This past November we reported that EA Chicago, the development studio responsible for the Fight Night series, would be closing. EA at the time stated that it was purely a business decision, and that it did not reflect on the talent located in the windy city. While EA has offered positions to those talented individuals at the studio, we haven’t heard much on Kudo Tsunoda’s fate.

Last week the guys over at Gametap learned Microsoft has garnered a deal with Tsunoda, which puts him in place as the General Manager of Xbox business. He will report to Don Mattrick, another former EA employee who replaced Peter Moore last year. Gametap’s unnamed sources – and you know how much we trust those kinds – also claim that Tsunoda will be a project lead for Gears of War 2. We’re hearing a lot of GDC revelation rumblings for that game, but I’m still expecting an E3 debut and 2009 release time frame.

Before having his studio closed down Tsunoda was working on a new fighting game featuring Marvel super heroes. We’ll have to wait and see what sort of impact Tsunoda’s style can have for Microsoft. They can certainly use all the help available with a weak first party lineup on the near horizon.