Tag Archives: entertainment and devices division

Microsoft has announced quarterly revenue of $20.49 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2013. The Entertainment and Devices Division, which encompass Xbox 360 figures, posted revenue of $2.53 billion, an increase of 56% from the prior year period. Xbox LIVE now has over 46 million members worldwide, an 18% increase from the prior year period.

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The Wall Street Journal’s reporting that Microsoft may be preparing a major exec shift at the Entertainment & Devices Division, which may be announced “as early as this week”.

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Microsoft’s confirmed ACES has been shuttered as part of 1,400 immediate job cuts.

The internal studio was responsible for the Flight Simulator series.

In a statement, Kelda Rericha of Edelman, Microsoft’s public relations firm, said that the decision was made within Microsoft’s Internal Entertainment Business “to align our people against our highest priorities.”

It’s not the end for Microsoft flight simulation, however.

“We are committed to the Flight Simulator franchise which has proven to be a successful PC based game for the last 27 years,” Rericha added.

“You should expect us to continue to invest in enabling great Live experiences on Windows, including flying games, but we have nothing specific to announce at this time.”

The closure was rumoured overnight.

There’s more on IGN.

Having announced 5,000 job cuts on the back of weak figures yesterday, Microsoft’s moved quickly to make redundancies, and is apparently targeting its Entertainment Division.

The company is laying off 1,400 staff immediately, says this ZDNet story (thanks, Kotaku), the “bulk” of which are to come from the Entertainment and Devices Division, the Microsoft unit responsible for Xbox and Zune.

Gamasutra is reporting that ACES, the studio behind the venerable Flight Simulator series, has been “heavily affected” by the cuts, “with multiple reports indicating that the entire Flight Simulator team has been axed.”

Elsewhere, two of the guys responsible for GamerScore Blog have confirmed they’re to lose their jobs, as reported by Joystiq. Chris Paladino and Nelson Rodriguez both confirmed via Twitter that they’re now looking for work.