Bonnie Ross is the recipient of the Hall of Fame Award from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. GamesBeat interviewed her about the honor.
Even Master Chief, the hero of the Halo universe, needs a guardian. And Bonnie Ross, Microsoft’s corporate vice president and head of 343 Industries, has been doing that job for more than a decade.
For her work on the Halo franchise and her promotion of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education for women, under-represented minorities, and children, Ross is being inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame.
Ross is the 23rd recipient of the prestigious award from the peer-run body, the AIAS. In her role, Ross oversees the Halo franchise that has generated nearly $6 billion in worldwide sales to date.
The 2019 Hall of Fame Award will be presented to Ross during the 22nd Annual DICE Awards ceremony on Wednesday, February 13,2019, at the DICE Summit event at the Aria Convention Center in Las Vegas. Ross’ long-time colleague and friend, Phil Spencer, head of gaming at Microsoft, will present the award.
I interviewed Ross about her award and her stewardship of Master Chief. Here’s an edited transcript of our interview.
GamesBeat: Congratulations on your award.
Bonnie Ross: Thank you so much. That’s an amazing honor. It’s really wonderful thing.
GamesBeat: They are recognizing you for a long career. I guess it seems like you’d call it a Halo.
Ross: (Laughs). It is. I think that the things that they recognize and obviously the work that I’ve done a Halo and then also the work on diversity and STEM. It was really meaningful to me that it played a role in it as well. I’m passionate about Halo and diversity and gaming.
GamesBeat: What do you think has sustained your interest in that over the years?
Ross: I’ve been a fan of Halo in since the beginning. I’m a huge science fiction reader. Or was. I haven’t really had as much time to read it since I’ve taken over Halo. But when we first shipped Halo I was working on Zoo Tycoon. We released The Fall of Reach book about a month before the game. And so, for me, reading the book and John’s backstory, and then playing the game, really had an emotional impact on how important Halo is to me. I have always been passionate about the game and being able to take over the franchise and steward the franchise after Bungie left was really one of the most amazing career opportunities. It was the opportunity of a lifetime.
And then I say for the STEM side, I was a college hire for Microsoft and came for technology, but I’m not sure I would have stayed if I hadn’t found gaming. For me, gaming really sort of connected the dots of what you can do with technology. I believe, like gaming is technology empowering art, creativity, and storytelling. That made a difference in my passion and that created the passion of how do I connect the dots for other young women and minorities to kind of get more people in gaming.
GamesBeat: How did you get drawn to tech in the first place?
Ross: My dad was an engineer. And he told me I was going to be an engineer. So I didn’t really have a choice going in. I didn’t think I had a choice. But you know, a lot of the research that we’ve done at Microsoft is about having a mentor, whether it be your parents or someone else, is really key. It means helping girls and other kids and minorities thinking that it is a possible career. I look to how to how can I be a mentor and how can I be a figure that opens up the possibilities for others.
