Xbox Live Arcade GM quits, joins PopCap
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Feb 8th 2007 at 9:45AM }
Soon to be former Xbox Live Arcade general manager, Greg Canessa joins casual game maker PopCap as newly minted vice president of video game platforms. Canessa's tenure at PopCap officially begins next week. No longer confined to Xbox 360, Canessa will help spread PopCap's products to a variety of platforms, including mobile phones, iPods, in-flight entertainment systems, slot machine adaptations -- even scratch-off lottery tickets.As GM of XBLA, Canessa formed a close relationship with PopCap. Microsoft's downloadable games service has been host to six of PopCap's games over the past 24 months, including recently released tank shooter Heavy Weapon.
[Via press release]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ScreamingSkull @ Feb 8th 2007 9:56AM
They really really need to release Bookworm: Adventures-HD already....
Ben @ Feb 8th 2007 10:22AM
That's a shame...he did some great things for XBLA. I wish him well in his new position. However, there definitely was room to improve, and hopefully the new GM will fill in those gaps.
Garp @ Feb 8th 2007 10:11AM
Aw, man..I met Greg Canessa way back when they were showing the 360 for one of the first times at the Indie Game Con. His dedication and sheer interest in making Live Arcade as fun and exciting as possible was absolutely contagious, and it'll be a shame to no longer have that as a part of the Arcade infrastructure. Best of luck to him, though!
Jojo @ Feb 8th 2007 10:12AM
Greg talked out of his butt so many times this past year and a half. Arcade had the potential of being amazing, and one of the big selling points over the other consoles, but it's just not. Hopefully new blood will spur some life into the Arcade. Oh wait, we got 'beer tapper' today, what am I talking about?
Jason @ Feb 8th 2007 10:30AM
If he's responsible for the absolutely insipid XBLA release schedule (stop sitting on Worms already), then good riddance to bad rubbish.
Richard @ Feb 8th 2007 11:22AM
Is there any word about Bookworm: Adventures coming to XBLA? My wife loved the original bookworm and keeps asking me when I'm going to "download it to my video game." 8^)
eviil @ Feb 8th 2007 11:02AM
LuckyChowmeinDude is a moron, kill him.
Garp @ Feb 8th 2007 12:55PM
He was actually the one who pushed to get the infrastructure to change and be more indie friendly... less super-specific requirements and all of that. I seriously doubt that the tepid release schedule had anything to do with him, since he was more of the idea guy for them. Sure, he had to do the spokesman thing, but if you actually sat down and talked to Greg instead of Canessa from Microsoft, you would have seen how much dedication he really had.
I remember talking with him for about twenty minutes about homebrew and ISOs on the PSP back when the PSP was still a baby.
As the face of Live Arcade he caught a few pies, but as the idea behind it he brought it from where it was on the XBox to where it is on the 360. It has improvements still to make, but he left his mark on it for the better, I think.
Jonah Falcon @ Feb 8th 2007 11:14AM
So, Greg heads to Crack Central (aka PopCap). ;)
Kane @ Feb 8th 2007 11:40AM
I could not possibly ask for better news. Greg Canessa was without a doubt the biggest single cancer on the 360 platform, arcade or not. Good riddance, you incompetent son of a bitch.
bounchfx @ Feb 8th 2007 12:03PM
thank god maybe fucking live arcade will get some decent titles. CASTLE CRASHERS AND SOTN SOONER RATHER THAN LATER PLS.
Bring some light gun games, MORE FIGHTERS (MvC2), Board games like monopoly and chess, etc.
Come on make it a SWEET arcade not a fucking retro pos.
mandarin @ Feb 8th 2007 12:50PM
So what kind of company is Popcap? It doesnt sound so appealing considering he came from Microsoft...
Austin @ Feb 8th 2007 1:04PM
Does no one see the conflict of interest here. Defense contractors go to jail for this kind of stuff. Popcap makes deals with MS's GM for a bunch of there games, after the release and success Popcap hires that GM. Bonus time! Cha Ching! Of course in all fairness it could be legit.
Arturo @ Feb 8th 2007 1:18PM
@6
Hilarious rofl.
Odds Bodkins @ Feb 8th 2007 1:44PM
Good for him. Popcap is in a good place right now and with his experience, this is a big win for them as well. Heck, depending on where he lives...it might be an easier commute for him as well. ;)
Rory D @ Feb 8th 2007 3:07PM
The fact is XBLA could be so much more than what it is right now. How Old Greggie Boy missed the fact that crappy 80s arcade ports are unpopular is beyond me. What shocks me even more is the fact that he apparently never noticed how well new XBLA games sell. Look at UNO as a prime example. A casual game that everyone recognizes and it has sold amazingly well with a phenomenal rate of demo to full purchase.
Why Greg ever thought games like Root Beer Tapper and Mrs. Pacman were good choices absolutely blows my mind. I don't even know the guy but the facts show he's a friggin' idiot. As I said in my earlier post, good freakin' riddance.
Dirk Dorkelson @ Feb 8th 2007 3:20PM
"Defense contractors go to jail for this kind of stuff. Popcap makes deals with MS's GM for a bunch of there games, after the release and success Popcap hires that GM. Bonus time! Cha Ching! Of course in all fairness it could be legit."
Uh, defense contractors go to jail for this kind of stuff because it involves taxpayer dollars and a democratically elected government. Right or not, this kind of stuff happens in the business world all the time. Though it may look like a conflict of interest, PopCap's games for XBLA have all been at least decent. And your logic means that Canessa wouldn't really be able to apply for most jobs in the video game world.
Garp @ Feb 8th 2007 6:55PM
PopCap, with Bookworm and Bejeweled, was making money long before they ended up on the 360, so I don't see a conflict of interest here as well. Greg might just not want to travel as much anymore.
Forceusr @ Feb 8th 2007 9:30PM
Good riddance. Canessa "over-promised and under-delivered" several times this past year. XBLA became a joke during the last half of 2006. Maybe MS can get someone in who can either a.) deliver on the promises they make or b.) stop making half-hearted promises and then offer no explanation as to why things didn't evolve as they intended.