Amazon hires Xbox co-founder J Allard
Allard will be working in Devices and Services team, previously returned to games for Intellivision role
Former Microsoft gaming exec J Allard has taken on a new role at Amazon as vice president of product.
GeekWire spotted an update to Allard's LinkedIn profile, after which Amazon confirmed to the site that the exec was joining its Devices and Services team, which handles Echo devices and the Alexa voice assistant, among other things.
Allard is best known in gaming circles for his 20 years at Microsoft, where he co-founded Xbox and helped launch the original console and the Xbox 360, as well as Xbox Live and Xbox Live Arcade.
After a long period away from games, he resurfaced in 2020 as the global managing director of Intellivision Entertainment, joining two years after the company announced it was working on its new Amico console. GeekWire reported that he left less than a year later.
Since then, Allard has worked for a range of companies, including GoFundMe and bicycle registry Project 529.