Not going to do huge quotes but ill write plenty of snippets and stories (its a very long video), but its still another great interview thats worth a lesson from legendary former Sega boss and former Microsoft boss and current EA boss Peter Moore, credit goes to IGN and Ryan McCaffery, video here, enjoy.
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SEGA
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SEGA
- Wanted to be a footballer, used to be a PE teacher, fond supporter of Liverpool FC, strong work ethic gained from watching parents work in a busy pub all day
- Very proud of the Dreamcast's new IP's when it launched and the fact and the Soul Calibur , Trick Style, Hydro Thunder, Ready to Rumble, Sonic Adventure, Virtua Tennis, NFL 2K Particularly loves how weird Seaman was and Samba De Amigo which Peter and Sega would crank out at parties and play, Phantasy Star Online, Chu Chu Rocket, Space Channel 5 and of course Shenmue, House of the Dead
- Used expertise from Reebok career and marketing towards young male audiences at Sega. His recruiter at the time stated that the only thing that really matched Nike vs Reebok was the console wars, you've got to be a Sega vs Nintendo guy. When his son Tyler, who works at IGN, owned a Sega Saturn, Tyler told Peter that they discontinued it, and Peter had no idea why and was frustrated, eventually Sega would end up becoming Peter's employer
- Initially thought that the games industry was just 'boys in their bedrooms' but they really were on the cusp of making it a huge entertainment industry, focus went on making the Dreamcast more than just a console launch, and so they decided to do the biggest 24 hours of entertainment industry and celebrated all their work. The Dreamcast had a $100m marketing budget, and Sega sponsored the MTV VMA's for the 9/9/99 date when Dreamcast launched. Everything came together in a 'perfect storm' in NYC, Sega Japan was respective of the fact Sega needed to do something disruptive and fast with the looming Playstation 2 incase Sony would F.U.D. them. Loved the creepy "its thinking" voice in Dreamcast commercials.
- There was a lot of skepticism in the industry, and Sega was doubted a lot because of the Saturn, Dreamcast was Sega's hail mary. Its expensive, high risk and high reward. People questioned Sega's ability to sustain against the publicity of the 'emotion engine' and 'games that would be like Toy Story' Sony used Kessen and The Bouncer to cleverly showcase the PS2. Moore and Sega knew they had a battle on their hands and they had an aggressive battle against Sony, Sega 'tried hard to justify the purchase of a Dreamcast.' There was eventually a point when the PS2 dev kits came out that the big publishers had Sega worrying that they weren't going to continue developing. Eventually the writing was on the wall, dev resources were shifting. Eventually Moore and Sega thought they need to get away from JSR and Samurai Warriors and adopt these new GTA III esque releases that shook the world. It all went away from fantasy and colorful to mature themes and cinematic. The attach rate was dying and numbers werent good, and the difficult decision was made to pull the plug on Dreamcast.
- Sega needed to become a third party and go to Nintendo and Sony and ask for dev kits, Moore knows he's accused of killing the Dreamcast and he remembers the exact date he made the call to end it. He was confident however that Sega's software was second-to-none and full of potential and they needed to take care of the leftover Dreamcast customers and transition them to the other consoles and other Sega software.
- Microsoft was the first person to call and said 'they had a spiritual bond with the Dreamcast', if you look at the back of the Dreamcast theres a Microsoft logo on there because of Windows CE, and said 'we love what you tried to do with online, because we think thats the future' Robbie Bach and J Allard and Seamus Blackley were all big Sega fans, Peter calls this the warm cocoon where they discussed content and the similar dev base and MS would invest in Sega's games. MS thought this would be their entry into the Japanese market.
- Peter built a future manifesto for Sega, considering what does the brand mean and taking on Sony and Nintendo but being a platform-agnostic company. They had a week of focus groups in San Francisco and New York. For example 'Ryan, if Sega was a person who would they be?' the answers were funny and sobering. EA was the arrogant high school quarterback jock, Take Two was the drunken uncle who would show it up from Vegas but boy he comes in with a big bang, but Sega is your granddad who used to be cool and hes still in the room but hes not really the presence he once was. Peter needed to embed Sega into the globalization of the industry and the maturing of content. Peter presented his manifesto and he got into an argument with Yuji Naka who accused him of falsifying the video and there was no way they'd get involved. This ended up being the thing that led Moore to leave Sega as he told the translator to colorfully curse Yuji Naka. The frustration had gotten too much.
- Peter gets a phone call from Robbie Bach, Peter states his frustration that Sega is too unwilling to adapt to this new tone of gaming. Bach offers him a role at a Microsoft to help out with marketing. Steve Ballmer calls and offers lunch, had a great one and a half hour conversation and Peter got the job of running Xbox Europe and Xbox Japan.
- Moore jokes that if EA published some games for the Dreamcast it wouldve helped, but Sony was just too powerful, the japanese was such a powerful entity and Sony had done a great job securing them. Publishers didnt have much financial incentive for the Dreamcast. There was a glimmer of hope in North America but the publishers had made their mind up. The Dreamcast was an apology for the Saturn and they wanted it to be a fresh start, not just the 'Dreamcast, it had to be the 'Sega Dreamcast'. But by then the brand had burned too many bridges.
MICROSOFT
- Ballmer and Bill Gates loved the idea that Xbox was so different to the initial concept of Microsoft, Microsoft couldn't buy anybody and the e-mails were being read due to anti-trust laws. You werent allowed to go message people about 'dominating the market' at Microsoft. But Xbox had a little 'magic dust of difference' and had a different culture. Prioritization was made on being the first to market with the 360 and success was seen then.
- Peters favorite moments were sitting down with Bill Gates and Robbie Bach, Bill was 'humble' and 'brilliant', Xbox kindled an impish playfulness in Bill behind-the-scenes. Bill would constantly question the possibilities and ask what the competition was doing and trusted Peter to build a marketing plan. He would pound the desk out of enthusiasm and it was Bills idea for Xbox Live subscriptions 'They should pay us $5 a month because were gonna invest millions into this!' and he was right in that regard. Ballmer and Bill played the Xbox at E3 and Moore would get angry at Steve for throwing his controller whenever he lost to Bill. Xbox was the underdog and had to move the industry forward and have the courage to do things like have an ethernet adapter and sustain it, learning from the Dreamcast.
- Microsoft intentionally played with the internet hype and 'Xenon', and Moore asked the Xbox team to create 20 different looks and designs for the Xbox. People got so confused that MS managed within 12 hours of the unveil for the 360 to confuse the industry. Peter describe how chaff is used by fighter planes to distract enemy missiles, and asked them to throw as much metaphorical chaff as they could.
- Moore loves the industry and the gamers, and reminded him for the passion people had for sneakers, and wanted to become a brand ambassador who would fight for the brand at MS and Sega and wanted to fight for gamers. For instance testifying against congress members (Lieberman-McCain) who were poorly educated on gaming and wanted to ban them.
- Nobody believed MS would ship Halo 2 anymore, so Moore sarcastically said one day 'What do I have to do? Tattoo this on my body?!' then somebody recommended he actually do it. He did this and the same for GTA IV. Moore is extremely coy about whether the GTA IV one is real but insists the Halo 2 one is real. Moore is honored that he did something that would make people laugh and give people happiness.
ELECTRONIC ARTS
- One day Moore receives an e-mail with the subject stating 'Time to Come Home', offering a job for him to work at EA, he was happy with his job at Xbox but the only job he'd ever leave it for would be a job at EA Sports.
- Moore knows one day they'll be back for NCAA Football, was very sad to abandon it due to legal issues and capturing the likeness of players. Moore understood as well that NBA Elite 11 was getting a bad reception, referencing a famous glitchy video of Andrew Bynum and they yanked it from the stores because it wasnt worthy of the NBA Live line,
- Moore believes that EA being called the worst company in America was initially ridiculous especially during a time of BP oil spills and banking crises, the ending in Mass Effect 3 was apparently so abhorrent but he's sure there was more then that. It was one of those moments where you get defensive but then you suddenly think theres a nugget of truth or you can use it as a moment of self-reflection.
- Moore formed a committee to change EA's brand image and put players first and dug down into places like Reddit and Neogaf and took some themes to work out whats happening. The new mantra EA adapted was player first, in every EA meeting now someone questions if it's 'player first'. If you treat players with respect, eventually they will come. EA is much more unified now than before. Theyre also far more willing to give a game time to get polish.
- EA was apparently preparing for a digital only world since 2007 (see Origin and EA Access), theyve also been focusing a lot on eSports and EA has noticed that the competitive gaming industry has boomed, and Andrew Wilson took Moore's expertise in competition and made him Chief Competition Officer. EA doesnt need revenue to justify their investment in EA Sports, the goal is engaging skill sets and furthering the industry
- Mass Effect Andromeda is gonna be magnificent apparently
- EA is very very aware that people want Skate 4 and Fight Night, even Road Rash
- EA Sports has nothing to announce with Baseball right now
- Neo and Scorpio are very good for the industry, creates a lot of mid-cycle excitement and keep things moving faster to keep up with advancements. EA doesnt have much information on Neo other than 'it exists' (maybe implying theyre closer with Scorpio?) The dev teams love what theyre seeing right now.
- Peter thought it was surreal being parodied on South Park, has the autographs of Matt and Trey, Peter's son called him up and said 'You were just on South Park!' Peter initially thought it meant EA Sports and it was a collective parody, he didn't realise it was specifically him and he thought it was great but his accent sounds like Boss Hog instead of Liverpudlian.
DDD
