Microsoft's Shane Kim on All Things Xbox

"I've been around the industry long enough that I've experienced the launch of Halo, Halo 2 and Halo 3, the Xbox 360. [Project Natal] feels as big, if not bigger, than any of those things."
6/18/2009 12:11 PM | 0 Comments | Page 2 of 5

Crispy Gamer: You began at Microsoft in 1989 as a summer intern. And sometime in 1993 you moved into the consumer division and in 1995 you moved to work on games more specifically.

Kim: That was a great transition for me. I decided I didn't want to work in enterprise software for the rest of my life. When I made the decision to move to the consumer division, there was no consumer back then. There really wasn't. We were just starting to stamp things on CDs.

Crispy Gamer: There was no Myst, no Windows 95.

Kim: Exactly. There were no CD drives in every computer. Now, interestingly enough, they're going away. But back then, we were putting everything we could on a CD.

Crispy Gamer: Myst would become so big that the game literally sold those old PCs.

Kim: There you go. And there was no retail channel either, literally, to speak of. So that was a challenge.

Crispy Gamer: So how did you build that business? Ed Fries was there, a huge force, and there was Age of Empires.

Kim: Ed and I joined about the same time. I worked for Ed for eight years. Ed led the growth of Microsoft Game Studios and we started with Microsoft Flight Simulator and Microsoft Golf. Age of Empires was a driver of sales for us. I'd like to take a little credit for Zoo Tycoon, too.

Crispy Gamer: But what was the biggest challenge for Microsoft with PC games?

Kim: It was trying to tap into the various tastes. As gaming broadened on the PC, games began to be more interesting beyond first-person shooters and flight and sports simulators. That's when you started to see new categories. Real-time strategy games really emerged and blew up big. Myst and the adventure genre ramped up hugely and then it slowed quickly, right? Now, it's interesting to see that the bulk of PC gaming has moved into online.

Crispy Gamer: Still, it wasn't all easy back then. What was the hardest product to get out the door and get people's heads around?

Kim: Zoo Tycoon didn't just take off. Back then, you had RollerCoaster Tycoon, which had massive success. But when you have a massive game like Age of Empires -- that becomes more and more challenging as you go on. That's because you've got to continually figure out how to make it better and better and better. But we did it with Age of Empires II. I still have fond memories of playing Age of Empires II in the hallways at Microsoft after hours. That's very memorable.

Crispy Gamer: But you believe it was the Xbox that put Microsoft games on the map for good.

Kim: The truth of the matter is that the Xbox was responsible for the incredible growth of Microsoft Game Studios.

Crispy Gamer: Before it was released, did you know Halo was going to be the killer app for the Xbox?

Kim: I wasn't directly involved with Bungie. But thank God we did that. Because without Halo, there's no Xbox.

Crispy Gamer: That's a bold statement.