XBox Live Architect leaves Microsoft 18-Year post

XBox Live Architect Eric Neustadter announced on Twitter that he is leaving Microsoft. Gamespot said Neustadter’s last day with the company was on Friday, October 23. He has been with Microsoft for 18 years, 14 of them working with the XBox Live team, the gaming news site noted. 

"It's been an amazing ride. So long, and thanks for all the Gamerscore!" he wrote on Twitter. 

VentureBeat said Neustadter’s departure was just days before the launch of “Halo 5: Guardians.” As director of the XBox Live’s architecture under the gamertag “e,” he was integral to the creation and development of the gaming network as a top online service. He was also credited for growing the number of active users to over 39 million monthly. XBox Live’s success as a subscription-based online service for a video game console is reportedly due in part of Neustadter’s contributions. 

Interestingly, Neustadter’s exit from the company was timely considering that Microsoft has made a round of layoffs that affected a thousand employees, the New York Times noted. It was unclear, however, whether he was among those affected by the layoffs.