to manage 21K employees across 34 studios alone.
I'll always be shocked by the number of employees Blizz and king have
 

iamvin22

Industry Verified
Jesus. It's starting to be confusing.
So Phil Spencer is head of Microsoft Gaming, Sarah Bond is president of Xbox and Booty is president of content and studios.

Under Booty we have
Alan Hartman who is boss of Xbox Game Studios
Jill Braff who is boss of all Bethesda studios
Rob Kostich who is boss of Activision studios
Mike Ybarra who is boss of Blizzard
Tjodolf Sommestad who is boss of King

So what's the point of keeping Jamie Leder as CEO of Bethesda if his studios have their own boss?

This is the problem. These people want to make their millions and not be held accountable for when things go left so they keep creating new positions.

Saw this when I was at ea. Sad to see it's still ongoing till now.
 

graywolf323

Member
Larry David Reaction GIF


hopefully she does a good job and helps get Zenimax back to making great games like they were before this decade but her resume doesn’t inspire any confidence that she can 😕 I’ll be rooting for her but after the last several disappointments I’m not gonna get my hopes up
 

twilo99

Member
Nah.

Hartman as head of XGS is managing 15 studios with almost 4K employees
Braff as head of Bethesda is managing 8 studios with almost 2,2K employees
Kostich as head of Activision is managing at least 9 studios with 3,5K employees
Ybarra is managing Blizzard with almost 6K employees
Sommestad is managing King with 5,5K employees

I would say that it is must to have structure like that. Nobody would be able to manage 21K employees across 34 studios alone.

They need someone to come in and clean this up … 21k is way overweight
 

Paulistano

Member
Jesus. It's starting to be confusing.
So Phil Spencer is head of Microsoft Gaming, Sarah Bond is president of Xbox and Booty is president of content and studios.

Under Booty we have
Alan Hartman who is boss of Xbox Game Studios
Jill Braff who is boss of all Bethesda studios
Rob Kostich who is boss of Activision studios
Mike Ybarra who is boss of Blizzard
Tjodolf Sommestad who is boss of King

So what's the point of keeping Jamie Leder as CEO of Bethesda if his studios have their own boss?
It's convenient to have various goons under you, you can always have someone to blame and someone to fire if shit hits the fan and it's never Spencer's fault.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
Stop acting stupid. Making a graphically demanding game is completely different beast than making a game like Tears of the Kingdom from "human resources" point of view. Hi-Fi Rush is maybe comparable and that's why it was made by few dozens of people. But it is also one of the 30+ games Xbox has in development.

Next time you will be wondering why there are 7K people in credits of Red Dead Redemption 2 and why there are "only" 1,4K people in credits of Tears of the Kingdom.
TotK physics engine vs the graphics on Grounded or Redfall. I wonder what takes more time and resource :messenger_tears_of_joy:

Not to mention no Xbox game is as graphically impressive or has as much going on under the hood as something like RDR2.
 

Godot25

Banned
TotK physics engine vs the graphics on Grounded or Redfall. I wonder what takes more time and resource :messenger_tears_of_joy:

Not to mention no Xbox game is as graphically impressive or has as much going on under the hood as something like RDR2.
Lol. I'm not judging which one is better.

It's funny that people here on GAF loved to spread narrative that Halo Infinite budget was 500M+ dollars and now we need to pretend that production of Switch first-party games costs same as XGS/Sony/insert random AAA gaming publisher/ games.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
Lol. I'm not judging which one is better.

It's funny that people here on GAF loved to spread narrative that Halo Infinite budget was 500M+ dollars and now we need to pretend that production of Switch first-party games costs same as XGS/Sony/insert random AAA gaming publisher/ games.
People said X

I don’t think I did.
 
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