Julie Larson-Green to take over Xbox hardware division following Mattrick's departure (update)

Julie Larson-Green, former head of Microsoft's Windows division, will head the Xbox hardware group following the announcement of Don Mattrick's departure earlier this month, Microsoft confirmed today.

Larson-Green will lead Microsoft's new Devices and Studios Engineering Group as part of a "far-reaching realignment" of the company's internal structure. The Devices and Studios Engineering Group will replace Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business and will bring all hardware development into one division. Larson-Green will also be responsible for "studios experiences including all games, music, video and other entertainment."

Development on the Xbox One's operating system, as well as the OS for mobile devices and all core cloud services, will continue under the new Operating Systems Engineering Group, headed by Terry Myerson. The Business Development and Evangelism group will be headed by Skype head Tony Bates.

The realignment was announced today in a post from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on the company's website.

"Today, we are announcing a far-reaching realignment of the company that will enable us to innovate with greater speed, efficiency and capability in a fast changing world," Ballmer wrote.

"Improving our performance has three big dimensions: focusing the whole company on a single strategy, improving our capability in all disciplines and engineering/technology areas, and working together with more collaboration and agility around our common goals," he added. "We will reshape how we interact with our customers, developers and key innovation partners, delivering a more coherent message and family of product offerings."

Earlier this month mobile and social developer Zynga announced Mattrick would be the company's new CEO. Days later reports began circulating that Larson-Green was poised to step into his vacated role.

Update: Microsoft's interactive entertainment chief of staff Aaron Greenberg tweeted that he is staying with the company, and will report directly to Larson-Green as chief of staff for devices and studios.