Microsoft has just announced that they have appointed Electronic Arts executive John Schappert to the newly-created position of Microsoft's corporate vice president of Live, software and services. Basically his new job will entail overseeing Microsoft's online gaming initiative across both Xbox 360 and Games for Windows.

The announcement follows last month's hiring of Don Mattrick, former president of EA, to replace Peter Moore as the top executive in Microsoft's overall games business. Moore left Microsoft to head Electronic Arts' EA Sports division.

Don Mattrick, vice president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business, commented, "John's expertise will help us focus on expanding and enriching our market leadership with Live in areas like online services while broadening our audience."
John Schappert was the founder of Florida-based Tiburon Entertainment way back in 1994, which was then acquired by EA in 1998. Among the key game titles that Schappert previously worked on is EA's best-selling Madden franchise, and was also responsible the company's online initiatives.