While Nintendo and Sony have several cash cows to depend upon, Microsoft, so far, has only had major success with the Halo franchise, most notably Halo 3. The company is confident that it will be able to create as big-selling a franchise as Halo; this comes from the newly promoted Kim: “We’ve got the talent, we’ve got people who are always on the lookout for new ideas and talent, and most importantly we have the commitment and the will to create [big] hits. Those are not easy tasks.”

Kim continued, saying that there can be bigger and more commercially successful franchises than Halo. “In no way would I say that Halo, or what we know of Halo today, is the peak of what’s possible,” he said. “Far from it. It’s another benchmark, another milestone to exceed in the future.”

The Halo franchise, created by Bungie, launched in 2001 on the original Xbox. All three games in the series have been wildly successful, having sold over 20 million copies worldwide; Halo 3, the third and latest entry in the series, generated $300 million in worldwide week-one sales.