Larry Hryb has been appointed community development consultant at Commodore International Corporation.

In his new role, Hryb will advise the Commodore executive team with a focus on preserving and expanding the global community around the iconic Commodore brand.

Last year, the original Commodore brand was acquired by retro YouTube creator Christian Simpson (Perifractic), as reported by PC Gamer. Simpson is now the company’s CEO and president.

“Through blogs, podcasts, social media, and events, Larry pioneered direct communication with players long before that kind of engagement became standard across the industry,” said Simpson.

“Bringing Larry in to help support continued engagement with the fans that kept Commodore alive while also welcoming a new generation of fans is a natural next step for us in rebooting the brand.”

Hryb added: “I’ve always believed the best thing a company can do is partner with its community – and with a passionate fan base carrying the torch for 31 years, Commodore’s situation is truly unique when it comes to community engagement.

“The community didn’t wait around – instead they built something remarkable. Players, hardware hobbyists, developers, content creators, and publishers are all a part of the Commodore community, and now we get to build what’s next together.

Before joining Commodore, Hryb was senior director of advocacy and community at Unity. He joined the firm in June 2024 but was laid off at the start of this year.

This was his first role after working as a senior director of corporate communications at Xbox for over a decade, where he was better known by his Gamertag Major Nelson.

Hryb joined Microsoft in 2001 as editor-in-chief of MSN Music, then moved to Xbox in 2003 as principal program manager.

He contributed to the launches of the Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Live and Kinect during his tenure, and hosted the official Xbox podcast.