Kudo Tsunoda moves to Microsoft

Former head of shuttered EA Chicago studio and Fight Night figurehead lands in Xbox 360 country; possibly working on Gears of War series.

The unofficial Electronic Arts-Microsoft talent swap might not be over just yet. GameTap is reporting that Kudo Tsunoda, former general manager of the recently closed EA Chicago studio, has found a new home with the Xbox 360 maker.

If true, it would be a reunion of sorts for Tsunoda, given that former Electronic Arts worldwide studios president Don Mattrick is currently serving as the senior vice president of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business. Mattrick was appointed to that position last July to fill the position left by Peter Moore, who had himself taken a position as president of Electronic Arts' EA Sports brand. Yet another EA veteran found himself at Microsoft recently when former EA Canada general manager John Schappert landed a new gig in Microsoft's entertainment and devices division as the corporate vice president of Live, software, and services.

Tsunoda's previous development experience has been heavy on hand-to-hand combat. The EA Chicago studio produced brawlers such as Fight Night: Round 3 and Def Jam Icon, with a Marvel Comics fighting game in the works at the time the studio was closed. However, according to the GameTap report, Tsunoda is being given the chance to try his hand at combat of a different sort as the project lead on a new Gears of War game.

[UPDATE]: A Microsoft representative responded to GameSpot's request for confirmation on the news, saying, "Kudo Tsunoda has joined Microsoft Games Studios, reporting to Shane Kim." The representative did not specify projects on which Tsunoda is currently working.

196 Comments

  • Jerrythefunguy

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 10:14 pm GMT

    Oh well, I only did like his Fight Night games, but Def Jam. Made me hate the guy since I love Fight For NY on my PS2 and he destroyed it for Next Gen with his ideas.

  • ken-e

    Posted Jan 29, 2008 3:14 pm GMT

    He's the K-Fed of video games. All glitz but no substance.

  • TrueIori

    Posted Jan 29, 2008 2:12 pm GMT

    this guy will just be in the background getting cliffy and everyone else in epic drinks and stuff while they work on gears 2 dont worry about it

  • Devvy01

    Posted Jan 29, 2008 6:51 am GMT

    Well you go where the money is...

  • Jokul

    Posted Jan 29, 2008 6:27 am GMT

    EA sports must be getting annoyed so many people are crossing over

  • Mindchamber

    Posted Jan 29, 2008 6:11 am GMT

    Why? The dude is a hack and a failure. the only reason the fightnight series has done so well was because they adopted the fighting system of victorious boxers on the ps2.

    the guy is worthless.

  • masterchief375

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 5:32 pm GMT

    Tsunoda's working on gears 2?? I hope that Cliffy B. doesnt let him get his hands on this one cuz if so then Gears 2 might as well have Def Jam Icons hand to hand combat system.... dont let him touch a Gears game Cluffy B.!!!!!

  • Chief_Kuuni

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 1:31 pm GMT

    well we'll see if that's good news or bad news as the future unfolds itself

  • pooladden

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 12:19 pm GMT

    does this make a difference in the final product of gears of war 2? 99% chance he wont even make a difference to the game. Cliffy b will be like " what to do with this new guy?" then he will tell him to leave a suggestion in the suggestion box for Gow2 but Cliffy wont even touch the box with a 10ft pole.

  • A7Xfan

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 11:53 am GMT

    Awesome! I really like this guy. I always wanted to get in to Fight Night. But between Halo 3 and Forza 2 my hands are full probably at least until summer if not longer.

  • joshel

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 11:47 am GMT

    Ashwyn the old Def Jam mechanics were tired and lame, Kudo refreshed the series. If you like the original mechanics then play the early games.

  • Ashwyn16

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 11:46 am GMT

    does this mean gears is going to have REALLY slow gun fights in it like Def Jam icon and fight night had and the backgoround will be pulse-ratting to music o_O this guy goes and **** up Def Jam now his next project is gears 2 HAHAHAHAAHA

  • monsterbater4

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 11:43 am GMT

    lets not forget that cliffy b and the guys at epic are the ones making gears of war, not the guys at microsoft, all microsoft does is publish the games! it doesn't worry me at all as long as cliffy b and epic are the ones that have all the creative control for a gears of war sequel

  • DRUNKENJEDI1

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 11:34 am GMT

    This is a strange move,To say the least.

  • Bgrngod

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 10:43 am GMT

    @SOLID_SNAKE_LEO

    Do you mean when he upgraded Def Jam from total crap to mostly crap? I fear that this guy may try to add his brand of "Baditude" to Gears of War 2. This could be bad. Hopefully Epic remains entirely in control and this guy just oversees from a distance, or even better yet he has nothing to do with it. Put him in charge of producing racing games or something.

  • ChiefHunter1

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 10:09 am GMT

    Paulthegreat If MS and EA were to combine that would probably make EA games exclusive to the 360 which would not be in the interests of either EA or Sony and Nintendo. Games like Madden, Burnout, MOH, NCAA football, etc.. have to be available on all systems.

  • thekey

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 10:00 am GMT

    Sketchguy "Well,there goes gears of war!!!!! If you don't think so then I got three words for ya ..........Def Jam Icon!!!!! F'ed up"

    Oh please! Def Jam fight Ny was junk long before Def Jam Icon. Hope Kudos is just a MS yeah sayer and not a Developer for the Game.

  • CMcCon342

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 9:41 am GMT

    I don't get it, Gears of War is developed by Epic and published by Microsoft. Microsoft employees aren't building the game, just handling the marketing and distribution. If Gears of War 2 is not being made by Epic I will be pissed...Not to say I won't play it of course, but I will try not to like it as much...

  • XJRockcrawler

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 9:22 am GMT

    PaultheGreat, if that happened, you can kiss your beloved PS brand goodbye. Though you may not like the 2 companys, there's no denying they have both put out some great games.

  • SOLID_SNAKE_LEO

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 9:21 am GMT

    If he has a prominent role in the devolopment of Gears 2 I definitely will pass after what he did to the def jam franchise.

  • LosDaddie

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 9:06 am GMT

    Another great move by Microsoft!

  • maaly81

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 8:58 am GMT

    anything related to EA should not be part of Gears or any other microsoft venture. Hope his guy was a rebel and did not agree with EA's views on makings of video games. if not you gotta think about why they got rid of EA chicago in the first place.

  • Hvac0120

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 8:23 am GMT

    Gears of War seems way out of Tsunoda's realm compared to his previous efforts. Hopefully the original GW team is in tact at Epic and are the ones working under him.

    I am not a fan of his previous works (at least most of them) so this isn't good news to me. It's really interesting to see Microsoft and EA trading up people like this. Where are the conspiracies? Shouldn't we be hearing rumors about a Microsoft takeover of EA?

  • Paul_TheGreat

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 8:21 am GMT

    Why don't Microsoft and EA just get. Two crap companies together.

  • guinessbonez

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 8:04 am GMT

    NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't let him touch gears please

  • red-orc

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 7:33 am GMT

    What happened to the Marvel Comics fighting game anyway? Did they pulp it?

  • Diezelfuel

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 7:25 am GMT

    "POSSIBLY" working on Gears of War series."
    -There's still hope that Kudo, won't be working on the next Gears of War people-

    CROSS YOURS FINGERS & TOES & EYES - IF YOU CAN!! LOL

  • Dav_id83

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 7:06 am GMT

    Loose Peter Moore Gain 1 From EA straight swap

  • demoralizer

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 6:34 am GMT

    FightNight RD3 was the first game to show case next gen capabilities.

  • SweetPandaLove

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 6:09 am GMT

    all that matters is Fight Night. as long as Fight Night continues to be made, and made better and better...i could honestly care less where he lands. bring on more Fight Night.

  • CreepyBacon

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 5:53 am GMT

    Well..i suppose i still have the original gears of war, seen as the second is going to be a pile of crap now.

  • buuzer0

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 5:20 am GMT

    Ugh, keep this tool away from Gears of War. He was involved with Def Jam Icon, which was crap compared to the previous games.

  • Mr_Wes32

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 5:08 am GMT

    okay so who's gonna do Fight Night now?

  • 345669

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 4:28 am GMT

    ok no bigi

  • tdfury

    Posted Jan 28, 2008 3:15 am GMT

    Nooooooo this spells trouble. first this guy messes up the already solid def jam series and now he is jumping to microsoft.

    don't let this guy touch a damn thing he will ruin everything. have him in the back office making coffee or something thats all he's good for.

  • sunnystarz

    Posted Jan 27, 2008 9:46 pm GMT

    yeah....more melee crap for gear of wars

  • Sketchguy

    Posted Jan 27, 2008 9:31 pm GMT

    Well,there goes gears of war!!!!! If you don't think so then I got three words for ya ..........Def Jam Icon!!!!! F'ed up

  • chaos_theory_09

    Posted Jan 27, 2008 9:10 pm GMT

    Huh? Isn't Cliffy B doin that job?

  • the_greenzero

    Posted Jan 27, 2008 7:37 pm GMT

    Meh don't really care about Kudos.

  • Twiztid-Maddox

    Posted Jan 27, 2008 6:51 pm GMT

    makes me wonder what the hell Cliffy B. is doin, since it looks like he won't be contributing to any of the next Gears Of War games.... guess he kinda hates Microsoft now, since they're publishing Too Human or something...

  • xtremeskiia15

    Posted Jan 27, 2008 4:52 pm GMT

    shwing

  • mergedsalem23

    Posted Jan 27, 2008 3:11 pm GMT

    That's good for you microsoft I'm happy for you

  • -HCMF-

    Posted Jan 27, 2008 3:09 pm GMT

    You know the pressure for the gears game is going to be insane. Hope he gets a good physical, and has a good heart.

  • Canitbe

    Posted Jan 27, 2008 3:06 pm GMT

    I'm guessing it was a slow day at gamespot. Must not have been any real game news to report on.

  • Dryker

    Posted Jan 27, 2008 2:55 pm GMT

    Peeweeshift's point of view just blows my mind. I can only conclude that opinions such as his is what leads to so many terrible FPS's. The simplicity of Gears is what makes it great, not what makes it fail. If only more FPS's took a lesson from Gears. It looks like Unreal Tournament III should have taken some lessons from Gears. Most FPS's are way too fast to be fun. If things are slowed down, players can more easily strategize, aim, and dodge; which makes for better gameplay as opposed to shooting in someone's general direction with your fingers crossed in-hope that a few bullets actually connect with an enemy buzzing around the map as if it had the mass of a fly.

  • meteorgun7

    Posted Jan 27, 2008 2:06 pm GMT

    So this is where my old boss is. I miss my days at EA Chicago, wonder how crazy Kudo will drive everyone at Microsoft. He is one awesome guy!

  • meteorgun7

    Posted Jan 27, 2008 2:02 pm GMT

    So this is where my old boss is. I miss my days at EA Chicago, wonder how crazy Kudo will drive everyone at Microsoft. He is one awesome guy!

  • GrayHalo

    Posted Jan 27, 2008 1:45 pm GMT

    project lead means he is a manager. all he does is set dead lines and make sure things get done. he won't actually be "creatively" working on the game.

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