JULY 18, 2007 • Five days following the close of E3, Microsoft Games corporate vice president Peter Moore leaves the company to become the label president of EA Sports. Moore explains the change as a family-related return to the San Francisco Bay area, with no linkage to the future prospects of the Xbox 360 platform. Don Mattrick, former president of EA’s worldwide game studios, was named by Microsoft as senior vice president of its interactive entertainment business, and responsible for all gaming initiatives at the company.
Impact: Whatever his reasons for leaving, Moore’s absence will leave a pretty big hole for Microsoft Games. In addition to providing a lot of color, Moore provided a great deal of savvy about marketing entertainment products to the mass market consumer. Microsoft is very much a business-to-business computer company while the games division needs to focus on entertainment. Executives like Moore are needed at Microsoft to drive a consumer entertainment culture.
