Xbox's latest VP of engineering resigns after just 2 months
What's the story
Jared Palmer, the Vice President of Engineering at Xbox, has resigned from his position just two months after his appointment. He will be joining AI start-up Cognition as its new Vice President of Engineering. The move comes amid a string of high-profile exits from Xbox, including long-serving Microsoft Gaming chief Phil Spencer and Xbox President Sarah Bond.
Leadership shake-up
Palmer's exit follows major leadership changes at Xbox
Palmer's exit comes after a major leadership reshuffle at Xbox.
He was appointed as a technical advisor to CEO Asha Sharma and was part of her new leadership team.
Palmer was supposed to report directly to Sharma and tackle "most complex product and engineering problems," focusing on developer tools, infrastructure, and engineering strategy.
Journey
Palmer's professional journey
Before joining Xbox, Palmer was Microsoft's Vice President of Product in its CoreAI division for about eight months.
He had also spent nearly four years at AI infrastructure company Vercel as its Vice President of AI.
His swift exit from Xbox comes at a tumultuous time for the gaming division which is undergoing a complete "reset."
Organizational changes
Xbox is cutting around 3,200 jobs
The gaming division is cutting around 3,200 jobs (about 20% of its workforce) and spinning off or transferring four internal studios, including Double Fine and Compulsion Games.
In an internal memo announcing the restructuring, Sharma described Xbox's business as "not healthy," citing slowing console growth and profit margins trailing rival gaming platforms by three to 10 times.