Ed Fries, former vice president of game publishing for Microsoft.
Ed Fries was the vice president of game publishing at Microsoft during much of the Xbox's lifecycle. He was a prime evangelist of the platform to game developers and had an important role in the acquisition of developers Bungie Studios, Ensemble Studios and Rare.
Fries left Microsoft in January 2004. He now consults with Sony Online Entertainment and is involved in a start-up called AGEIA, which aims to bring the first "physics accelerator" chip for games to market.
Among his credits as executive producer are Kakutô chôjin and Blinx: The Time Sweeper. He has also received special thanks for his support in the production of other video games. He received special thanks for the making of Halo: Combat Evolved.