Last November when Electronic Arts shuttered its Chicago studio, EA Games president Frank Gibeau said that pulling the plug on the studio was " the toughest decision I' ve made in my career."

But the plug was pulled, with a promise to relocate some staffers and offer others severance and good wishes.

One staffer that won' t be needing the assistance of EA' s HR department is the studio' s former general manager, long-time Electronic Arts exec Kudo Tsunoda. The gregarious GM has taken up a post within the Xbox division at Microsoft, a Microsoft staffer confirmed today.

It was at EA' s Vancouver studio that Tsunoda cut his teeth on fighting games (working first on Fight Night 2004). Tsunoda then moved to Chicago from Vancouver to take the reins of EA' s new Chicago studio--a renamed NuFX, an independent that had worked closely with EA on the commercially successful fighting game.

At the time EA Chicago was shuttered by Electronic Arts, Tsunoda and his team were working on a fighting game incorporating a bevy of Marvel super heroes.

Tsunoda takes the title general manager, reporting to Mattrick. His hire is part of a reporting reorg being implemented by Mattrick, say sources--who also say Tsunoda is project lead on an upcoming Gears of War title.