Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Peter Moore Talks About His Experiences In the Gaming Industry

Posted by Soulskill on from the and-he-has-a-lot dept.

Over the past several days, the Guardian has posted a five-part interview with Peter Moore, head of EA Sports. Moore was also the president of Sega, and a vice-president at Microsoft, so his experience at the top levels of the gaming industry is extensive. He describes how he came to be employed by Sega, the development of the Dreamcast, and its subsequent flop when confronted with the Playstation 2. He also discusses his involvement with the development of the Xbox franchise, how the integrated hard drive "killed" the original model, and he gives his account of how the Red Ring of Death fiasco affected the company. The series ends with a look at EA Sports' plans for the future, and how they're trying to create a new business model beyond the micro-payments popularized by iTunes, which Moore calls "a rip-off."

18 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. In other words... by Darkness404 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Over the past several days, the Guardian has posted a five-part interview with Peter Moore, head of EA Sports. Moore was also the president of Sega, and a vice-president at Microsoft, so his experience at the top levels of the gaming industry is extensive. He describes how he came to be employed by Sega, the development of the Dreamcast, and its subsequent flop when confronted with the Playstation 2. He also discusses his involvement with the development of the Xbox franchise, how the integrated hard drive "killed" the original model, and he gives his account of how the Red Ring of Death fiasco affected the company. The series ends with a look at EA Sports' plans for the future, and how they're trying to create a new business model beyond the micro-payments popularized by iTunes, which Moore calls "a rip-off."

    So in other words he has a lot of experience with companies that end up failing? Lets see... As the summary states the Dreamcast failed, when he worked with the Xbox he ended up when they started having the RRoD, and how he hates his current company (which can't make a decent game IMO) for charging micro-payments. Sure he has experience, but he doesn't seem to have any decent experience in succeeding.

    --
    Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    1. Re:In other words... by witekr · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The Xbox 360 and Dreamcast are not exactly failures. Sure, the Dreamcast didn't penetrate the market as well as it should have. That doesn't prevent it from being a great product that still sold (until the PS2 problem). And the 360, well, considering that it's the only modern console i'd ever think of buying these days (although I am probably just going to stick with my trusty PC) I would consider it a massive success.

      --
      Free electronic music for you!
    2. Re:In other words... by Darkness404 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Sure, the Dreamcast didn't penetrate the market as well as it should have. That doesn't prevent it from being a great product that still sold (until the PS2 problem).

      The Dreamcast problem happened mostly because Sega's other consoles managed to fail miserably. The Master System sold very well in Europe, and the Genesis (Mega Drive for all you people not in NA) sold very well all over. However, the addons didn't catch on as well as Sega had hoped for the Genesis. And the Saturn managed to basically fail. Wisely, Sega pulled out of the hardware business and now can make crap but sell it with the Sonic name and make decent sales.

      And the 360, well, considering that it's the only modern console i'd ever think of buying these days (although I am probably just going to stick with my trusty PC) I would consider it a massive success.

      Sure, the 360 actually made MS relevant for a while, but a few mistakes are going to lead to its downfall: A) Profit to loss margin. Every time someone buys a 360 MS makes no money on it. They actually lose money, same with Sony and the PS3, on the other hand Nintendo makes an instant $50 with every Wii console sold. B) HD-DVD. By supporting HD-DVD and then refusing to release a Blu-Ray drive, MS basically lost what the PS2's big selling point was: The next generation of video. The PS2 was a success not only because of the games made for it, but rather because at the time it was a cheap DVD player at the start of when DVDs started to become popular. With the rise of HD-TV and people refusing content that is not HD (I never can understand why, but then again I don't even own an HD-TV), Blu-Ray is going to push the PS3 forward. And lastly, C) The total cost of ownership. The 360 is like a bad computer, one that starts out cheap but requires a massive hardware upgrade to actually do anything. The $199 price point seems low, but when you realize that you have to buy an $86(!) wireless adapter to have the basic functionality of the $250 Wii. Not to mention that you also need to pay for online play, which, granted, Live is much better than the online services that Nintendo has to offer. Then you also need to buy a $50 hard drive to fully use it. This leaves you with a $335 console.

      The 360 also has the RRoD problem and the scratched disk problem that may make customers not want to buy it.

      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    3. Re:In other words... by westlake · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Every time someone buys a 360 MS makes no money on it. They actually lose money, same with Sony and the PS3, on the other hand Nintendo makes an instant $50 with every Wii console sold.
      .

      It is never quite that simple.

      Is Nintendo really netting $50 on each sale of the Wii? You also need to ask how many games are being sold for each system and what the return is there.

      Nintendo has proven there is a market for a console one generation behind the XBox 360 and the PS3. But that could be a tougher sell the next time around.

    4. Re:In other words... by miro+f · · Score: 3, Funny

      wait a second, there's a world outside the USA?

      --
      being vague is almost as cool as doing that other thing...
    5. Re:In other words... by gad_zuki! · · Score: 2, Informative

      I was using national figure, so thats xbox at 19 million worldwide then. Pretty far from a "failed" system.

  2. Irony by blool · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Moore calls micro-payments a rip-off. I call Madden '97 to '08 a rip-off. No I didn't read the articles, I don't care what the head of EA Sports has to say. Not to be mean, but I've never played an EA sports game that was anything but mediocre. I'm not even against sports games in general, but my friends and I would much rather play NFL Blitz or Wayne Gretzky 3D hockey for the N64. These are games that are actually FUN, not just shiny.

    1. Re:Irony by Toonol · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's pretty clear. He mentions that songs on iTunes are 99 cents, and asks what they are in the UK. The interviewer says 79 pence. He says "oh, you're being ripped off."

      I think it's both clear and accurate.

    2. Re:Irony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      So paying 40% to 60% more just because of what country you live in isn't a rip off?

      It isn't if it isn't intentional. You can't expect a company to change its prices every time a currency fluctuates. Plus, there are also fixed costs and marginal costs that are different in the different countries you do business in. For instance, sometimes the rights to the same song by the same band may be held by different companies depending on the country you sell it in. Plus, there may also be some differences in taxation (VAT or no VAT) and regulations that we may not know about. I don't know why the British are complaining anyway. If they're jealous of the Euro prices, they should just switch to the Euro currency. And if they're jealous of the American price, they should just ask their government to just do like ours and print money like mad -- diluting the currency until it's worth nothing.

  3. Sega suicide by Neon+Aardvark · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The 32x and the mega-cd thingie killed Sega. The dreamcast was a actually a really good console.

    But I can't be arsed to read the article and find out if he was responsible for those two abortions.

    --
    Azural - instrumentals
    1. Re:Sega suicide by Toonol · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Texture mapping the dreamcast did well. The capabilities of the Dreamcast were very close to the PS2; even better in some ways. It died because of Sony marketing, plus the fact that the PS2 included a DVD... which I think was the biggest advantage of the PS2 over the Dreamcast.

      Great little console.

    2. Re:Sega suicide by MBGMorden · · Score: 2, Insightful

      and it doesn't keep the same controller, but uses that huge bloated monstrosity that the Xbox controller was obviously based on.

      Actually the Dreamcast controller is probably my favorite console controller to date. The Playstation Dual-Shock controler is my least favorite. They have zero ergonomic feel and the left analog stick is in an awkward position (because it was pretty much just tacked onto the original PSX controller). Don't get me wrong I've got a PS2 and I have played a ton of good games on it, but it was certainly in spite of the controller rather than in spite of it. In 99% of games where the option was there I just broke down and used the D-pad on PS2 games because the analog stick was so hard to reach.

      The Xbox controller was good but the handles were much "fatter" than Dreamcast - made it harder to grip. The Gamecube controller has similar sized handles and felt almost as good as the Dreamcast controller to me, but I didn't like the button layout as much.

      All in all though, IMHO, the major downfall of the Dreamcast was that it was just too easy to copy the games. After people figured it out you could just download ISO's off the net and burn them with any old CD burner and play on Dreamcast. As to game library, I had fun, though I always play a fairly limited selection of games on any system anyways. On the Dreamcast I played through Resident Evil: Code Veronica, Soul Caliber, Grandia II, and Skies of Arcadia and enjoyed all of them immensely. Grandia II I particularly liked. Now most of those were later available on the other systems too, but I still felt my Dreamcast was worth the price (and I was one who bought it at full price on released day - I'd just headed off to college and couldn't take my N64 because it technically belonged to my brother as well, so the Dreamcast was the first system I purchased for myself using my own money).

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
  4. Rip-Off by Adrian+Lopez · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The series ends with a look at EA Sports' plans for the future, and how they're trying to create a new business model beyond the micro-payments popularized by iTunes, which Moore calls 'a rip-off.'

    Nah. Paying $49.99 for software that incorporates stricter DRM than a 99 cent iTunes song... now that is a rip-off!

    --
    "In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
    1. Re:Rip-Off by badboy_tw2002 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Dude, the meme is "graphics not gameplay" or if you're talking about EA then "its workers are slaves!" Get it straight when you go to your slashbot posting toolkit!

  5. Summary "Rip-off" comment is misleading by xenolon · · Score: 5, Informative

    After RTFA, I would just like to point out that Moore doesn't call iTunes or micropayments "a rip-off."

    After mentioning the 99c US price for individual iTunes tracks, the interviewer tells Mr. Moore that the UK price is 79p. Mr Moore responds "you're being ripped off." The inference here is that 79p is not equal, given to the exchange rate of US Dollars to UK Pounds, to 99 cents.

    This is one of many (growing) examples of the /. summaries being inaccurate, sensational, and combative. I expect this from the comments. In the summary, I expect at least the pretense of some sort of journalistic integrity.

    Sigh.

  6. hate to break it to you but by unity100 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    success of companies rarely depend on one man. and modern games are not made by a single man alone either. publishers dont let that much of creative freedom to anyone.

    --
    Read radical news here
  7. Ahem by gruntled · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I don't generally say this about people -- OK, Bill Gates -- but back when I was a journalist, I had occasion to interview Peter a number of times when he was with Sega. I'm sorry to say that he's an extraordinarily skillful liar. He has absolutely no compunction whatsoever about looking you right in the eye and flatly declaring something you both know is true is in fact false. It's quite a talent, but you've got to be a bit of a sociopath to pull it off properly.

    Twenty years ago, if you repeatedly lied to a journalist (I mean really lied, not dodged or fuzzed or dissembled) reporters would just stop quoting you. We called it the death penalty. If you're wondering what I'm talking about, do a Google search for Larry Speakes, Ronald Reagan's press secretary, and you'll learn why you thought Marlin Fitzwater was Ronald Reagan's press secretary.

    These days there's really no downside to lying to a reporter. Peter is a great example. You can probably think of a few others.

  8. Nintendo is using its market data by bussdriver · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Nintendo always was around the same price point for their systems; they've been going the longest and know their marketplace well.

    The Wii IS the next logical generation. The other two are a huge price jump to skip a generation ahead which was because they were marketing on penis envy to an older audience (who has that problem.)

    As disposable income has gone down, we have 2 game systems that have gone up in price. When I was a kid, nintendo was a BIG purchase for my parents and the 80s econ wasn't as bad now-- plus having irresponsible debt wasn't as popular (for families.)

    --
    Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news