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The DeanBeat: Microsoft goes crazy with its appointment of new gaming chief

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 4 min

It could quite possibly be the dumbest move Microsoft has ever made in games. Or the smartest.

Yesterday, Microsoft appointed Julie Larson-Green, head of the Windows business, to be in charge of several divisions including Xbox. She does not have game business experience, but she will run a business that recently had its head handed to it in a gamer-led rebellion after Microsoft tried to curb consumer rights on used game sales for the upcoming Xbox One video game console. Whether this promotion is a wise decision or not will depend on the outcome of how Microsoft serves its twin constituencies of gamers and non-gamers on the Xbox platform.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.