Being an adult is hard. There are times where you have to make a decision because it’s the smart, adult thing to do.

If you’ve met me you know I’m a big kid. (It’s probably why I’ll make such a good parent). I love the spotlight, I love toys and video games, and I love being social.

I’ve been doing community management for over six years now and have gotten to work on some of the biggest games. I worked on Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, and most recently, Killer Instinct.

I reached a point where I had to make a decision. I had to choose between working towards my future family or risk being out of a job. I chose myself and my family. Sure, I could have stuck around and who knows what would have happened. It’s just that… it was too risky.

So what does this mean? It means I’m leaving my community team and my Killer Instinct family. I have to take care of ME first. I have to ensure that when I become a father, I can provide for my family.

Seems like a no brainer decision, right?

It wasn’t.

It was one of the hardest choices I ever had to make. I LOVE my job. I LOVE my community. I get to talk about video games to video gamers. I’ve made some amazing connections and friends. The KI community has some of the most passionate, vocal people I’ve ever met and I am so sad to leave that behind. I love this game more than you have ever known. I have fought, I have cried, I have argued with people that would make you question my sanity. All because I care about this game so much. I gave more time into this game than any other game I worked on at Microsoft. I dedicated my life to this game and to it’s fans.



I had to ask myself…

“Why?”



Why leave all that behind? Well, sometimes things don’t work out the way we want them to. Sometimes you need to listen to your brain, instead of listening to your heart.

So what’s next for me? Well, I’m moving away from community management for a while. I’ll still be working for Xbox, but as a producer on another team. I won’t be in the spotlight for a while, but that’s just a decision that had to be made. Hell, my own wife made that decision over a year ago, so it’s only fair that I do the same in this equal partnership.

What I am hoping for is more content from Tifa and myself. We both miss doing videos on our YouTube channel, and we have both talked about starting to do a few streams. Maybe now we’ll actually GO to events ourselves instead of worrying on whether or not work is going to send us. Yeah it might cost a little more, but the experiences and social interactions are well worth it. Also, now that I won’t be directly working with specific games, Tifa and I can talk about any and all games we want! So, that will be awesome.

I still plan on being active in the Killer Instinct (and video game) community because I am a gamer through and through. Community is in my blood and I don’t want that to be left behind.

My last day on Killer Instinct will be Friday, June 26th. I hope that you’ll join me on my last “Fighting Friday” Stream on twitch.tv/killerinstinct

After that, you can find me on Twitter, or add me on Xbox Live and we’ll play some games together.

I’m TheMikeRobles… and I’ll see you next time.