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Xbox co-creator resigns today

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Xbox co-creator resigns today

Old 04-22-02, 01:52 PM
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Xbox co-creator resigns today

here is the story....

link to story


story:

LOS ANGELES — The co-creator of Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox video game console has resigned days after the software giant conceded the unit was struggling internationally and would miss its initial sales targets, Microsoft said Monday.




Seamus Blackley, a physicist by training who also worked in Hollywood before joining Microsoft, plans to start some sort of new venture, the details of which he will begin discussing in the next few weeks, according to his spokeswoman, Susan Lusty.

Lusty declined to discuss Blackley's plans, and, without elaborating, a Microsoft spokesman only said the former Xbox executive was leaving to "pursue other opportunities."

News of Blackley's departure comes just days after Microsoft said it would miss its fiscal year-end sales target for the Xbox by as much as 40 percent, a shortfall it blamed on weak international sales. Those weak sales led to price cuts in Europe and Australia last week.

"I think that the guy is responsible for the positioning of the product, and I think Microsoft positioned the product wrong when they launched," said Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities. "It's an over-engineered product."

The console has also struggled in Japan, selling just over 190,000 units in its first six weeks there, according to Japanese game magazine publisher Enterbrain Inc. By comparison, the console sold nearly 1.5 million units in its first six weeks in the U.S. last year.

Blackley worked at the video game arm of Hollywood movie studio DreamWorks before joining Microsoft as head of the company's Advanced Technology Group. Before his stint at DreamWorks, he was also a noted designer of flight simulation games.

He has been one of the Xbox's public faces from the start, even going so far as to propose to his fiance during the Xbox's launch on Nov. 15 in Times Square in New York.

A book being launched tomorrow about the history of the Xbox project, "Opening the Xbox," by journalist Dean Takahashi, features a forward written by Blackley and centers in large part on the genesis of the project through him. The book, and Blackley's resignation, come as the video game industry is in the midst of gearing up for the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, which begins May 21 in Los Angeles.

Industry executives, analysts and observers generally believe Microsoft is likely to cut the Xbox's price from $299 to $249 or even $199 at some point this year, though they are divided as to whether such a cut will come at E3 or later in the year, perhaps around September, a more traditional time for price cuts.
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Old 04-22-02, 02:00 PM
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Looks like Microsoft needed a scapegoat, and fired this guy. Although are international sales really that big of a deal? I always thought the Xbox was intended to be, first and foremost, an American console.

Of course, no doubt he's crying all the way to the bank due to a generous severence package from Microsoft.

Last edited by Groucho; 04-22-02 at 02:11 PM.
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Old 04-22-02, 02:23 PM
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Another story on it from news.com





Xbox co-creator leaves Microsoft


By David Becker
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
April 22, 2002, 10:40 AM PT


Seamus Blackley, the co-creator of Microsoft's Xbox and one of the company's most prominent spokesmen for the game machine, has resigned from Microsoft, a company spokesman confirmed Monday.
"He's left Microsoft to pursue other opportunities, and we wish him the best in the future," said Microsoft Xbox spokesman James Bernard.

Bernard said the resignation would have no effect on Microsoft's plans for the console. "We're really confident moving forward," he said.



Blackley, whose title was chief Xbox technical officer, did not have a high-level position in Microsoft's organizational structure. But he was considered a key element in giving the company credibility with gamers.

The skateboarding, creatively attired Blackley was called on to represent Microsoft at numerous key Xbox events, including the console's public unveiling, where Blackley demonstrated games for Chairman Bill Gates.

A veteran of the game development arm of the SKG DreamWorks entertainment studio, Blackley joined Microsoft three years ago, originally to work on DirectX, the library of graphics programming instruction used by most PC games. He was with the company a few months when he proposed the idea of Microsoft making its own game console.

Blackley's spokeswoman told Reuters that Blackley would not be ready to discuss for another two weeks at least the details of the new business venture he is pursuing. She gave no indication as to what type of business the new company would be.

The news of Blackley's resignation comes just a few days after Microsoft said it would miss current sales target for the Xbox by 500,000 units or more, a shortfall it blamed on weak sales in Japan and Europe. Microsoft responded by cutting the European price of the Xbox by almost 40 percent.

Microsoft has seen several high-profile personnel changes in recent months, including the departure early this month of President and Chief Operating Officer Rick Belluzzo.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-888303.html
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Old 04-22-02, 03:25 PM
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Originally posted by Groucho
Looks like Microsoft needed a scapegoat, and fired this guy. Although are international sales really that big of a deal? I always thought the Xbox was intended to be, first and foremost, an American console.

Of course, no doubt he's crying all the way to the bank due to a generous severence package from Microsoft.
i don't think he was neccesarily forced out, but his resignation is timed a little oddly considering the E3 is around the corner.
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Old 04-22-02, 03:27 PM
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Originally posted by Groucho
Looks like Microsoft needed a scapegoat, and fired this guy. Although are international sales really that big of a deal? I always thought the Xbox was intended to be, first and foremost, an American console.
No American console has ever been successful. They no they need to do well over seas, especially in Japan, in order to get more support from the Japanese developers. With good Japanese support it wouldn't matter that it's an American system. The big Japanese third party games are what make or break game systems (with the exception of Nintendo because of their first party games). Look at Sony. Where would they be without the Final Fantasy series, Metal Gear Solid 1&2 etc?
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Old 04-22-02, 03:35 PM
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Originally posted by joshhinkle
No American console has ever been successful.
Americans invented the console. Atari 2600.
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Old 04-22-02, 03:43 PM
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Originally posted by Groucho


Americans invented the console. Atari 2600.
Definitely true.

The 3DO consoles were made by Japanese companies, but it was really an American console. Oddly enough it did better in Japan than the US.
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Old 04-22-02, 03:52 PM
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I don't think the 2600 was the first console...
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Old 04-22-02, 03:55 PM
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Good point. I didn't think about Atari. However they flooded the market with crappy games and nearly killed off the entire video game market.

Since then only Japanese Consoles have been successful.

I'm not sure why. I guess the superiority of Japanese developers has something to do with it.

Actually American and European developers are catching up, they just tend to make PC type games (FPS, RTS, Online, American type rpgs, etc.) that don't appeal to me, and a lot of console-only gamers. Which is why MS needs to do well in Japan.
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Old 04-22-02, 04:05 PM
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Originally posted by jeffdsmith
I don't think the 2600 was the first console...
You're right...technically it was the Odyessy (also American made). But I consider the 2600 the first console as we know them today. Certainly it was the first successful console.
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Old 04-22-02, 04:45 PM
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Originally posted by Groucho


You're right...technically it was the Odyessy (also American made). But I consider the 2600 the first console as we know them today. Certainly it was the first successful console.
Good, I'm not losing my memory.
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Old 04-22-02, 06:01 PM
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I don't know if he was simply a scapegoat, but Blackley was clearly ousted. The "he's leaving to pursue other opportunities" phrase is almost always a euphemism for "we fired his ass." Add in the awkward timing of the departure and the lack of any mention about when his departure was effective (which usually means it's effective immediately) and it's pretty apparent that this wasn't an entirely voluntary thing on his part.

BTW, I'm not sure if the Odyssey was even the first console. It sort of depends on how you define "console."
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Old 04-22-02, 08:01 PM
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Seamus was there to give "credibility with gamers"?? Wasn't he the guy who created Dreamworks' Trespasser bomb of a game?
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Old 04-23-02, 02:11 AM
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whether this turns into good news or bad news for the XBox will be seen in a few weeks. if they replace him with someone who understands the console market and works to fix some of the mistakes made by MS it could really improve the XBox.

strange timing -it does show that Bill Gates is less than happy at the problems at XBox. He does not like to lose at anything. I would not be surprised to see some real major attempts to turn things around fast.
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Old 04-23-02, 03:25 AM
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Originally posted by gcribbs
whether this turns into good news or bad news for the XBox will be seen in a few weeks. if they replace him with someone who understands the console market and works to fix some of the mistakes made by MS it could really improve the XBox.

strange timing -it does show that Bill Gates is less than happy at the problems at XBox. He does not like to lose at anything. I would not be surprised to see some real major attempts to turn things around fast.
Blackley is what Ken Kutargi is to Playstation, or what Gumpei Yokoi was to Game Boy. He's essentially the father of the console.

This guy has been at the forefront of everything XBox since Microsoft announced they were working on a console. If he's being pushed out, it may very well mean the XBox situation is even worse than we're aware.

There's no way to spin this to make it good news. When you stack it up against the outright failure of the launch in Japan, the desperate price cuts in Europe and Australia, and the reduced sales projectuans, things look very bad for the XBox.

It looks like the conventional wisdom, that the market won't support 3 consoles, is proving itself true.
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Old 04-23-02, 03:45 AM
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Originally posted by belboz
I don't know if he was simply a scapegoat, but Blackley was clearly ousted. The "he's leaving to pursue other opportunities" phrase is almost always a euphemism for "we fired his ass." Add in the awkward timing of the departure and the lack of any mention about when his departure was effective (which usually means it's effective immediately) and it's pretty apparent that this wasn't an entirely voluntary thing on his part.
Heh.

Blackley talks to Gamespot.
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Old 04-23-02, 05:22 AM
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Yup...

It's amazing how unfounded rumors fly from the fanboys...

He left to develop games for the X-Box. I doubt he would be developing games for the company he was "fired" from...

Last edited by agrall; 04-23-02 at 10:15 AM.
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Old 04-23-02, 07:22 AM
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Originally posted by agrall
It's amazing how unfounded rumors fly from the fanboys...
1. The original article DID NOT STATE where he was going or what he was doing. The wording was classic "business ousting" doublespeak.

2. Just because some of us speculated as to why he was departing doesn't make us deserving of a personal attack (which were frowned upon last time I checked the forum rules).
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Old 04-23-02, 07:25 AM
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It's amazing how we adults sit here and call each other names like fanboy.
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Old 04-23-02, 07:27 AM
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Originally posted by agrall
Yup...

It's amazing how unfounded rumors fly from the fanboys...

He left to develop games for the X-Box. I boubt he would be developing games for the company he was "fired" from...
dude, i just posted this as industry news for disscussion. i don't consider myself a fanboy. calm yourself.
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Old 04-23-02, 07:35 AM
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No matter what Blackley says in interviews, the timing on this is just too strange to not be a "why don't you go do something else Seamus" thing. If he really just wanted to leave, I think Microsoft could have convinced him to not announce it until after E3.

My theory: he was asked to step down and they reached a mutual agreement (big severence package). People at that level don't get fired they 'leave to pursue other opportunities'.

Maybe it wasn't a nasty firing, but I doubt this was completely his idea.
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Old 04-23-02, 08:06 AM
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No doubt gromit, I hope this guy runs his new company better than he did the launch of the xbox. This isn't a knock on the xbox mind you, it is just a fact that the xbox has not sold as well as expected. I would expect MS to hire someone who can bring the sales up. I wouldn't be surprised if they beat Sony to the price drop just to stir interest again. Although I don't expect MS to win this battle, they can still set themselves up for xbox2. Microsoft usually takes three generations before they get it right so the war is far from over.
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Old 04-23-02, 08:24 AM
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Being an owner of all 3 next-gen consoles, I am glad to see Blackley gone. He is a man full of arrogance. He made claims that are so far unsubstantiated by companies in relation to games coming to the X-Box. You just do not build credibility on perceived lies and I think that was his ultimate downfall.

My best guess is the guy from Nintendo will take over Blackley's position (forget his name...Ken Lobb or something). This should not be taken as a minus for the X-Box. I see it as a plus that Blackley is now gone. He was just too arrogant for my liking.
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Old 04-23-02, 08:40 AM
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True fox, that is the exact take I get on the guy. I think that MS should look for the best guy out there, not just the biggest name. In the end, it doesn't matter what we think of the guy running the show, it's what the developers think since they make the games we buy. Perhaps they could bring in someone from Japan with some good connections?!
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Old 04-23-02, 09:14 AM
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Regardless of why he left, MS has to do something different. My opinion is they really can't because of the product they are trying to sell.

If Ken Lobb took over for him, that would be a great advantage for Xboxes software recruiting. Lobb knows his stuff.
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