Up, up and away
Tomorrow’s my last day at Microsoft. I never thought I’d be leaving Microsoft after just two years here (many people know what a huge advocate of the company I’ve been). It took a special opportunity to tear me away from all of the great people and awesome Xbox and PC games projects that I’ve had an opportunity to work on as a member of the interactive entertainment business development team.
After a week off, I’ll be joining NCsoft West (developer & publisher of massively multiplayer online games including Aion, Guild Wars, City of Heroes, Lineage) in their new HQ located in downtown Seattle (4th and Pike — less than a mile from my home at 11th and Pike!). I’ll be leading a team responsible for research and analytics — together we’ll be generating actionable market, consumer, and competitive insights.
NCsoft’s got years of experience developing, publishing and operating next-generation online games and is very well positioned to leverage* its assets to compete effectively in the service-oriented future that’s rapidly becoming a reality within the games business. Very exciting! I’m also thrilled to be working on MMOs as a genre. The thousands of hours I spent playing Everquest (2000-2003) led to the epiphany that resulted in my pursuit of a career in games. I’m doing what I love … and getting paid for it. It’s not quite “playing games for a living” (as friends outside the industry are wont to refer to it), but it’s still somewhat unbelievable!
For locals: I’ll be at Smith Bar (Capitol Hill, Seattle) tomorrow from 7pm until late.
* Whoa! I can use words like “leverage” in writing again! Crush! Kill! Compete! Yay. I’ve regained some vocabulary. (’softie joke)