Balmer certainly has been a champion of the Xbox and it's development. At this point now, I think it has enough of it's on momentum to carry it. It's lost Don too this year.
It's one of Microsoft's big pushes to bring their New User Interface to the public. Sort of like how they should have come out with the Surface back a decade ago when they were showing things like it and long before ipad.
Whoever takes over hopefully will lead Xbox and the Kinect Revolution in the right direction.