Report: Microsoft Xbox Unit in Staffing Upheaval

Boyd Multerer, a top Microsoft (MSFT) Xbox engineer credited with founding Xbox Live and a key contributor to the expansion of the platform with Xbox 360 and Xbox One, officially has left the company, culminating a staffing upheaval in the unit once foreseen as building a television hub for games and Windows apps.

Multerer, a 17-year Microsoft veteran whose official title was Xbox partner development director, has been on leave since the vendor launched the Xbox One in May, 2013 working on his own startup, according to The Verge. To announce his exit, he wrote in a personal blog post, “I recently left Microsoft and am currently working on whatever is next,” adding, “Writing code every day and exploring ideas is fun. As things mature, I’ll be more open about what I’m doing.”

As The Verge detailed, in the wider view Multerer is part of a startling brain drain from Microsoft’s Xbox unit, at one time seemingly positioning as much more than a game console, but now under Phil Spencer’s direction, apparently confined to just that. Last April, Spencer took over control of a newly combined unit comprised of the Xbox and Xbox Live, Xbox Music and Xbox Video development teams and the Microsoft Studios group, ostensibly to tie gaming to multiple platforms, including tablets, PCs and smartphones.

But since then a number of top Xbox executives have exited the company, The Verge reported, and others associated with the Xbox One team have been reassigned.

The list of departures includes Marc Whitten, the former Xbox chief product officer and 14-year company veteran involved in the launch of Xbox Live, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, who left last March to take up similar duties with wireless audio provider Sonos. Whitten’s departure came slightly less than a year after Microsoft Interactive Entertainment president Don Mattrick left to head social gaming developer Zynga, after overseeing explosive Xbox growth.

Other exits include Ben Smith, the Xbox TV program manager now at Sonos. Kareem Choudhry, who headed Kinect development, has been reassigned as director of development for all of Xbox. Only Jeff Henshaw has kept his job as Xbox group program manager, The Verge reported.