After more than 20 years Xbox Communications Director Larry Hryb is leaving Microsoft. He is best known in the community by his nickname, Major Nelson. He originally joined Microsoft as Editor-in-Chief for MSN Music, moving to the Xbox team a few years later. There he accompanied all product presentations since the original Xbox.
In this role, he started, among other things, the Major Nelson Podcast, which eventually became the official Xbox Podcast. In addition to Xbox events at events such as E3 and Gamescom, he is best known to gamers through the podcast. Even after his appointment as Senior Director of Corporate Communications, he continued the podcast under his nickname.
As early as January 2023, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that he wanted to cut 10,000 jobs by Q3 2023. That corresponds to around five percent of Microsoft’s workforce. Last Monday, Microsoft informed Washington State that it intends to lay off 276 employees this month.
A fan of all gamers, even outside of the Xbox platform
In addition to appearances at events and his podcast, Hryb has also provided the community with Xbox-related news via his Twitter account. The account recently had more than a million followers. Competitor Sony also paid tribute to him with a tweet on his farewell. He wrote about it himself among other things: “Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, PC, Mobile – I don’t care where or what you play, we’re all one community.”
Hryb has not yet commented on his further plans. He wanted to enjoy the summer in Seattle with his family first and then focus on other projects he’s already working on. Microsoft has not yet commented on a possible successor.