XBLA's Ross Erickson leaves Microsoft, heads over to Sierra Online
by Christopher Grant 
{ Feb 20th 2007 at 12:40PM }
Ross Erickson, (soon-to-be-former) Worldwide Games Portfolio Manager for Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade service emailed Joystiq (we go way back) to let us know that he'll be leaving their employ at the end of the week to take the position of Vice President, Content Acquisition at Vivendi Games' Sierra Online division. This news comes coupled with Vivendi's acquisition of Chilean developer, and Assault Heroes' creator, Wanako Games. Sounds like someone has big plans for the digital download space.Of course, this follows XBLA General Manager Greg Canessa's departure a couple weeks back. While having two of the most senior Xbox Live Arcade execs jump ship in a two week time span after a particularly long string of subpar Wednesdays -- nothing, Ms. Pac-Man, Lumines add-on, nothing, Root Beer Tapper, Paperboy, nothing -- might seem to imply certain disaster, Ross insisted that he and Greg's decided to leave under entirely different circumstances. Though he's leaving, Ross isn't leaving Microsoft in the lurch. He said there's a long list of titles in the pipeline that will run long past his departure ... but we've heard that before. "We certainly have enough games in the pipeline – more than enough, in fact – to achieve that goal on a weekly basis." Alright, so we're not entirely convinced that everything behind-the-scenes at Xbox Live Arcade is puppy dogs and ice cream, but we wish both Ross and Greg best as they continue their casual march to casual gaming world domination.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
CJM @ Feb 20th 2007 12:53PM
This only reminds me how Sierra lost its soul when it was sold to Vivendi Games.
shase @ Feb 20th 2007 1:01PM
give xbla a break. it takes time to buy old arcade classics and make new games. Its much better than the VC from wii and ps3.
Myke @ Feb 20th 2007 1:08PM
Shase, it also had a full year head start...
I'm not saying anything against XBLA, I love it too, but you can't compare the two, it's just pointless. That's comparing Burger King with a local burger shop that's just starting out and saying "well, BK has WAY more stores so they must be better"
Joe Winders @ Feb 20th 2007 1:14PM
Long live On-line Systems!
Mr BoomStick XL @ Feb 20th 2007 1:42PM
This is the second VIP to leave the XBLA in a mtter of two weeks, I hope that these moves do not hurt the XBLA sevice. If the last 7 weeks are any indication of what's going on there I have to admit that I'm a little worried!! Ms Pac-Man Root Beer Tapper, Paper Boy and 4 weeks of Nothing is not the way you should end 06' and start 07'!!
Pyronite @ Feb 20th 2007 1:36PM
OMG JOYSTIQ H8S MICROSOFT!!!!
mj @ Feb 20th 2007 1:54PM
Hey, MS paid for that head start. Which would I rather have access to, today? XBLA, hands down, has the better games already, and genuinely exciting games coming up. The ps3 looks like a non-starter (took how long to port a free flash game??? Perhaps they should just port Flash and Java and start over), and the Wii is stuck in the past.
I imagine that somewhere Ken Kutaragi and J Allard are in an unheated conference room bidding on the rights to Flo's Diner XXVI: Fortune Cookies and Kitties To Go.
Here's hoping that Castle Crashers, Alien Hominid HD and Worms come before Christmas.
Michael Wilson @ Feb 20th 2007 2:33PM
Maybe he bring Sierra back from the dead. It'd be nice to see them making awesome games again.
LunarDuality @ Feb 20th 2007 2:26PM
Well, I think I see both sides here.
On one hand you've got a string of "disappointing" XBLA releases, and two key guys going elsewhere.
On the other you've got two key guys getting lured away from MS because other companies have seen what they've done there and wanted them on their side (i.e. they think XBLA is a huge success) and a stable of great games nearly ready to come out (Worms, Castle Crashers, Band of Bugs, Catan, etc.).
Personally, I think XBLA is one of the best features of the 360 and I think it will only get better. We do need to give them time to do it right. They have been burned with major bugs passing cert so I imagine they are trying to be extra careful with these important games. (And this is being said through clinched teeth because I am so eager for the announced games to come out.)
And the "they had a one year headstart" argument isn't that solid. You have to remember that before Xbox did this, *no one* did it. Therefore, the indie scene and the casual games scene didn't wake up to the idea of their games on consoles until Xbox launched the "dry-run" Arcade on the original Xbox and they didn't realize the money potential until they launched on the 360. Now, having a digital distribution plan on a console is a virtual must and that's largely because Ross and Gregg convinced MS to take such a risk.
VC has your games of the past "just as they were" needs covered and theoretically PS3's service will have the "bigger ticket" downloadable games available. But for my money, XBLA has the right mix of retro games with some added bonuses (achievements, leaderboards, Live multiplayer, etc.) and new and exciting indie/casual titles for half the cost of the same thing on my PC. To each their own.
That said, what I really wanna know though is this: what about LodeRunner?!?!?!
Michael Wilson @ Feb 20th 2007 3:17PM
Apparently he WILL bring. Damn... words.
Vidikron @ Feb 20th 2007 2:37PM
@8
Well said.
Kizzle @ Feb 20th 2007 2:43PM
"Shase, it also had a full year head start..."
No, they had nearly a two and a half year head start. XBox Live Arcade goes back to the original XBox. The service has been pathetic, and I'm glad to see these inept clowns like Erickon and Canessa gone. Hopefully they will continue to give this division of Microsoft an enema and put some people in there that can get stuff done.
To the clueless #2: "give xbla a break. it takes time to buy old arcade classics and make new games. Its much better than the VC from wii and ps3." Microsoft is just SITTING on some of these games, that has been shown in the past. There is no excuse for this. And no, it's not "better than the Wii and PS3." A port of Tapper or Paperboy with tacked on, crappy high-def graphics and leaderboards is not as good as Streets of Rage or Link to the Past or Super Mario World or flOw or Tekken Dark Resurrection...and I say this as a diehard 360 supporter.
XBLA is pathetic, and things need to change NOW.
Vidikron @ Feb 20th 2007 3:01PM
@11
I agree in general with what are saying, but how can you say the PS3's service is better? Are they actually releasing games faster? No. Yeah, they got flow today... so how many weeks ago was the last release? Wii can't even be included... Nintendo isn't even making an effort. They are just dumping ROMS into an emulator. That's it. It take more effort to release Paperboy with leaderboard and achievments than it does for Nintendo to drop 50 ROMS into the VC. I can put 100s of ROMS into an emulator on my PCs in seconds. Same thing. I'm not saying that what Nintendo is doing with the VC is bad, some people are interested in old unaltered classics, but it can't fairly be compared to MS or Sony's efforts.
Nintendo is fortunate they have such a large library to draw from, otherwise they would be in worse shape. Did you see the story just posted about the indie developer still waiting on a dev kit? Releases from MS and Sony may be slow, but Nintendo can't even get dev kits to developers. So it will be a long time before we see anything except 10-20 year old unaltered ROMS in the VC.
Player1 @ Feb 20th 2007 3:17PM
It would be nice if they would bother to fix the online co-op play in Assault Heroes. That thing came out several months ago and still doesn't have a fix.
Leobebes @ Feb 20th 2007 4:25PM
"I'm not saying anything against XBLA, I love it too, but you can't compare the two, it's just pointless. That's comparing Burger King with a local burger shop that's just starting out and saying "well, BK has WAY more stores so they must be better""
A local burger shop with billions of dollars in assets, at lease an extra year in development, and a research and development department that is at least top three in the world in funding. Please...to this day I have no idea what Sony was doing between 2005 and 2006 before their release date. It's one big mystery to me and its shareholders.
Wagon @ Feb 20th 2007 10:50PM
I haven't really enjoyed XBLA as much as I had hoped. I love the games that are released, but I'm not much of a fan of the whole "Hey, it's Wednesday, time for your XBLA allowance!" This just rubs me the wrong way. If you have the game completed, release it. XBLA Wednesdays were nice for about 2 months. After that, the buzz burned out.
Best of luck to those guys. They didn't do a bad job.
GhaleonQ @ Feb 21st 2007 1:24AM
*points to #1*
mj @ Feb 21st 2007 11:13AM
"Please...to this day I have no idea what Sony was doing between 2005 and 2006 before their release date. It's one big mystery to me and its shareholders. "
Ummm... The PSP? Or, as I like to refer to it, Napoleon invading Russia.
"Never challenge a Nintendo portable" should be added to "Never get involved in a land war in Asia".