Boyd Multerer, the Xbox Director of Development and founder of Xbox Live, has announced that he is leaving Microsoft after 17 years with the company.
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Multerer made the announcement on Twitter, saying: “Goodbye Microsoft. It was a good run. Xbox was Great! Time to do something new.” Though a Twitter user asked him whether the leadership of the Xbox team over the past few couple of years was the reasoning behind his departure, Multerer stated that was not the case, saying: “Nothing is perfect, but Xbox Leadership is fine. On the other hand, I’m complicated. I think that is good?”
Multerer worked with Microsoft since 1997, and was part of the team behind the creation of the online infrastructure of the original Xbox, which we now know as Xbox Live. He was also the very first person to access the online service back in 2002.
In 2004 Multerer left his post at Xbox Live to held lead a project run by Microsoft to make consoles that could be accessed by indie developers using the XNA programming language, along with being a large part of the design of the Xbox One’s infrastructure prior to its release.
It’s been a hit-and-miss year for Microsoft’s Xbox division, with them losing ground to Sony’s PS4 despite staging a comeback later in the year which saw the Xbox One overtake its rival in sales for the first time since its launch. Prior to his departure Multerer was working on “unannounced secret stuff” with the company, though a formal announcement was never made in relation to what that secret stuff was.
