Highlights
- Major Nelson has joined Midwest Games as an advisor on their communications team, bringing his industry knowledge and experience.
- Midwest Games aims to create opportunities for underserved creators and regions in the gaming industry.
- Hryb’s move to becoming an advisor after leaving Xbox is not uncommon.
Venerated Microsoft and Xbox personality Major Nelson has joined a new company. The 65-year-old, whose real name is Larry Hryb, has decided to remain in the gaming industry with the goal of further developing it.
Hyrb spent more than 20 years at Microsoft and Xbox before he announced in July that he had stepped down as the latter’s director of corporate communications. He played key roles in the development of the original Xbox Live online service, the legendary Xbox 360, and the Xbox One, among other things. After such an eventful professional journey, Hryb decided to move on from Xbox to work on the next chapter of his career. Now it’s known what that new chapter is.
Major Nelson is Leaving Xbox After Over 20 Years With the Company
After two decades of service to the gaming community, renowned Xbox employee Major Nelson is leaving the company to begin a new journey.
In a December 12 post on Twitter, newly launched publisher Midwest Games announced that Hryb had joined the company. Specifically, the former Xbox director has become a part of the Wisconsin-based entity’s advisory board as a communications advisor, Forbes reported. Hryb joined fellow video game industry veterans Alyssa Walles and Gina Joseph in Midwest Games, where the trio supposedly intend to build more opportunities for underserved creators and regions in the space. Hryb admitted in the past that small, indie projects were difficult to promote even for Microsoft, so he and his new team must have some fresh new ideas on how to reach their goals.
With the talent it has absorbed, Midwest Games may have raised the expectations for its upcoming debut release, Ra Ra Boom. Developed by Gylee Games from Cincinnati, Ohio, Ra Ra Boom is described as a fast-paced beat ’em up that can be played cooperatively by up to four players. Fortunately, Ra Ra Boom‘s marketing has been very humble and the expectations the game’s trailer has set are very grounded. As with the recent disastrous fall of The Day Before developer Fntastic has demonstrated recently, it is never a good idea to oversell a product.
Hryb’s move to becoming an advisor following his long stint at Microsoft and Xbox is not uncommon path in the industry. Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé, for example, ended up joining the board of directors of struggling retail chain GameStop after his retirement in 2019. Fils-Aimé would ultimately leave GameStop over communication issues even as the company’s profits started to rise.
In addition to Midwest Games, Hryb revealed he has also started to work with the advisory boards of other companies. While Hryb did not disclose the other boards he joined, it would not be too unlikely for him to have started working with his former employers again. Hryb did spend more than two decades at Microsoft and Xbox, after all. With what he has contributed to the Xbox brand, Hryb would probably be welcomed with open arms should he make any sort of return there.
Xbox Series X
Microsoft’s ninth-generation console, the Xbox Series X is a powerful machine that can support 4K resolution and 60 fps, depending on the game. Released alongside the Xbox Series S, the Series X has a Custom AMD Zen 2 CPU, a Custom RDNA 2 GPU, and 16 GB of RAM.
- Brand
- Microsoft
- Original Release Date
- November 10, 2020
- Original MSRP (USD)
- $499
