I’ve always been fascinated by some of the folks who used to work in the DirectX/Xbox groups at Microsoft and how they manage pursue (seemingly) lucrative, somewhat high-profile careers with nothing but string of empty promises behind them. Kevin is one of my favorites. After leaving Microsoft he and a few other famous game industry names formed the Capital Entertainment Group, which made grandiose plans and folded after a year without really doing much. He then was hired as CEO a company called Infinium with a never-to-be-release gaming console/service called the Phantom. He was often seen singing praises about how great the Phantom would be, how great the service, and how, No! it wasn’t vapor ware. How after a while he managed to move the company offices from Florida to LA (where he lived) and then left the company 5 months later. And then sued them for back pay. He was hired by Russian RTS developer Nirval (Heroes of Might and Magic) (which was owned by Florida-based Ener1 Group) as CEO in March 2006. Apparently Ener1 wasn’t happy with the low profits coming out the LA office and quietly closed it in December 2006. No word on what Kevin is up to now…
Update: There’s a nice -albeit short – reflective guest piece by Kevin on the XBox development effort you can read here.