Newsbrief: Former Rare executive producer Louise O’Connor has been named chief of staff at Xbox Game Studios. As spotted by VGC and confirmed on Linkedin, O’Conner stepped into the role in August 2025 having previously spent over 25 years at UK juggernaut Rare, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2002.
O’Conner joined Rare in 1999 as an animator to work on Conker’s Bad Fur Day. She subsequently rose through the ranks and took on a number of leadership roles including head of animation, art director, incubation director, and executive producer.
In her new position as chief of staff at Xbox Game Studios, O’Conner said she will strive to foster “connection, collaboration, and momentum” across the video game division, which has been rocked by multiple rounds of layoffs following Microsoft’s merger with Activision Blizzard in 2023—the latest of which reportedly resulted in the cancellation of long-gestating Rare project Everwild.
Game Developer has reached out to Microsoft for more information on the internal hire.