Ex-Lionhead boss, John Needham, will oversee internal development for several games on Xbox and HoloLens, a Microsoft spokesperson told to Engadget. Needham will support Microsoft corporate VP Kudo Tsunoda, who now oversees new IPs across several Xbox studios.
The news follows the announcement of Phil Harrison's departure from Microsoft, after he decided to start his own company, Alloy Platform Industries, which will be harnessing Microsoft technology.
"With the exception of Halo, Gears of War, Forza and Minecraft, Kudo Tsunoda will lead the vision and experience development of our other Microsoft Studios portfolio investments in the United States, Europe and across our Global Publishing team", said a Microsoft spokesperson.
"John Needham relocated to Redmond in a new role overseeing internal development for several games and experiences for both Xbox and Microsoft HoloLens reporting to Kudo. All up responsibility for Xbox EMEA will be overseen directly by Phil Spencer."
Before taking this new role, John Needham has worked as CEO of Gazillion Entertainment, CEO of Cryptic Studios and CFO and SVP of business development and operations at Sony Online Entertainment. He joined Microsoft in April 2013, as studio head at Lionhead, where he later also took on the role of head of European Publishing.