Microsoft lays off Xbox veteran Kevin LaChapelle

Microsoft has terminated Kevin LaChapelle, a 37‑year veteran who served as vice‑president of the Xbox Platform team. LaChapelle led the development of Xbox’s backward‑compatibility program, which enables legacy Xbox and Xbox 360 titles to run on newer hardware with enhancements such as higher resolution, Auto HDR and FPS Boost. He also oversaw the Xbox Cloud Gaming (formerly Project xCloud) service that streams games to phones, browsers, TVs and PCs.

The layoff is part of a broader restructuring of Microsoft’s gaming division that has followed the company’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Microsoft has not indicated that the backward‑compatibility feature or Cloud Gaming service will be discontinued despite LaChapelle’s departure.