Greg Canessa leaves Microsoft for PopCap
Group manager for Xbox Live Arcade, Greg Canessa, is moving on to greener pastures. Specifically, Canessa is leaving Microsoft to join PopCap, purveyors of fine casual games (including the recently released Heavy Weapon on XBLA). Canessa notes a shift in game demographics, saying that games are becoming more culturally accepted and that more people are playing them on more devices. Casual, "broad appeal" games, according to Canessa, make up an important part of this expanding demographic. Canessa plans to help PopCap expand its audience by bringing its titles to more platforms (we'd love to see some of their games hit the DS), and of course we'll see more of them on Live Arcade. Canessa even goes so far as to say PopCap could become the "next Blizzard or EA" (does that mean Heavy Weapon 2 will sell 2.4 million copies in one day?). When asked about his departure from Microsoft, Canessa says that Live Arcade is now a well established business model and has become a success. He now looks forward to working in game development itself and enjoying the versatility that a smaller company provides.
We wish Greg Canessa nothing but the best.
[Via Joystiq. Thanks, XBLArcade]
