Less than two weeks after Microsoft announced it would take a charge of more than 1 billion U.S. dollars to cover costs of repairing defective Xbox 360 video games, the company announced Peter Moore, its No. 1 gaming executive, is leaving and headed to Electronic Arts to run it sports franchise.
Microsoft officials say Moore wanted to return to the Bay Area for family reasons (EA's headquarters is in Redwood City, Calif.). Moore, the former president of San Francisco-based Sega America, moved to the Seattle area after taking a job with Microsoft in late 2002. He has a child attending the University of California-Berkeley.
"It's hard to arm-wrestle him to get him to stay," says Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division. "He's done a great job. I would have loved to have him stay here."
In September, Moore will take charge of EA's sports division, which delivers perennial million-unit sellers with its Madden NFL and FIFA soccer franchises. He will be in charge of one of the biggest of four newly reorganized units created by new Chief Executive Officer John Riccitiello. Former Electronic Arts studio chief Don Mattrick will replace Moore at Microsoft.
A good fit for the, Moore once played professional soccer and worked with sporting goods companies before his stint at Sega. But his challenge will be to reinvigorate franchises that Riccitiello in recent interviews has called boring and too complicated for many would-be gamers.
"For the most part, the industry has been rinse-and-repeat. There's been lots of product that looked like last year's product, that looked a lot like the year before," Riccitiello said in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal.
Another challenge awaiting Moore is smoothing any ruffled feathers at headquarters of former fierce rivals. As the lead cheerleader for the Xbox, he's taken many swipes at Sony and Nintendo. EA makes games for all three companies, and winning support from his one-time competitors will be crucial to his success.
Source: Xinhua/agencies
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