J Allard, a senior VP of design and development who worked on the Xbox and Zune, and Robbie Bach, the division's president, will both be stepping aside as CEO Steve Ballmer takes more direct control of the department. Remaining execs in the division will report directly to Ballmer.
David Treadwell, currently corporate VP of Microsoft's cloud-based Live platform, will be placed in charge of the core technology team inside the Interactive Entertainment group, which includes the Xbox and video games unit.
"As we finalize and ship so many of our key products... it is a natural time for us to look ahead and make sure we have the right talent in the right roles to fuel our next set of offerings," Ballmer wrote in an internal memo. "I am confident that the changes above will set us up well for the months and years ahead."
Do you agree with Ballmer? Was letting these two go the right move? How do you think Microsoft will handle games and mobile tech from here?