Head of World's Edge Shannon Loftis Retires After 29 Years at Microsoft - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 07 February 2022 / 1,783 Views
The head of World's Edge Shannon Loftis is retiring after working at Microsoft for 29 years, announced the Age of Empires IV developer.
The executive producer for Age of Empires IV Michael Mann will be taking over her role as the studio head at World's Edge.
"After 29 years at Microsoft, I’ve decided to retire to spend more time with family, on my hobbies, and of course playing games," said Shannon. "Words can’t express how much it has meant to me to be part of the Age journey over the past five plus years. It has been the greatest honor of my game development career to be part of this community — to listen to you, to play with you, and to celebrate with you.
"Team Xbox has been an amazing environment to incubate our dreams, and the support we’ve had across the board from Phil Spencer, Matt Booty and Aaron Greenberg, to the PC Game Pass team, to the store teams both at Microsoft and Valve, has been nothing short of amazing. I could not be prouder of the World’s Edge team or our partners including Relic Entertainment, Forgotten Empires and Tantalus.
"I always told myself that I’d leave Microsoft only at a high point, and there has been no higher point than this. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for the support, passion, fun, commitment, feedback and joy you’ve all provided for all of us.
"So, what’s next? Please know that you, and Age of Empires, are in great hands. My dear friend Michael Mann, World’s Edge executive producer for Age of Empires IV, will be stepping into my role as acting World’s Edge studio head. I’ll be around for some time to make sure he has everything he needs. Michael has decades in game development and has been in lockstep with all of us as we built the teams and partnerships for Age of Empires over the past several years."
Mann added, "It’s been an amazing journey with Shannon, and her departure is a bittersweet one. Shannon, thank you for being a wonderful person and passionate leader, who’s pioneered and affected change in the industry throughout her career and shown such tremendous respect for the projects, people and players for which she’s championed.
"I’m energized to continue the great work of World’s Edge studio and uphold the values it holds dear – inclusion and diversity; cultural representation within our studio and titles; as well as a dedication to engaging with, listening to and delighting our Age fans across the globe.
"I wish Shannon all the best in her much-deserved retirement."
Today we celebrate and wish the best for Shannon Loftis, head of World’s Edge, as she retires after 29 years at Microsoft. Though we’ll miss Shannon dearly, the future of #AgeOfEmpires is bright! ?
— AgeOfEmpires (@AgeOfEmpires) February 7, 2022
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A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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