Microsoft Splits Off Japanese Xbox Business Into Separate DivisionMicrosoft Splits Off Japanese Xbox Business Into Separate Division

Microsoft Japan announced today that the company's Japanese Xbox business would be handled by newly created Interactive Entertainment Division, headed by former Home & Entertainment executive Takashi Sensui. The move will allow Sensui and his team to focus exclusively on the Xbox 360, without worrying about former responsibilities such as Windows and Office software, Andriasang reports. The Interactive Entertainment Business division is structured under a new Consumer & Partner Group, which also includes Microsoft Japan's retail, OEM and office pre-install businesses. Microsoft's international corporate structure still places the Xbox business in the company's Entertainment & Devices Division, alongside the Microsoft Game Studios publishing subsidiary and the Windows Phone line. That division saw 13 percent year-over-year revenue growth in the first quarter of 2011 on record high Xbox 360 sales. Sensui -- who started at Microsoft just after a disappointing launch for the Xbox 360 in the region -- admitted in a recent interview that the Kinect has failed to meet sales expectations in the country. He said the company would be deploying familiar Japanese IPs for the platform to attempt to turn that situation around.