End of an Era: Xbox VP Kevin LaChapelle Exits After 37 Years

Microsoft's gaming division, Xbox, has confirmed that approximately 3,200 employees will be laid off as part of its ongoing restructuring efforts. Among those affected is Kevin LaChapelle, a veteran who spent 37 years with Microsoft and most recently served as a Vice President in the Xbox division. Sharing the news on LinkedIn, LaChapelle described the layoff as the end of a remarkable journey and expressed gratitude to his colleagues while recalling his role in leading the engineering team behind Xbox's backward compatibility programme.

LaChapelle joined Microsoft as a software engineer in 1989 and steadily rose through the ranks to become a senior executive in the Xbox business. Xbox has already laid off around 1,600 employees in the latest round, with the remaining workforce reductions expected to be completed by the end of the 2026-27 financial year. In an internal email, CEO Asha Sharma reportedly said the decision was driven by business challenges and described the layoffs as a difficult but necessary step to realign the company's operations.