Ever heard of this online gaming service for Xbox platforms that’s used by tens of millions of people around the world called Xbox Live? Yesterday, the man who led its development decided that one of his new year’s resolutions of 2015 was to not work for Microsoft anymore.
Boyd Multerer, who was also instrumental in the design of the Xbox 360 and Xbox One and served as the director of development for Xbox, made the announcement on his Twitter account, saying: “Goodbye Microsoft. It was a good run. Xbox was Great! Time to do something new.”
Whatever this “new” thing is, Multerer isn’t revealing just yet, but it apparently involves writing lots and lots of code, as another tweet reads: “Not ready to say what that new thing is…but OMG is writing code very [sic] day and exploring ideas fun!”
According to his Linkedin profile, Multerer had been with Microsoft since 1997. He was the lead developer for the original Xbox’s online capabilities, called Xbox Online back then, before taking on the task of leading the design of its successor, Xbox Live. Multerer also holds the distinction of being the very first user on the online service.
Multerer’s departure from Microsoft comes on the heels of a string of other high profile departures, such as Don Mattrick, the president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business, Marc Whitten, Chief Product Officer, Ben Smith, former program manager for Xbox One TV, and Nancy Tellem and Jordan Levin of Xbox Entertainment Studios.