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Back in July of 2023, Major Nelson (real name Larry Hryb) announced his departure from Xbox and Microsoft after 20 years, and it marked a sad moment for the community that had loved his work throughout the history of the brand.
Of course, a lot of that work was behind-the-scenes — he was the Principal Program Manager at Xbox for nine years, helping to build the Xbox Live and achievement systems amongst other things, and then spent the next 11 years as Senior Director of Corporate Communications. However, Major Nelson also played a key role in highlighting the likes of Games with Gold, Xbox Live Arcade and various Xbox first-party releases in video form, and was always a beloved ever-present figure when it came to Xbox's marketing campaigns.
So, it's great to see that he's back! Larry appeared as the "special guest" for Sunday's Xbox Games Showcase 2026 event at Xbox FanFest LA, and later revealed that he'll be the host for more (and maybe all?) of the Xbox FanFest events taking place this year.
Back in January, Major Nelson revealed that he had been laid off from Unity after working as a Senior Director of Advocacy and Community since June of 2024. He's also taken up various consultancy roles since leaving Microsoft.
Could this "host" role lead to a permanent position at Xbox once again? There's no suggestion of that just yet, but let the record show that we'd certainly be 100% behind it!
For those who weren't aware, we've got eight more Xbox FanFest events still scheduled for 2026, and they're taking place across the world. No details on dates just yet, but we'll let you know as soon more information comes through.