The Life & Times of Video Games

Episode 12 - Microsoft Games

November 1st, 2018  |  Season 1  |  35 mins 27 secs

age of empires, ed fries, ed ventura, jon kimmich, microsoft, pc, publishing, stuart moulder, windows, xbox

Before something like the Xbox could ever hope to exist, Microsoft first needed to learn how to be a successful games publisher on the PC. This is the story — or part of it — of how Microsoft got games, featuring input from four key Microsoft Game Studios people — Ed Fries, Stuart Moulder, Ed Ventura, Jon Kimmich — and Age of Empires co-creator Rick Goodman.

Soundbite: Spotting "the magic" (Jon Kimmich, ex-Microsoft Games)

September 1st, 2018  |  Season 1  |  5 mins 50 secs

age of empires, halo, jon kimmich, microsoft, pc, soundbite, xbox

This is from my interview with Jon Kimmich, who worked as a "product planner" and "program manager" in Microsoft's games group in the late 1990s and then in Microsoft Game Studios until 2004. He's since continued to work in bizdev roles in the games industry and has lots of fascinating insights.

Here he tells us about knowing when a game has that "magic" that means it's going to be a hit.