Xbox Vice President loses job after serving for 37 years, ‘Seniority does not matter’ | Microsoft layoffs

Microsoft has announced that it is immediately eliminating 4,800 jobs across the company. This represents 2.1% of its total global workforce.

One name from Microsoft layoffs quickly captured attention online. Kevin LaChapelle, Vice President of Xbox Platform, announced on LinkedIn that his 37-year career at Microsoft had ended.

LaChapelle is widely credited with leading the team that built Xbox Backwards Compatibility. That’s the feature that allows Xbox One consoles to play Xbox 360 games.

He described watching Phil Spencer announce the program at E3 2015 as one of the most memorable moments of his career. LaChapelle also led the team that created Xbox Cloud Gaming.

“Sitting in the auditorium when Phil announced the program at E3 2015 was incredible. The audience's reaction was unbelievable. I followed that with leading the team that created our Cloud Gaming product,” LaChapelle wrote on LinkedIn.

“I am a firm believer that all entertainment will eventually become streamed to you wherever you are. I look forward to watching how Xbox evolves going forward and I wish the team nothing but success,” he wrote.

“I will say that one person truly made a lasting impact on me while in Xbox and I want to thank Kareem Choudhry for being the best manager I had at Microsoft and ultimately someone I am happy to say is a good friend,” he concluded.

The post drew an outpouring of reactions from the gaming and tech community. X account LayoffHedge summarised the sentiment bluntly: "Past achievements do not matter. Seniority does not matter."

Microsoft Business Planner Cody Howard called backward compatibility one of Xbox's greatest market differentiators. Recruiter Mirza Dizdarevic noted that LaChapelle's platform leadership shaped how millions of people experience Xbox.

One commenter, Maximillian Obasiolu, thanked LaChapelle for building Windows Movie Maker. LaChapelle replied simply that he loved building it.

Retired Microsoft Senior Director David Martini, a friend of LaChapelle's since high school in 1982, also responded to the post. Quality Technical Program Manager Melissa Moorehead said backward compatibility was the reason she personally used Xbox consoles at home.

Microsoft Layoffs

The Xbox division is among the hardest hit in Microsoft layoffs. It will lose approximately one-fifth of its staff. Around 1,600 Xbox roles were cut on Monday alone. A further 1,600 will exit through fiscal year 2027. In total, Xbox is cutting 3,200 positions.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma confirmed the scale of the restructuring in an email to employees. She acknowledged that a year-long restructuring creates additional challenges.

She added that returning to growth in 2027 remained the goal. Microsoft's chief people officer, Amy Coleman, described the pace of technological change as unprecedented in her 27-year tenure.

Microsoft has been the worst-performing megacap tech stock so far in 2026. Its shares have fallen 19% as of last Friday. Investors fear that generative AI models could displace wide swaths of enterprise software.