BOONIE'S ARMY

摘要

The women's volleyball locker room at the University of Southern California's 10,000-seat Galen Center isn't the most glamorous green room, but Bonnie Ross couldn't care less. It's June 15, and in 30 minutes, Ross, who's in charge of Microsoft's most valuable gaming franchise, will take center stage at the industry's most important conference, E3. It's the pitch of her career-a preview of Halo 5: Guardians, set to go on sale on Oct. 27. Three years in the making, Halo 5 is widely anticipated to be one of the biggest game releases of 2015. Ross, 48, runs 343 Industries, a studio within Microsoft. She manages 600 people and has likely overseen the spending of more than $100 million for Halo 5 alone, which is typical for a release of this size. (Microsoft declines to give an exact figure.) It's a huge production-and a chance for Microsoft to recoup its investment in Xbox One, which has lagged behind Sony's PlayStation 4.