Peter Moore
From Sega Retro
Peter Moore' (born 1955 in Liverpool, England) is best known for his position as Corporate Vice-President of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business division, which includes the Xbox and Xbox 360 game consoles and also president of SEGA of America. Moore announced his resignation from Microsoft on July 17, 2007 to take over EA Sports division of Electronic Arts California.[1]
Contents
History
Moore holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Keele University, England, and a master’s degree from California State University, Long Beach.
Sega
After working for Patrick USA, the U.S. subsidiary of the popular French company, and then Reebok, Peter Moore rose to prominence at Sega, being a big figure in the company's North American operations during the Dreamcast era. Moore played a pivotal acting role in the company’s decision to change its business strategy to become a platform-agnostic software publisher. At the time of leaving, Moore was president and COO of Sega of America.
Microsoft
In 2003, Microsoft hired Moore to help the Xbox compete with other next generation consoles. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had been frustrated by the low market share of Xbox (then stalled at 23% in the United States), and heavily courted Moore based on his experiences with the Sega Dreamcast.[2]
Electronic Arts
On July 17, 2007, Electronic Arts announced that Peter Moore would be leaving Microsoft to head the sports division at Electronic Arts.[3] Moore reportedly wanted to move back to the San Francisco Bay area to live with his family, which was possible with EA. His position as Vice President of Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft was filled by Don Mattrick [4]
Miscellaneous
Peter Moore is also famous for having tattoos of Halo 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV that he used when announcing the respective games. However, while the Halo 2 Release date became a reality, the release date of Grand Theft Auto IV (Originally October 16th, 2007) did not. Some sources claim that the Halo 2 tattoo was not permanent [5] and others have reported that Moore still has it. [6] It is unknown if the Grand Theft Auto IV tattoo is permanent.
Moore also reportedly endorsed the Wii console as an alternative over the PlayStation 3, claiming that for the price of one PlayStation 3 (US$600 at the time), the consumer can buy both the Xbox 360 and Wii. [7]
Moore has been proud of the success of the Sega Dreamcast game console and the satisfaction that owners still express today; including fans of the Shenmue game franchise, which Moore describes as the most vocal fan base during his career at Sega. Moore disclosed to GamingSteve.com that at a security checkpoint at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, a TSA security agent said "I don't need to see your passport. You're the asshole that gave away Shenmue to Xbox." [8]
Peter Moore portrayed a zombie in the film adaptation of House of the Dead along with producer of the original game, Rikiya Nakagawa. Both are credited at the end of the film under "Special Thanks".