Electronic Arts Inc. late Thursday announced a corporate restructuring in which EA Sports President PETER MOORE has been elevated to COO for the entire company. Moore, who came to EA in '07 from Microsoft, takes over in the expanded role for JOHN SCHAPPERT, who left in April for social gaming outfit Zynga. EA Sports Exec VP ANDREW WILSON, a key lieutenant to Moore, will now be the head of EA Sports in a slightly altered label structure for the video games giant. Wilson will run the day-to-day operations of EA Sports, now one of four primary labels for the company along with EA Games, EA Play and Bioware. Wilson and the other label heads will report to company veteran FRANK GIBEAU, who now takes on the title of president of EA Labels, and is a former SportsBusiness Journal/SportsBusiness Daily Forty Under 40 winner. Both Gibeau and Moore will report to EA CEO JOHN RICCITIELLO. The shift was done in large part to more closely align the company's executive structure with a rapidly changing video game industry now embracing digital platforms such as mobile and social networks, and new virtual products such as as the recently announced EA Sports Season Ticket. "I like to say I have the coolest job in the world, and part of me hates to leave," Moore said Thursday night. "But this is what John and the company needs, and we have a great opportunity to lead in the industry as we go deeper in this new era, and sports is going to be right among the forefront of that." Moore spent much of Thursday contacting league partners about the executive shift, and he said he will still work closely with Wilson, particularly on licensing deals and other league partnerships. "Sports is still going to be a huge part of the job, and the one thing that definitely is not going to change is the relationships we've built with the leagues," Moore said. "Relationships still really matter in this business."
