Blackley Quits Xbox

Seamus Blackley, credited as one of the creators of the Xbox, will leave Microsoft to return to game development. Blackley’s resignation follows closely on Microsoft’s decision to slash the console’s pricing in Europe and Australia after admitting that slow overseas sales would cause Xbox to miss its targets by as much as 40 percent. Many analysts blame the poor results on Xbox being over-engineered and poorly positioned -- two aspects of the Xbox with which Blackley was closely associated. Despite the timing, Blackley insisted it was coincidental: “It just happened to coincide with the other stuff ... it has nothing to with Xbox,” explained Blackley, “it's been extremely frustrating for me to not be making games.” Blackley has not announced his next project.