Xbox’s head of research and design, Chris Novak, announces that he is parting ways with the video game giant after almost 20 years with the company.
After being one of the most instrumental executives in xbox For the past 20 years, the company’s Head of Research and Design, Chris Novak, has been moving toward greener pastures. Novak started on the Xbox team as design director in November 2002.
There has been a bit of conflict at Microsoft and with the Xbox team in recent months, as the teams are preparing to reshape themselves a bit once the Activision Blizzard acquisition is official and has been approved by the US government. Of course, there’s no indication that the impending acquisition has anything to do with Novak’s decision to go ahead, but other changes between the two companies’ teams are likely in the near future.
In a message Novak posted on LinkedIn, he confirmed that he had moved away from the Xbox team, but made it clear that he wasn’t doing so out of anger at his longtime company. In fact, he said that he had loved his time with the firm. He added that over the years he has thoroughly enjoyed working with and listening to the gaming community, but now it was time to rest and reflect on the next steps.
Novak, who was instrumental in updating the Xbox Store design in 2020, also brought up the fact that he intended to move away from Microsoft quite some time ago after something happened in his personal life. He now he was going to fulfill those intentions. “I’m going to spend some time doing a life and design tour everywhere I can,” he added.
Novak has his fingerprints on various departments at Microsoft thanks in large part to his long tenure with the company. At one point, he was a member of the first team working on Xbox’s approach to VR, long before HoloLens apparently changed his focus and direction. But he didn’t just work in departments that dealt more with hardware than software. Novak was also involved in some of the early game deals on Xbox One.
While working as a self-design representative for Xbox, he saw some of the biggest games emerge for that platform. It was said to be instrumental in helping launch games like sunset overdrive Y Ryse: Son of Rome. While Novak might be stepping out of the gaming world right now, it’s unclear what he has planned for his post-Xbox career, or when he might announce the next step in his career.
Source: LinkedIn
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