Xbox shakeup: Matt Booty now oversees Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda, and Activision-Blizzard

Xbox gaming CEO Phil Spencer outlines the new pecking order at Microsoft's games business.

2

Xbox is adjusting its ranks as it integrates its $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard King into its ecosystem. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick will resign at the end of this month, and the current ABK management will stay in charge.

The biggest update is regarding Matt Booty's recent promotion to president of Game Content and Studios, a new position that was opened up shortly after the ABK merger was closed. In this position, Matt will oversee the existing stable of developers under the Xbox Game Studios label, as well as Activision Blizzard King and ZeniMax, who will sit horizontally in the structure instead of vertically under the Xbox Game Studios banner.

New org details from The Verge outline the structure:

Thomas Tippl(Vice Chairman, Activision Blizzard), Rob Kostich (President, Activision Publishing), Mike Ybarra (President, Blizzard Entertainment) and Tjodolf Sommestad (President, King) will report to Matt Booty (President, Game Content and Studios).

The leadership teams for Activision Publishing, Blizzard and King will remain in place, with no changes to the structure of how the studios and business units are run.

The other updates are mostly regarding temporary org structures for Activision executives that will leave after March 2024. As per Phil Spencer:

• Brian Bulatao (Chief Administrative Officer) will report to Dave McCarthy (Chief Operations Officer, Microsoft Gaming).
• Julie Hodges (Chief People Officer) will report to Cynthia Per-Lee (Corporate Vice President, Gaming Human Resources).
• Grant Dixton (Chief Legal Officer) will report to Linda Norman (Corporate Vice President, Gaming CELA).
• Armin Zerza (Chief Financial Officer) will continue to report to Tim Stuart (Corporate Vice President, Finance), as we previously announced to the Finance team in October.

Thomas, Brian, Julie, Grant and Armin will continue to help us with the transition through March 2024.