Greg Canessa, a seven-year veteran and founder of the Xbox Live Arcade service , gave his general manager badge back to Microsoft and accepted a vice presidency at PopCap. Canessa takes his 15 years of gaming industry experience to the 100-employee firm, where he will serve as vice president of video game platforms.

PopCap is no Microsoft, but the company can claim many successes. Its best known game, Bejeweled, has sold more than 10 million copies on several different platforms. Altogether, PopCap says, gamers have downloaded more than 200 million copies of the company's word and puzzle games over the past five years. PopCap says it is ready to take its business to the next level, and thus recruited Canessa to lead the charge.

Pushing New Platforms

PopCap plans to push its titles to video game consoles, video iPods, and in-flight entertainment systems. The company's games already appear on some mobile devices, but PopCap is hoping Canessa, who birthed the Xbox Live Arcade business and convinced Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates to add it into the dashboard of the Xbox 360, can work his magic on the company's behalf.

"Live Arcade has had some success in extending the Xbox Live brand. To the extent that Greg is responsible for that, hiring him is a good move for PopCap," said Brian O'Rourke, a senior analyst at In-Stat.

Ironically, PopCap recently scored a win for its arcade-action game Heavy Weapon, finding room at Xbox Live Arcade. Canessa commented in a January 18 press release: "PopCap has done it again with Heavy Weapon -- delivering classic arcade-style action with a sense of humor and a deep understanding of what makes a game truly fun."

Canessa left Microsoft to stay true to his entrepreneurial spirit, according to news reports, and to pursue his passion to develop games. However, Canessa might have his work cut out for him in his quest to bring PopCap games to new platforms, especially on video game consoles, analysts said.

Cannesa's Challenge

"The development costs of some games is getting into eight figures -- tens of millions of dollars. It's becoming more of a game for the big software developers because only they have the resources to develop for these platforms," O'Rourke noted.

PopCap games, though, could find a break on handheld gaming devices, where it is less expensive to develop, as well as on video iPods and mobile phones.

"Mobile phones are increasingly being built with larger screens and they are pushing gaming more," O'Rourke said. "The handheld and mobile worlds of gaming are expanding and might be the way for PopCap to go."