VG Aficionado
07-17-2007, 10:24 PM
Report: Peter Moore to Leave Microsoft to Head EA Sports (http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=16826)
Neither EA nor Microsoft have confirmed this officially, but GameDaily BIZ has confirmed with a well placed industry source that Peter Moore is leaving his position as the head of interactive entertainment for MS. We have also learned that he will be replaced by former EA exec Don Mattrick. More within...
As was first reported by gaming blog Kotaku, Peter Moore, Corporate Vice President of Interactive Entertainment at Microsoft, would appear to be leaving the company to take a position as the head of EA Sports (one of EA's four labels under the company's recent reorganization). When EA first made its announcement about its restructuring, the company specifically said, "EA Executive Vice President Joel Linzner will oversee this group until a president of EA Sports is announced." Looks like EA found their man.
Kotaku has reported this as rumor (and indeed, neither EA nor MS have confirmed Moore's move), but GameDaily BIZ heard from a high-level industry source this afternoon that this is indeed happening. Our source also indicated that Don Mattrick, the former president of EA Worldwide who earlier this year joined Microsoft as an external advisor for its Entertainment and Devices division, would likely be replacing Moore.
On its face, Moore leaving the Xbox business to head up the sports division for EA would seem like a weird choice or a step down. But as Kotaku points out, Moore is a pretty big sports fan and he did run the sports business at Reebok for a time. He's also developed a great relationship with EA over the years as he's helped to solidify EA's presence on the Xbox and Xbox 360.
Moore joined Microsoft in January 2003, coming from Sega of America where he was president and COO. Moore oversaw the launch of the beloved (in the hardcore gamer community) Dreamcast console and he also played a large role in transitioning Sega from console maker to platform agnostic software publisher. More recently with Microsoft, he's helped forge important development relationships with Japanese developers such as Hironobu Sakaguchi (Mistwalker), Yoshiki Okamoto (Game Republic) and Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Q Entertainment).
EA has not returned our request for comment yet, but a Microsoft spokesperson told GameDaily BIZ, "We have no comment at this time." (Interestingly, this is not the usual "we do not comment on rumor or speculation" quote.)
We'll bring you more (hopefully official) word as soon as we get it. Funny that this report appears at about the same time as this one: Xbox Exec Stock Selloff Raises Eyebrows, Microsoft Shrugs (http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=8044).
Not to mention the 12 million defective consoles reports. Is there anything else going on at Microsoft? :shrug:
Neither EA nor Microsoft have confirmed this officially, but GameDaily BIZ has confirmed with a well placed industry source that Peter Moore is leaving his position as the head of interactive entertainment for MS. We have also learned that he will be replaced by former EA exec Don Mattrick. More within...
As was first reported by gaming blog Kotaku, Peter Moore, Corporate Vice President of Interactive Entertainment at Microsoft, would appear to be leaving the company to take a position as the head of EA Sports (one of EA's four labels under the company's recent reorganization). When EA first made its announcement about its restructuring, the company specifically said, "EA Executive Vice President Joel Linzner will oversee this group until a president of EA Sports is announced." Looks like EA found their man.
Kotaku has reported this as rumor (and indeed, neither EA nor MS have confirmed Moore's move), but GameDaily BIZ heard from a high-level industry source this afternoon that this is indeed happening. Our source also indicated that Don Mattrick, the former president of EA Worldwide who earlier this year joined Microsoft as an external advisor for its Entertainment and Devices division, would likely be replacing Moore.
On its face, Moore leaving the Xbox business to head up the sports division for EA would seem like a weird choice or a step down. But as Kotaku points out, Moore is a pretty big sports fan and he did run the sports business at Reebok for a time. He's also developed a great relationship with EA over the years as he's helped to solidify EA's presence on the Xbox and Xbox 360.
Moore joined Microsoft in January 2003, coming from Sega of America where he was president and COO. Moore oversaw the launch of the beloved (in the hardcore gamer community) Dreamcast console and he also played a large role in transitioning Sega from console maker to platform agnostic software publisher. More recently with Microsoft, he's helped forge important development relationships with Japanese developers such as Hironobu Sakaguchi (Mistwalker), Yoshiki Okamoto (Game Republic) and Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Q Entertainment).
EA has not returned our request for comment yet, but a Microsoft spokesperson told GameDaily BIZ, "We have no comment at this time." (Interestingly, this is not the usual "we do not comment on rumor or speculation" quote.)
We'll bring you more (hopefully official) word as soon as we get it. Funny that this report appears at about the same time as this one: Xbox Exec Stock Selloff Raises Eyebrows, Microsoft Shrugs (http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=8044).
Not to mention the 12 million defective consoles reports. Is there anything else going on at Microsoft? :shrug: