Xbox Co-Creator Joins Amazon To Work On “New Ideas”
J Allard, one of the chief designers of the original Xbox, has joined Amazon, but it’s too soon to say if he’ll be working on anything related to video games.
Allard confirmed to The Verge that he is the vice president of Amazon’s devices and services team. He declined to go into specifics on what he’s working on, but said he’ll contribute to “new ideas.” Allard’s boss at Amazon is Panos Panay, the former Windows and Surface boss at Microsoft, according to GeekWire.
Allard is an Xbox legend, having worked at Microsoft for nearly 20 years. During his time there, he was instrumental in the formation of the team that created the original Xbox. He also led the development of Xbox Live and the Xbox 360. Additionally, Allard ran the team responsible for Microsoft’s iPod competitor, the Zune. Allard left Microsoft in 2010.