It’s not just at Activision Blizzard that the leadership position is being replaced by Microsoft, Bethesda is also changing chairs at the turn of the year.
Bethesda has been part of Microsoft for a long time, and this year Activision Blizzard also joined as part of a mega deal. Now that all major acquisitions have been completed for now, Microsoft is rebuilding its leadership team at all levels.
We already reported that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is retiring at the end of 2023 and will be replaced by Matt Booty, who also generally oversees Xbox Game Studios including Bethesda and Activision Blizzard – but that is by no means the only change .
Another memo that The Verge is available, reveals that something is also happening at Bethesda and ZeniMax Studios, because they are also getting a new studio management. Matt Booty has now announced that Jill Braff will take over as Head of Bethesda in the new year.
In his statement on the appointment, Booty explains that Jill Braff has already gained a lot of experience in the industry; After all, she has previously filled a number of roles at Nintendo, SEGA, Glu Mobile and Warner Bros. as well as in the entertainment area at Home Shopping Network. At Microsoft, she was already responsible for the integration of ZeniMax and Bethesda into the Xbox family in a managerial position. Because of this experience, she has already gotten to know the teams and their team leaders extensively.
In the future, Braff will now be fully responsible for the development teams at ZeniMax and Bethesda. Longtime Bethesda executive producer and director Todd Howard will report directly to Braff, as will other senior executives including Todd Vaughn, Matt Firor, Paul Jensen and Heather Cooper.
This short video summarizes the most important announcements from Developer_Direct from last night for you.
