00:00Xbox's latest wave of mass layoffs has affected teams across the company,
00:05including the 37-year veteran who led the Xbox backward compatibility program for Xbox One.
00:11Kevin LaChapelle, who joined Microsoft in August 1989 and in 2023 became vice president of Xbox
00:19Platform, has taken to LinkedIn to confirm that he was part of the 1,600 roles eliminated this
00:26week, the first half of the planned 3,200 layoffs that'll be rolling out across the 2027 fiscal
00:32year. I will add my name to the list of people who were laid off today at Xbox, LaChapelle's post
00:38reads. This ends my 37 years at Microsoft. Although LaChapelle, by his own description,
00:44has worked in many different parts of the company, he says his fondest memories are of leading the
00:49team of very talented engineers who built the Xbox backward compatibility program. Sitting in the
00:55auditorium when Phil, Spencer, former Xbox boss, announced the program at E3 2015 was incredible.
01:02The audience's reaction was unbelievable. As Spencer said at the time, the feature had been
01:07consistently at the top of fans' request list, but Xbox hadn't even been sure it was possible.
01:12Lo and behold though, the team led by LaChapelle pulled it off. Going forward, LaChapelle says,
01:18I am a firm believer that all entertainment will eventually become streamed to you wherever you
01:23are. I look forward to watching how Xbox evolves going forward and I wish the team nothing but success.
