Minecraft boss Matt Booty to lead Microsoft game dev and publishing

Microsoft has promoted Matt Booty to the role of corporate vice president of Microsoft Studios, as it seeks greater cohesion between the various parts of its games business.

According to Gamesbeat, Booty will oversee game development and publishing for console, PC and mobile, which includes brands like Forza, Halo, Gears of War, Age of Empires and Minecraft. Prior to taking on the new role, Booty was the head of the various teams working on Minecraft.

Booty's promotion fills the gap left by Phil Spencer's own promotion to Microsoft's senior management team. With Spencer now focused on broader objectives, Booty will be tasked with expanding the teams working on key Microsoft brands: 343 Industries, The Coalition, Mojang, Rare, Turn 10 Studios, and Global Publishing.

Speaking to Gamesbeat, Spencer said that Microsoft would be making a greater investment in its games business going forward.

"I made the decision that I wanted to anoint a leader of our Microsoft Studios organization, which if you've tracked it, I've had the leaders of our individual franchises reporting to me for the last three and a half years," he said.

"That's been great in driving our all-up strategy and getting us to the point where Satya was willing and eager to make the investment in gaming that he's made, but it's also become very clear to me that we're going to invest more in content, which we are doing, and that a unified studios leadership organization was going to be critical to our long-term success."

The Minecraft group will now be led by Helen Chiang, who previously worked under Booty as operations head.