Xbox Exec Marc Whitten Abruptly Heads for the Door

Xbox chief product officer Marc Whitten is leaving Microsoft to assume a similar role at Sonos, the company announced today in a blog post.

Whitten helped shepherd all three of the Xbox consoles, including last November’s Xbox One, to launch. The rest of the Xbox leadership team “will remain intact,” according to the blog post, and Whitten’s former team will report to software platform EVP Terry Myerson.

“It’s incredibly tough to leave but I am confident the best days are ahead for Xbox fans, in the capable hands of a very talented team,” Whitten was quoted as saying in the post.

The news comes as a surprise in part because Whitten had been scheduled to appear at this week’s Game Developers Conference on behalf of the Xbox One, including in an onstage “fireside chat” on Friday. The official GDC schedule has been updated to reflect that corporate Vice President Phil Spencer will now be doing the interview instead.

Whitten’s is the second major console gaming departure this month, preceded by Sony PlayStation boss Jack Tretton’s recent announcement that he will step down at the end of March.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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