Peter Moore's final goodbye

Since the news broke last night that Xbox's poster boy Peter Moore was leaving Microsoft and heading to California to work with EA Sports, we've been waiting to hear from him one last time. And Major Nelson must have shared the same feeling too, because he tracked down Mr. Moore for a twelve minute audio discussion of what he'll miss most, where he's headed and why he decided to head to EA. And for all the conspiracy theorists out there Moore specifically mentioned that this decision had nothing to do with how things are going at Microsoft, the three year warranty mess or anything else business related. He just wanted to move back home to California to be with his family and put their interests first. Listen for yourself and download Peter Moore's goodbye interview already.

And please do not cry fanboys, because Peter Moore is extremely optimistic and promises to keep in touch with the Xbox community for years to come. Collectively we bid a fond farewell to you Peter Moore as we enjoyed the time you've spent on team Xbox and we hope you enjoy spending your newly earned millions. We'll miss you.

Reader Comments (19)

holy crap,
did not see this coming, he was pretty good.
Don't execs usually step down when things are going lukewarm/bad?
Xbox is going into it's biggest season yet!
oh well, hopefully his successor will be better than Sony's awkward replacement.

At first I was angry that he decided to go with crappy EA Sports, but I can understand him wanting to be with his family.

I understand his reasoning...I'll be listening to this after I'm done the fancast in 5 minutes.

This is what executives do, he was hired to come in and make the 360 a success. He did just that. He brought games to the 360 that might have never been (GTA IV).

He seemed to be a good guy with a sense of humor. This will probably grow the relationship with EA and Microsoft.

I just hope the new guy picks up where Peter left off and continues to bring success for the 360.

This undoubtedly is the result of the shame and humiliation he experienced by pausing Rock Band a couple times during E3.

He was let go for not doing what he was supposed to.

Remember that report that came out a short time ago that the 360 didn't meet their goal? Guess who's the fall guy. It's not Joe from Accounting... its the captain of the ship. They're just putting a spin on it.

The simplest explanation is usually the truth. Which is why I still believe he was ousted, or at the very least, helped along so that Don Mattick could take over. Remember that Peter Moore is a consummate salesman and is doing a great job of selling his "return to California" as the key reason. But something else is missing in this, starting with the fact that Microsoft hired Mattick as a consultant in February.

Very, very, very few executives leave top posts like that willingly. Doesn't really matter, I wish Moore the best at EA. But don't expect me to believe the personal reasons line as anything more than a graceful exit to a lesser job, which is probably the first, best fit he could find.

We'll miss you Peter!

Hopefully, this means that EA and MS will be closer.

"...Peter Moore is extremely optimistic and promises to keep in touch with the Xbox community for years to come..."

I'm sure at EA Sports he will have plenty of opportunities to do that...in the form of all that wonderful paid content in the XBox Live Marketplace. Microtransactions FTW!

The reason Peter Moore resigned is primarily for personal reasons, which is exactly what the article says.

Remember, Peter Moore earned his Masters degree from California State University. He also worked for Sega in San Francisco, California for quite a while.

In other words, he is very familiar with that part of the country, and would like to continue living there.

Nobody was "fired" in this deal; that much is certain. After all, Peter Moore is STILL working with Microsoft until sometime in August in an effort to help with the transition process. That does NOT happen when someone is fired.

#4 has it right, I realize some of you younger folks or less-business oriented folks don't have experience in this field but large corporations do hire people in do make their product / company and success and Peter has done an excellent job. I know I will miss his humor and presence at Microsoft.

Losing Peter Moore is already tragic.

But seeing him going to work for the Devil is unbeareable!!!

I Would rather he went to Sony or Nintendo than EA.

EA represents EVERYTHING that's WRONG and EVIL in video games.

See what they did with the Harmonix fat chick? Now that's she's working for EA if you look into her eyes you'll turn into STONE!

And she is only WORKING for them in a single project! I imagine what will happen to poor Peter once he is gonna be their EMPLOYEE. Oh, well, people sell their sould to the Devil all the time. It was just Peter's time...

I (like many of you) thought Peter Moore did an excellent job under Microsoft. He's the one the gave the XBOX brand a face in my book. I'm not so sure 360 would have the installed base it does today if it weren't for his contributions. I only hope his replacement continues his work and has the same passion for the 360's success as it's fans do!!

#11,

There is a world of difference between being fired from a McDonalds--when you're gone before your apron hits the floor--and being ousted from the corporate suite, which involves a transition period on both sides.

At the company I work for, a senior VP was helped out the door by management, but was allowed to leave on his own terms, and use the office for 2 months in an acting capacity while he discreetly looked for a new job. That's how corporate America works at the highest levels.

Microsoft and Moore had more to gain by working this out like gentlemen, which is probably what they both did.

Unless someone knows Moore or Steve Ballmer personally, I doubt anyone can say for sure that leaving the gaming industry's most powerful, high-profile job was his own idea.

@13

Sony represents that same evil pal.

Topic.

Some1 please tell me, as I post in the last moore topic, WHY IS HE MOVING OUT WEST FOR PERSONEL REASONS BUT TAKING A JOB WITH EA GAMES AS THE PRESIDENT OF THE SPORTS DIVISION WHEN THE SPORTS DIVISION(TIBERON) IS ONLY LOCATED IN FL ON THE EAST COAST?

Can someone please address this for me?

Ea Tiberon is the only place the Madden,nba live, nascar...sports games are developed.

Moore, you'll be missed. Your predecessor has some big shoes to fill.

@ccc,

EA Tiberon isn't the only studio EA uses to develop sports titles, EA Sports BIG, and and several other EA Sports titles are developed by EA Canada, which you'll note is also not in the SF Bay Area. There may be other studios beside those two that develop games for EA sports, but I'm not familiar enough with EA's various studios to say.

So why the move to the bay area though? Simple, EA's corporate headquarters are located in Redwood Shores, Ca. He's joining corporate management, not an individual studio. He's being hired on to manage the brand, not to manage individual developers. As such it makes FAR more sense for him to be at the corporate headquarters, where he has access to the people he'll be dealing with most (other execs at EA). Which isn't to say that he won't be actively communicating with the developers; but his day to day tasks will be those of an executive, not those of a producer.

anybody else think that this looks really bad due to that fact that it's the week after E3?

especially in light of the popular belief that MS's conference was luke warm, only hyping this years games and NOT giving a solid plan for next year?

I wish I would have been around yesterday when this news broke.

People in positions like this do often leave by choice. As someone that works in the Automotive Aftermarket I see positions like this change all the time. Rarely is it because the person wasn't performing well. Often they receive a good offer or look toward something that fits their personality.

Missing the unit mark might have been an issue, though I would find it almost shocking to be the reason for this change.

I really wish Peter the best of luck. Business is tricky and you can't always be the good guy. Peter always came across as a person the respected the community. Yeah the 'things break' issue stung, but I still think he did a great job.

Peter Moore's final goodbye

Reader Comments (19)

Posted: Jul 18th 2007 10:06AM hotpuck6 said

Posted: Jul 18th 2007 10:14AM anoffday said

Posted: Jul 18th 2007 10:18AM DjDATZ said

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Posted: Jul 18th 2007 11:08AM DjDATZ said

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Posted: Jul 18th 2007 2:26PM ccc said

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Posted: Jul 19th 2007 10:00AM Neon Jebus said

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