Taking The Controls: Peter Moore Named EA Sports President
 |
| Moore To Become EA Sports President |
Microsoft VP/Interactive Entertainment Business PETER MOORE has left the company to become EA Sports President. Moore will begin at EA in September and will report to EA CEO JOHN RICCITIELLO. While at Microsoft, Moore was in charge of both the Xbox and Games for Windows businesses. Moore’s appointment finalizes Riccitiello’s reorganization of the company into four autonomous labels -- FRANK GIBEAU is EA Games President, KATHY VRABECK is EA Casual Entertainment President and NANCY SMITH The Sims label President (EA). In L.A., Alex Pham reports Moore will earn a $550,000 annual salary, along with a one-time bonus of $1.5M and 50,000 shares of EA vested over a four-year span. Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst MICHAEL PACHTER said, “Peter’s a brilliant marketer.” Pachter added that Moore would “help EA better compete against” Take-Two Interactive Software in the sports games market (L.A. TIMES, 7/18). In N.Y., Seth Schiesel writes Moore’s “main task is the reinvigorate a sports division that has enjoyed the success of its popular Madden NFL series, but which has also grown complacent.” Moore’s goal will be to “reorient [EA’s] sports unit to capture more casual players without alienating the company’s base of hard-core game players” (N.Y. TIMES, 7/18).
LONG RECRUITMENT: Riccitiello said, “Peter’s somebody I’ve been trying to recruit for many years. ... Between his background in the online and gaming space, and his experience elsewhere in sports, this is a tremendous get for us.” Moore and Riccitiello have a professional relationship extending back to the early ‘90s and outside videogames, when Moore was Reebok Senior VP/Marketing and Riccitiello was Wilson Sporting Goods CEO. Prior to moving to the Seattle area in ’02, Moore was Sega of America President & CEO. Ironically, Moore will be replaced at Microsoft by former EA exec DON MATTRICK, a videogame industry veteran and most recently an external advisor for Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices division (Eric Fisher, SportsBusiness Journal).
|
