Microsoft replaces veteran Xbox design boss - Next Xbox slated for 2013 release

GigaDrive · Dec 16, 2011

Microsoft replaces veteran Xbox design boss
Jay Greene
by Jay Greene December 14, 2011 12:18 PM PST

As Microsoft's Xbox group moves toward launching a successor to the Xbox 360, it will do so without the brand and design leadership of Don Coyner, who has guided that strategy since the console's inception more than a decade ago.

Two sources who work for Microsoft say Coyner is no longer leading the design and experience group for Xbox. One of those sources said Coyner was replaced by Emma Williams, who helped guide the just-launched redesign of the Xbox Live interface.

Microsoft declined to confirm or deny the organization changes. "We don't comment on personnel issues," a spokesman said.

Coyner is a well-regarded executive at Microsoft, who joined the Xbox team as the company began working on the video game console in 1999. Coyner started as director of marketing for the group. As development of the Xbox 360 gained steam, his role expanded to include user experience. According to journalist Dean Takahashi's book, "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked," Coyner championed creating a unified design language for Microsoft's second stab at console gaming.

"He wanted to whole user experience to be consistent, like an Apple product, where everything from the screen to the package looked like it was designed by just one person," Takahashi, now lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat, wrote.

That unified design won plaudits for the console at its 2005 debut and helped propel it to much greater success than its predecessor. Sales of the device have continued to grow month-over-month, defying conventional wisdom that console sales should taper after five years or so. Xbox 360 will finish this year as the best-selling console in the United States.

Coyner, who joined Microsoft from Nintendo in 1995, served most recently as general manager of entertainment design at the company. According to his LinkedIn profile, Coyner managed 140 software and hardware designers and user researchers in Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business group. The sources say he hasn't left the company. It's unclear, though, what his next role will be, or why Coyner is no longer in the job.

Williams, Coyner's replacement, will be tasked with guiding the design and brand strategy as the group moves toward launching the next console. The game developer Web site Develop recently pegged the launch of the next console for 2013, something a source on the Xbox team confirmed. Microsoft declined to comment on the timing of the next Xbox.

Most recently, Williams, general manager of Xbox Experiences, led a group that worked on the updated interface for Xbox Live, launched last week. The group adapted the tile-based Metro interface, which first debuted with Windows Phone 7 last year, to the Xbox experience.

It's a dramatically different look for gamers, featuring content hubs--such as video, games, and social--displayed horizontally across the top of the screen. From each hub, users can chose from a selection of rectangular tiles that display content, such as the latest games played or the hottest movies available on demand. And with Microsoft's Kinect motion-sensing controller, consumers can also use gestures and voice to navigate through the new interface.
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http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57343102-75/microsoft-replaces-veteran-xbox-design-boss/

GodofHardcore · Dec 16, 2011

Can these next XBOX rumors just die already all of them prove to be false eventually

CodeAsm · Dec 16, 2011

XD, 2013? if some of it will be true, than not the year. maybe Holiday 2013....
No leaked pictures, designing and developing an new console take abit time. But, I realy hope the next person will make a awesome Xbox (3).
Dont change the name, I like "Xbox".
Have fun

Druidic teacher · Jun 22, 2017

x

GodofHardcore · Dec 16, 2011

Druid II said: ↑

So what you are saying is that you won't care about the Xbox 3 unless it is backwards compatible with the Dreamcast 2?
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I'm sick of false rumors is all

I predict 2014 for PS4 and nextbox

Big games are still on the slate for 2012 and 2013 But beyond that...nadda

EvilWays · Dec 16, 2011

They just need to get rid of that shite MetroUI on the 360 and the NextBox (if the UI is still around by then...I hope not).

GodofHardcore · Dec 16, 2011

I just hope you can configure windows 8 to boot to the Desktop and skip the Metro UI all together I want none of it.

Shadowlayer · Dec 19, 2011

I bet this williams is the same that came up with the dumb idea of launching two new Xboxs at the same time, one for gamers and one for casuals

After all she was behind the metroUI dashboard

Didnt she heard nobody is buying those windows phones?

Not that the UI is bad, but there's no point in trying to create product convergence if the product you are emulating is nowhere near popular

Nintendawg · Dec 18, 2011

^ Emma Williams is a lady. Oh and the Metro UI does indeed suck.

DeckardBR · Dec 19, 2011

Moving towards a social gaming internet centered platform, guaranteed. Plus they want to avoid the RROD debacle of the 360 launch, could be one of the reasons they're getting someone new to head design.

LeGIt · Dec 19, 2011

Wait so he is responsible for marketing... thus responsible for all the idiots screaming down the microphone at every opportunity they can get?

Shadowlayer · Dec 19, 2011

DeckardBR said: ↑

Plus they want to avoid the RROD debacle of the 360 launch, could be one of the reasons they're getting someone new to head design.
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RRODs are what you get when you outsource the case to one group, the internals to another, and the software to another, and always use the cheapest contractor you can find

Unless they do it all in-house its going to happen again

Microsoft replaces veteran Xbox design boss - Next Xbox slated for 2013 release

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Microsoft replaces veteran Xbox design boss - Next Xbox slated for 2013 release

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