Marc Whitten Xbox Exec for 14 Years Is Bidding Microsoft Adieu
In a late Monday afternoon note, the Xbox Wire blog dropped a surprise Marc Whitten, Chief Product Officer of Xbox, is leaving the company for the same position CPO with wireless audio maven Sonos. Whitten had been with Microsoft for nearly a decade-and-a-half, joining the company in 2000 and helping usher in the Xbox platform as well as both of its successors, the Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Xbox Wire calls the news "sad to share" before rolling out the plaudits for Xbox's ex-CPO. Here's Whitten, Xbox Wire says the Xbox leadership team will remain as-is, temporarily reporting to Terry Myserson, an executive VP responsible for "the teams building the software platform and experiences for Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox." Myerson says he'll work with VP of marketing and strategy Yusuf Mehdi and Microsoft Studios head Phil Spencer to find a replacement for Whitten. Whitten isn't abandoning ship entirely according to Xbox Wire, "You can continue to play with Marc on Xbox Live under the gamertag notwen.", And here's Whitten a little over an hour ago on Twitter, wishing everyone well.