already recognized that part of Microsoft's problems for gaming support was the vast number of possible configurations they had to deal with, and their attempts with technologies like DirectX to standardize these. While on a flight from Boston back to Seattle after visiting his girlfriend, Blackley came up with the idea of having Microsoft design its own console, with standardized hardware, and able to tap into a larger pool of hardware resources due to the company's influence as to beat Sony at its own game. This led to the initial Xbox proposal, which Gates eventually approved, and helped assemble the team that designed and built the device. He then promoted the Xbox to game developers around the world. Blackley left Microsoft in 2002 to co-found Capital Entertainment Group with former Microsoft co-worker Kevin Bachus after his time developing the Xbox. CEG aimed to reform the financing models available in the game industry, following the Hollywood studio model, to provide more flexibility and creative control to game makers, and loosen the grip publishers had on control of the game industry. CEG was unable to complete a game before folding in 2003. In 2007, Blackley received the P.T. Barnum Award from Tufts University for his exceptional work in the field of media and entertainment. From 2003 through May 2011, Blackley represented video game developers at the Creative Artists Agency, evolving the position of video games within the entertainment industry. In February 2012, Blackley founded Innovative Leisure with Van Burnham. The company recruited game programmers from the Golden age of arcade video games to write mobile games. In 2017 Blackley took a post running the research and development team for the augmented reality startup Daqri to explore methods of producing more powerful holograms and in 2018 became the CEO of tech startup Pacific Light and Hologram. In 2019, Blackley appeared as himself on the 172nd episode of the webseries Angry Video Game Nerd, answering questions regarding development of the video game Trespasser. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Blackley gained attention for instructional Twitter threads on baking sourdough bread using ancient yeast and historical baking methods. References External links Seamus Blackley's game credits on MobyGames Seamus Blackley Speech at DICE '03 2001 Xbox-related Interview 1999 Gamasutra Post-Mortem on Trespasser Video Interview with Seamus Blackley at Association for Computing Machinery American video game designers Microsoft employees Living people 1960s births Date of birth missing (living people)