Jon Kimmich was a Lead Product Planner for

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

Games Studios during pivotal parts of the

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

conception, launch and lifespan. Jon was instrumental in the acquisition of many titles for Microsoft Games Studios publishing for both the PC and

platforms. Together with

Ed Fries Ed Fries ( "freeze") is an American video game programmer and entrepreneur who was the vice president of game publishing at Microsoft during much of the Xbox's life-cycle. Early life Fries fell in love with games while playing arcade games in the ...

and Stuart Moulder, Jon was responsible for the acquisition of

Bungie Bungie, Inc. is an American video game company based in Bellevue, Washington. It is a studio owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in May 1991 by Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones (progr ...

FASA Interactive Fasa ( fa, فسا, Fasā, also Romanized as Fassa) is a city and capital of Fasa County, Fars Province, Iran. At the 2016 census, its population was 110,825, in 33,379 families. Fasa is the fourth most populous city of the province. The city date ...

, and

Digital Anvil Digital Anvil, Inc. (formerly Digital Anvil Holdings, Inc.) was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas owned by Microsoft Game Studios (MGS). It was founded in 1996 by brothers Chris and Erin Roberts along with Tony Zurovec, Ma ...

. In addition to acquisitions, Jon secured publishing rights for Microsoft for externally developed games such as

Dungeon Siege ''Dungeon Siege'' is an action role-playing game developed by Gas Powered Games and published by Microsoft in April 2002, for Microsoft Windows, and the following year by Destineer for Mac OS X. Set in the pseudo-medieval kingdom of Ehb, the hi ...

Gas Powered Games Wargaming Seattle, formerly known as Gas Powered Games, was a video game developer located in Redmond, Washington. The development studio was started in May 1998 by Chris Taylor and several other ex-Cavedog Entertainment employees. In 2013 they ...

Rise of Nations ''Rise of Nations'' is a real-time strategy video game developed by Big Huge Games and published by Xbox Game Studios, Microsoft Game Studios in May 2003. The development was led by veteran game designer Brian Reynolds (game designer), Brian ...

from

Big Huge Games Big Huge Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Timonium, Maryland since 2000, known first for real-time strategy games such as ''Rise of Nations'', later for the console RPG '' Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning'', and more recentl ...

, and

MechAssault ''MechAssault'' is a video game released for the Xbox notable for being one of the first games to support Xbox Live online multiplayer. Developed by Day 1 Studios and published by Microsoft, ''MechAssault'' was initiated when Denny Thorley of Day ...

Day 1 Studios Wargaming Chicago-Baltimore (formerly Meyer/Glass Interactive, L.L.C., Day 1 Studios, LLC and Wargaming West Corporation) is an American game developer that operates in Chicago, Illinois and Hunt Valley, Maryland. History They worked in tandem ...

as well as many internally developed games such as

Crimson Skies ''Crimson Skies'' is a tabletop and a video game media franchise created by Jordan Weisman and Dave McCoy, first released as a board game in 1998 and then as a PC game in 2000. The series' intellectual property is currently owned by Microsoft C ...

, MechWarrior 4: Vengeance,

Brute Force Brute Force or brute force may refer to: Techniques * Brute force method or proof by exhaustion, a method of mathematical proof * Brute-force attack, a cryptanalytic attack * Brute-force search, a computer problem-solving technique People * Brut ...

and

Halo Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to: * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Video games * ''Halo'' (franch ...

. According to The Xbox 360 Uncloaked by Dean Takahashi Jon Kimmich also negotiated deals for Epic's

Gears of War ''Gears of War'' is a media franchise centered on a series of video games created by Epic Games, developed and managed by The Coalition, and owned and published by Xbox Game Studios. The franchise is best known for its third-person shooter vide ...

and a new Valve game for the Xbox 360, of which only Gears of War was signed by MGS. Before joining Microsoft Games Studios, Kimmich held other positions at Microsoft, which included development manager for a new product development group in Microsoft's Hardware Team, responsible for hardware devices such as the original award-winning Microsoft Natural keyboard. The addition of the

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

-key and application-key, which first appeared on the Microsoft Natural Keyboard in 1994 (and are now standard on most keyboards and laptops designed to support Windows) has been attributed to Jon. In June 2004, Jon Kimmich left Microsoft to become Producer and Director of Business Development for Day 1 Studios. Since this time, Day 1 Studios has developed MechAssault 2,

F.E.A.R. ''F.E.A.R.'' is a first-person shooter psychological horror video game series created by Craig Hubbard in 2005. Released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, there are three main games in the series; '' F.E.A.R.'' (2005), '' F.E.A ...

for the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

and

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

, and

Fracture Fracture is the separation of an object or material into two or more pieces under the action of stress. The fracture of a solid usually occurs due to the development of certain displacement discontinuity surfaces within the solid. If a displa ...

. In 2012, he was a contributor to and editor for The Crowdfunding Bible along with Rusel DeMaria and Scott Steinberg. The Crowdfunding Bible examines how successful funding campaigns can be developed for a variety of consumer product categories including games, gadgets, films and books on sites such as

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

, IndieGoGo and

RocketHub RocketHub was an online crowdfunding platform launched in 2010, its first use was September 1, 2009. Based in New York City, its users included musicians, entrepreneurs, scientists, game developers, philanthropists, filmmakers, photographers,Hai ...

. It includes interviews with the creators of the TikTok LunaTik Watch, The Pebble E-Paper Watch,

Shadowrun Returns ''Shadowrun Returns'' is a tactical role-playing game developed and published by Harebrained Schemes. It takes place in the science fantasy setting of the ''Shadowrun'' tabletop role-playing game. The game was crowd funded through Kickstarter and ...

Wasteland 2 ''Wasteland 2'' is a post-apocalyptic role-playing video game developed by inXile Entertainment and published by Deep Silver. It is the sequel to 1988's ''Wasteland'', and was successfully crowdfunded through Kickstarter. After the postponement o ...

, Designing Obama and others. Jon Kimmich was also an investor in WizKids, LLC, a game company founded by

Jordan Weisman Jordan Weisman is an American game designer, author, and serial entrepreneur who has founded five game design companies, each in a different game genre and segment of the industry. Biography Weisman graduated from Francis W. Parker High School, ...

(founder of FASA Interactive) in 2000 to develop and sell a line of collectible miniatures.

References

External links

MobyGames rap sheet for Jon
*
Interview with Jon from GamesIndustry.bizInterview with Jon from TeamXboxInterview on Yahoo News about Windows Keyboard and gamesThe Crowdfunding Bible
Microsoft employees People in the video game industry Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{videogame-bio-stub