Wow, talk about some surprising news following on the heels of a largely successful E3 showing last week. Word has been released today that Peter Moore is resigning from his post overseeing the Xbox and Games for Windows businesses as corporate vice president of IEB (Interactive Entertainment Business) in order to move his family back to the San Francisco Bay area where they lived before he joined Microsoft. According to today’s release, Moore has “secured another opportunity in the video games industry,” so it’ll be interesting to see where he pops up next. And according to a few early reports, Moore will be taking over as the new President of EA Sports, but we’ll let you know for sure once official confirmation is released.
“Peter has contributed enormously to the games business since joining Microsoft in 2003 and we are sad to see him go,” said Robbie Bach, president of Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. “Since that time, he presided over the global launch of the Xbox 360™, spearheaded a revitalized and rebranded Games for Windows business, and helped steer the console’s ascent.”
Taking over for Moore to lead the IEB will be Don Mattrick, the former president at Electronic Arts. Mattrick will officially become the new senior vice president of IEB at Microsoft as of July 30th, and Moore will be staying on with Microsoft through August to help with the transition.
“While Peter will certainly be missed, we are delighted to have one of the industry’s most talented and passionate veterans on board to lead the business,” Bach said. “Don is well-known and respected throughout the industry for his deep knowledge, technical expertise and management savvy. Under Don’s leadership, the games team is looking forward to embarking on our biggest holiday ever, with a wide-ranging roster of some of the most highly anticipated titles.”
“Over the past two decades, and the past few months in particular, I’ve worked closely with many of Microsoft’s top leaders and I’ve always been impressed by their talent, passion and commitment,” said Mattrick. “I’m thrilled to join an already strong team that’s delivering truly amazing gaming experiences to customers around the world. I’ve never been more excited about the future of the industry, and firmly believe Microsoft will lead the next great innovations in gaming.”
[Update] Official word has now been released from EA confirming that Peter Moore will be joining the company as the President of the EA Sports label. Moore had this to say about his new position:
“The people at EA SPORTS have created one of the strongest brands in the entertainment industry and John Riccitiello is building an organization which will extend the company’s leadership to new platforms and new audiences all over the world. I couldn’t be more excited about joining EA and moving my family back to the San Francisco Bay Area.”
Now it’s really going to be interesting to see how Moore goes from promoting the Xbox 360 to now working as a third-party to bring games to the Sony and Nintendo platforms he once competed against. Maybe this is why the upcoming Xbox 360 version of Madden ’08 is being focused on more than the PS3 version…
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You know, there are a lot of people that are saying Moore quit MS after the three-year warranty extension, as he was a major advocate for saying there were far fewer hardware problems than people led off to believe. Personally, like it matters. 360 is in the lead, and he wants to add something new to his portfolio.
Good luck to him.