Xbox Live founder and XNA creator leaves Microsoft

Boyd Multerer, founder of Xbox Live and creator of the XNA platform, is leaving Microsoft. The developer, who led the development of the operating system that now runs on the Xbox One, has opted for a new challenge.

Multerer made his departure from Microsoft public via Twitter knowable. The developer indicated on the social platform that he already knows what he is going to do, but cannot or may not say what that is yet. However, the Xbox veteran made it clear that he will write code every day in his new work.

Multerer began working for Microsoft in 1994 and had been employed as a full-time employee since 1997. He then joined the Xbox team that would be responsible for the release of the first Xbox some years later. Within that team, Multerer was in charge of developing the console’s networking features. In November 2002, Multerer and his team introduced Xbox Live to the first Xbox. The online platform grew into a great success and now has more than 46 million subscribers.

After the introduction of Xbox Live, Multerer focused on developing a tool that would make it easier for programmers to develop games for the Xbox. Multerer came up with the XNA framework in 2006, which allowed small developers to independently develop games for various Microsoft platforms, including the then-launched Xbox 360. Multerer pointed out, in an article about him on Microsoft’s official website, that notes that he still talks to developers who started their careers with XNA on a daily basis. Microsoft’s support for XNA was discontinued in the spring of 2014, but the framework is still available through Monogame, among others.

Multerer’s most recent contribution to Microsoft’s portfolio was the operating system that runs on the Xbox One. His job was to make sure the system could run Xbox games as well as Windows apps. The OS was developed from the vision that the Xbox One should become the central device in the living room, so more than just a game console. With Multerer, however, the last adherent of that view seems to have disappeared. Previously, Mark Whitten and Ben Smith left Microsoft. They were two key champions of Xbox TV. Under Phil Spencer’s leadership, in 2014 the console grew more and more into a classic game console, and less into what Multerer, Whitten and Smith envisioned during the development of the device.