14th January 2004, 3:01 PM
Quote:The man credited with getting Microsoft into the game business and launching the Xbox has resigned from the company over differences in management. He served as vice president of games publishing and has been with Microsoft for 18 years. Not only did he oversee the Xbox, but PC games as well. His resignation comes after layoffs of about 100 of Microsoft's 1,200 game developers, of which he says, did not effect the decision.
Fries says the choice to leave was difficult but that he had a difference of opinion about the best way to run the group (the game development studios). He gave disagreements over marketing support as an example. Work on the next Xbox also factored into it.
"As we start to plan the next Xbox, the question for me is whether I want to sign up for another five years or not," Fries said in an interview. "I was only willing to do that if there were some changes made in the group. We couldn't find a mutually agreeable set of changes. I'm in the position where I can be really picky. Things were 90 percent right at work. I wanted them to be 100 percent right."
"Ed was singularly responsible for the position Microsoft holds in PC and console games today," said Xbox co-creator Kevin Bachus, who left Microsoft in 2001. "When Ed took over the reins, Microsoft was a joke in the game industry. Today, they have a very respectable position."
Robbie Bach, chief Xbox officer, has named Shane Kim as Fries’ successor. Fries says he has not lined up a new job, and doesn’t necessarily need it thanks to millions of dollars from Microsoft stock options. He will spend time with his wife and son and look for work elsewhere in the game industry.
Ed Fries is also quite renown for making jabs at the competition.
That'd be crazy if he got a job at Nintendo.