John Schappert leaves Microsoft for EA

By Tom Bramwell Published 19 June, 2009

Going home.

Lovable Xbox veepee John Schappert is leaving Microsoft to rejoin Electronic Arts as chief operating officer.

Schappert has been one of the most visible executives on the Xbox team since he joined old EA boss Don Mattrick at Microsoft two years ago.

His official title was corporate vice president of Live, software and services for the entertainment and devices division.

He will replace outgoing EA COO John Pleasants, who is off to a MySpace game developer according to SFGate.

There was no immediate word on whether Schappert's changing his phone number, so I don't know if I can chuck out his business card or not.

According to an emotional Major Nelson, Phil Spencer from Microsoft Game Studios and Marc Whitten will now report directly to Mattrick, who remains king.

"We are thrilled to welcome John Schappert back to EA," is what Schappert's new boss John Riccitiello said.

"He has a great track record as a leader and innovator in our industry. His years of experience with EA and in Microsoft's Xbox business, provide him great insight into recognising what consumers want."

Schappert isn't the first Xbox executive to leg it to EA, of course - Peter Moore having done so almost two years ago to head up EA Sports.

See what Schappert had to say about Xbox 360 and friends in our E3 interview.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (6) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!