Microsoft's Erickson Departs XBLA For Sierra Online

Following the recent departure of former Xbox Live's Greg Canessa for casual game publisher/developer PopCap Games, Microsoft has today confirmed to Gamasutra that Xbox Live Arcade portfolio manager Ross Erickson is leaving to join Vivendi Games' Sierra Online division. "During his time at Microsoft, Ross contributed greatly to a number of departments and game projects, including Amped, Links, Top Spin and several casual games on MSN Games, Messenger and Xbox Live Arcade,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Gamasutra. The representative added: “Ross is moving on to pursue an opportunity at Sierra and will still be actively involved with Microsoft from a partnership perspective." Erickson’s last day with Microsoft will be February 23. Regarding the executive's replacement, both in the short and long term, Microsoft rep commented that “his assignments have been split among current members of the developer relations group and we will be seeking to add to that team in the future.” The news would seem to indicate that Sierra Online is set to aggressively take on the online downloadable game space. Earlier today, the company confirmed that it acquired Santiago, Chile-based developer Wanako Games (Assault Heroes) with the intention of further expanding upon its catalog of digitally distributed console games.