Larry Hryb, better known to the Xbox player community by his gamer tag “Major Nelson,” announced Friday that he’s “taking a step back” from his job at Microsoft.
Hryb, a director of programming at Xbox Live, has worked at Microsoft since 2001 and on the Xbox project since 2003. He’s been one of the de-facto faces of the Xbox project for almost as long, as a blogger and co-host of the weekly Official Xbox Podcast, formerly known as Major Nelson Radio.
Hryb named his gamertag, Major Nelson, after Larry Hagman’s character of the same name on the sitcom “I Dream of Jeannie.” Under that name, Hryb used to maintain his own blog at majornelson.com that followed news and announcements out of Xbox, including new episodes of his podcast. He also routinely gave away free Xbox games on Friday afternoons via his official Twitter.
Whether it was presentations at trade shows or live chats with fans, Hryb was usually one of the first people you’d see onstage at Xbox events, particularly in the 2000s. During the Xbox 360’s heyday, when Hryb contributed to the New Xbox Experience redesign in 2008, it wasn’t uncommon to flip through tabs on the dashboard to see a recorded presentation by Hryb on new announcements from Xbox.
According to Hryb via his verified Twitter account, he plans to “take a step back and work on the next chapter of [his] career.” The Official Xbox Podcast will go on hiatus for the summer and come back “in a new format.”
A Microsoft representative confirmed the news to GeekWire via email.
