Former executive of a San Francisco developer of casual video games, Electronic Arts Inc., John Schappert, is heading back to the company as chief operating officer from Microsoft Corp., where he was corporate vice president of the company.

Schappert had left Electronic Arts Inc. in 2007.

Before joining Microsoft Corp. in 2007, John Schappert used to work as a software engineer and in time held leadership positions and led many of company's biggest games such as NHL Hockey, FIFA Soccer and Need for Speed.

At Microsoft, he shouldered responsibility for the Xbox Live software division, where he supervised Microsoft Game Studios. He also supervised massive franchises like Gears of War, Halo and Forza Motorsport.

John Schappert is going to replace departing company's COO, John Pleasants, who will become chief executive of social game developer Playdom.

According to reports Schappert will join Electronic Arts on July 14.