Shannon Loftis
Shannon Loftis is a game developer, industry leader, board member, mentor and coach. In 2022, Shannon Loftis retired from Microsoft’s Xbox games group after nearly 30 years of game development, franchise growth, team building, and adventure. Prior to retirement, Shannon founded and led World’s Edge, the Microsoft studio dedicated to all things Age of Empires including the award-winning Age of Empires IV. The youngest in a large family, Shannon has long valued inclusion and connection. Technology’s ability to connect and to divide humans has been a passion and a fascination for Shannon throughout her career.
Shannon studied computer science and mathematics at Duke University. She joined Microsoft in 1993 and quickly migrated to the Games group. Her earliest work focused on the creation of online card games, utilizing the emerging consumer potential of the internet and social game design. As publishing producer, Shannon was responsible for multiplayer games across PC, Xbox, and Xbox 360, including the Madness series (Motocross Madness, Monster Truck Madness, and Midtown Madness), Project Gotham Racing, the Fable series, the Viva Pinata series, Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, and many others. In total, Shannon has contributed to more than 70 games.
Additionally, Shannon has built and managed many global teams at Microsoft. In 2007, Shannon started a European games publishing unit in the UK, focusing on creating market-appropriate content for European consumers and integrating acquired studios. In 2009, Shannon created the Good Science studio from the ground up to explore the potential for, greenlight, and ship Kinect including creating core technology and many Kinect games. Following Kinect, Shannon led Microsoft’s 1st Party Global Publishing team, working with developers all over the world to create games including ReCore, Ori, Crackdown 3, Microsoft Casual Suite, and Flight Simulator.
Shannon served on the boards of the IGDA Foundation and also the AIAS. She cofounded the Women in Gaming SIG with Bonnie Ross and Laura Fryer over 20 years ago, and it’s still going strong today.
