Oh, it's a written interview lol
Peter Moore, one of the highest profile executives in the games business, is happy. He's happy for a few reasons, it seems - not least because the Liverpudlian has been back in his adored home of San Francisco for the last eighteen months. But also: who wouldn't be happy with the security of a top President job at Electronic Arts, in a role that combines your two most favourite things? As President of EA Sports, the man whose career spans top jobs at Reebok as well as Sega and Xbox is immersed in the world of both gaming and sports in a single exciting role.
Some might look at EA Sports with a cynical eye and talk about the repetitiveness of the constant, year-after-year releases. It's one of the hot points we quizzed him on when he was in London last week, as part of EA's annual Spring Showcase event. We hadn't had a chance to talk to Peter since he joined EA a year and a half ago, so we had a full list of questions to get through. And here they are.
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Kikizo: What's your impression of the hardware manufacturers at the moment?
Peter Moore: I love 'em all, that's my overview! I love them all in their own different and unique ways.
Kikizo: Right, moving on then. Can you tell me how you plan to realise this vision you've talked about, to transpose EA Sports into an 'actual' sports brand?
Moore: I think that in today's economy, you've got to be looking for opportunities to grow your business wherever they present themselves to you. I look at the EA Sports brand, and what attracted me to come here from Microsoft was the brand itself, and what I thought the elasticity of that brand was; who we could talk to differently than just as a hardcore sports video game brand. You're seeing the fruits of that a little bit today with EA Sports Active. We're talking to a consumer we've never talked to before -which is let's say a 35 year-old woman - with a type a product that, as recently as eighteen months ago, you would never dream we'd do; it's not related to a licensed sport, and you don't actually play anything, and it's... not really a game! So it's one example of what we're doing.
You've seen an announcement recently that we're doing youth training sports aids, with a company called Toy Island, and you're going to see some announcements over the coming months of new licenses outside of the world of video gaming but inside of the world of sports, that we're signing in order to take the EA Sports brand in different places. We're using our technology - our 3D game engines - and licensing them to sports broadcasters for sports analysis purposes. So we're doing a bunch of different stuff that is growing our market - while not losing focus on our core consumer - expanding our brand and giving us different opportunities, as any responsible company should right now, to make sure that you keep your people employed and keep the business moving.
Kikizo: I'm looking at the player roster you've secured in Grand Slam Tennis, and the Wimbledon license, and also to things like securing Mike Tyson in Fight Night - how do you pull off these signings, when in the past EA and others have consistently failed to?
Moore: So tennis - tennis wasn't easy, because to your point, getting Wimbledon in the game wasn't easy. One thing we have to our advantage, without sounding pretentious, is we're EA Sports. And I think that when we sit down and talk about who we are and what we do, and the experience we deliver, people feel very comfortable that they're not going to have their brand, or their product, or their league or association, depicted in a way that they're going to be embarrassed. [John] McEnroe - I personally got involved with McEnroe because he was a tougher nut, and had never played a video game - although we've changed that very quickly. He's not a huge 'endorser' type of a guy. And we felt it was important to get McEnroe in the game as a differentiator. He's a tremendous icon in tennis, not only as a former player but as a broadcaster now. And well, people just love Johnny Mac, you know? He's irreverent, he's controversial, he was a great player, and we jut thought it was important to try and get him in the game, as representing that era.
You know, you've got Björn Borg in there, and how can you have Björn Borg and not McEnroe? So we "pulled it off", to use your words, by going in, making - I guess - compelling business proposals, but also presenting our credentials. Who we are, what we've done, and how we present things. And I like to think that anyone in sports likes to be a part of EA Sports. And they also recognise the service we deliver to their leagues, because we introduce kids to their sport. And we've done research on that - we make fans, and therefore we make customers, by playing the video game. The NFL certainly recognises that, that we create fans of American Football through our Madden game. No doubt in my mind, we've created fans of soccer, through our FIFA game, particularly in the US where it's more difficult to watch a game, but where we sell over a million units of the game - and everybody I talk to has a favourite team! "Oh, I play as Chelsea, or I play as Liverpool" - even though they've never seen those teams live. So we create fans for the leagues and for the clubs. So that's how we pull it off!
Kikizo: Deep pockets help as well, presumably?
Moore: Yeah, but you know, everybody has money...
Kikizo: It's about how you use it. And speaking to that, has your history back at Reebok helped you develop relationships as you've mentioned?
Moore: Yeah, I mean I bump into people. Recently I was in Miami for the World Congress of Sports, and that's another example - we don't just do video game conferences, we're actually asked to keynote the World Congress of Sports, which is a high-powered, North American, who's who of sports, and we gave a keynote address, showing the power of what EA Sports is to the world of sports. And so yeah, I probably bumped into 20 people that I knew from my Reebok days, people I hadn't seen for a long time that are still within the sports business. So certainly my experience of those days - which are a long time ago now - certainly help, because I'm starting to deal with the same people - I dealt with the NFL in those days, I dealt with the NBA in those days, and guess what, I'm dealing with the NFL and the NBA again now! And a lot of the same people are still in those leagues.
Kikizo: You talk to the community quite directly - blogging, forums - and when you were president at Sega I could email you personally and get a reply. It's sort of a contrast to the more 'closed' management style of someone like Nintendo. Can you comment on these management styles - why does the former suit you?
Moore: It's a difficult comparison; I've also worked for a Japanese company, when we were in the Sega days, it was a US subsidiary which was actually a pretty powerful subsidiary, because the Dreamcast had pretty much died already in Japan, and we were the lead dog on a global basis, so I had a lot of autonomy to act, to be the 'face' of the Dreamcast in those days. And it's difficult - Nintendo of America, Nintendo of Europe, they're subsidiaries, so therefore they take their cue from Kyoto, and it's not easy for them to say, without permission, what they need to say. I've always enjoyed the industry, I've always enjoyed interacting with gamers; back in the Sega days we had a lot of fun, in the battle against PlayStation 2 - I have a competitive nature, and it always suited me well to be up front, and to try and be the face; I loved the challenge of the old 'console wars' as they were, in those days, and took a little bit of that with me obviously to Microsoft. Different story now, where we're platform agnostic and I'm at a software company, and, as per my original premise, I love 'em all to death! So... yeah. My style is who I am - plus I'm a Scouser, and you know what we're like.
Kikizo: Do you think things like darts and snooker are sports? And if so are they things you would look to pursue at some stage?
Moore: Anything you can do with a pint in your hand, probably doesn't feel like a sport to me. Snooker, as much as I watched it when I lived here - and I watched it last night on Sky Sports - I'm not sure how it can be a sport. So it's your definition of sport, I think. But I grew up in a pub, so I love darts, and I started playing darts when I was six. Snooker I never really took a shine to quite frankly, but I can sit and watch it, and I love the strategy of snooker - much more so than the US, they play pool, and I don't think it's half the game snooker is. But anyway - no I don't think they're sports, per se.
Kikizo: Baseball is one of the sports I think you don't have currently, what are the others that maybe you're after?
Moore: Yeah, there are always sports we're looking at and keeping a very close eye on. I mean the development cycle of getting up and running, building a new engine and what have you is such that, I can't see something coming down the path and then say I can be in market within a year from now - that's not the way that we work. You know, we'd be looking at our FY12 portfolio right now and saying, boy, this is where we should go, or we should start developing an engine for this game now. So we keep a close eye on that, yes.
Kikizo: What about the Olympics - is 2012 a license that would interest you?
Moore: Well, the license that Sega has goes through 2012 - I believe it does, anyway. Olympics has always been a challenge; I think, to Sega and Nintendo's credit, they kind of cracked it with Sonic and Mario - that was a very strong commercial success. It's [traditionally] never been successful on consoles, for a number of reasons - I think it's primarily because there's a lot of button mashing going on in an Olympics video game, and I don't think that's very satisfying. So we've looked at the Olympics... I've always looked it and just kind of scratch my head. The worst thing about the Olympics is that it comes, it lasts for three weeks, and then it's gone. And even more so in America, where if an American isn't winning they're not interested and move on. And the moment that flame goes out, you better discount your software on the shelf. So that's the challenge that you always have with the Olympics. Much more so than America, we get a lot more excited in [the UK]; particularly with London coming up, the excitement's going to build, year in year out. In the United States, which is a major market for stuff like this, excitement will build for the week and then it will completely disappear once it's done.
Kikizo: Are there any points of comparison with that in terms of annual stuff like Superbowl?
Moore: We're used to it, we ship about a month before the season starts, and we know what's going to happen after the Superbowl's done. Soccer has a longer window, because if you look at the length of the season... it's a ten-month season! And it really only ends when maybe the Champions League final is done, and then they get like six weeks off, and they're in training again in July on their three season tour. So you know, soccer is at least a ten-and-a-half month season, and that allows us to continue to sell our title - FIFA 09 is still selling very well right now, and we're almost a little scared to show FIFA 10 - you just don't want to slow down the sales!
Kikizo: You guys aren't talking about the eventual PS3 and 360 versions of Grand Slam Tennis yet, instead focusing on the Wii version which bundles the new MotionPlus controller - a part of me wonders if that's because the PS3 and 360 versions will also have motion controls, which have not yet been revealed.
Moore: Well, let me be clear, we've announced Grand Slam Tennis on the Wii, June of this year, and later this year - I don't think we've got a specific date yet - it will be shipping on the Xbox 360 and the PS3. We decided to lead on the Wii because we needed to lead, and we knew Wii MotionPlus is coming; we thought this is a great opportunity, that the planets were aligning - what better game than tennis to show off MotionPlus - Nintendo agreed, and we have the ability to bundle. But it's a different experience when you're doing this [waves arms around], can't do that with a 360 or a PS3, and whatever commentary I made once which has turned into a thousand stories, about basically me saying, "I guess they're thinking about the future", which became, I don't know, 150 stories deep on Google.
Kikizo: Well your old friends are more 'to blame' for these motion rumours, I mean Shane Kim in particular has made comments which raise the eyebrow...
Moore: Shane is in a different job than he used to be when he worked for me, but you know, there's enough stuff you've seen, but all I did was speculate. And somebody asked me - I can't even remember what the question was - and I just basically said, "Yeah, I'm sure they are thinking, like any great company you think 3-5 years ahead, and I'm sure they're thinking about motion control". I think that's all I said. It must have been a very slow news day.
Kikizo: So this bundling with Wii MotionPlus, is that something you reckon you'll be doing exclusively as a publisher then? Not including Nintendo itself, I guess...
Moore: Well, as far as I'm aware - and that's the honest answer I can give you - I'm not aware of any other publisher - nor Nintendo - bundling in the Wii MotonPlus controller with any other piece of software. We haven't seen any other announcements. We think we'd know by now, because we're, what, six weeks away from it. So, as far as I'm aware.
Kikizo: Can you tell us about the deal on that? Would Nintendo for example have demanded exclusivity in terms of the Wii SKU coming first?
Moore: No. That SKU was coming first, regardless of whether Wii MotionPlus was in there. As I said a few moments ago, we made a decision: we knew it was coming, we knew the timing, we knew we wanted to be pre-Wimbledon, and take advantage of Wimbledon and bring that back in. Wimbledon wasn't gonna move for us, so we decided to put it right in front of Wimbledon, which the development team marched to, then Wii MotionPlus came along, and we sat down with our friends at Nintendo, and they loved the idea. It made a lot of sense. Same with Tiger in the US; we're bundling with Tiger, very early, and taking advantage of that. And of course you're getting half price on the controller if it's part of the bundle.
Kikizo: Is it possible for you to break down the ratio of Games versus Sports performance at EA?
Moore: We tend not to do that. We can tell you, as I've said before, our Sports business is a billion-dollar-plus business.
Kikizo: Yesterday EA seemed pretty excited about FY10, since FY09 was a bit dodgy...
Moore: I can't talk about FY10 - we're yet to discuss FY10; our earnings call, which you can call into, is May 5th. You can listen to that, you'll get a lot more info from John Riccitiello and Eric Brown on that call, and they'll give you a little bit more on what we're thinking about FY10.
Kikizo: Do you have any thoughts on Kudo Tsunoda leaving EA Chicago?
Moore: It got cold? I don't know! But that was a year and a half ago now, Kudo went just as I was arriving.
Kikizo: What I mean is, obviously he did really well with the Fight Night series. Although it doesn't look like it's harming the new Fight Night...
Moore: The team is doing really well, you've seen it, I'm sure - it looks great. Kudo did a great job with number three - those guys did a great job. But you know, people like to move on and do different stuff. I haven't seen Kudo since... well, I've met Kudo once in my life! We had a great meeting in New York, and then he was gone. So it's been a while.
Kikizo: Is there potential for EA All Play as a brand on other platforms than Wii?
Moore: We looked at that last year, and decided All Play as a product feature was very successful, I loved it, it resonated very well. But we looked at the brand and we decided it was complicated, our research told us consumers couldn't quite figure out where it's at. And we started to have a little more confidence then, in what EA Sports could do and how we could be a singular brand across multiple sports experiences. So All Play as a brand per se goes away, but All Play as a product feature stays embedded in the games.
Kikizo: But can you pick up the idea again, in terms of the casual-specific slant, and other casual venues for that?
Moore: No, I think what we're looking to do is have EA Sports be a singular brand, but stretch across more than just what you expected EA Sports to be in the past, which is a hardcore sports simulation brand. The fact that we feel confident to put it in Active as EA Sports, shows you that we feel good that we can talk to a different consumer, and actually our research on that bore out that even though that woman didn't necessarily think that the old EA Sports was for her, when presented with the Active product she totally got sports gaming, fitness gaming, and utilisation of a cool new technology, and it totally played into what EA Sports is. So we're testing where we can stretch the brand, and so far it hasn't broken.
Kikizo: Can you talk a bit about the marketing differences for EA Sports between the UK and the US?
Moore: Well, it's product-specific. Our primary focus in the UK is obviously FIFA. We do very well with Tiger in the UK. A little bit of NBA, NHL... do we sell NHL here?
PR Guy: Yeah we do... Madden out of the US sports is probably the most successful of those three.
Moore: Yeah... and you have the legacy of the NFL and the world league and the European league and whatever the heck it used to be called here. So, from a marketing point of view, we do a tremendous amount of television - very innovative television - with FIFA here, and then we'll do... I don't think there's any other television that's done by UK on EA Sports... oh, Tiger, we put Tiger on TV here. Other than that, we do more TV in the US because the US is a more efficient place to do television, because of size versus number of impressions, and most of our major franchises are on TV. But more and more we're doing the type of marketing you saw on Tiger like 'walk on water', the viral videos that we do - and quite frankly, less above-the-line, classic mass-market marketing; we're becoming more targeted, and making sure our pounds - or our dollars or our Euros - go further.
Kikizo: On the EA Games side, the gamer perception has really changed over the last few years - all the new IP, focus on high quality. How can you keep those core gamers impressed with the product range on the Sports side, since after all, it's the same brands coming back year after year with incremental improvements?
Moore: We do more than incremental improvements. You truly innovate; you make sure that you're adding new online features, and you market those hard, which we've done in all of our games. You continue to bring to life the excitement of the pre-season when it comes, and we're as much a part of the regular season as the game is itself; when Madden ships on August 14th, that is an indicator that football is coming, and it's a milestone that people circle on the calendar. When FIFA ships here, typically at the end of September or October, it's a big deal here, and it also signifies that football's on the way. We put a lot of money into marketing, both with the NFL with Madden and here, with the Premier League in particular. Those guys down the road: if you watch any Chelsea game, you're going to see a tonne of FIFA and Let's FIFA 09 on the LCD boards. So the fundamental difference is we do more TV in the US because we can, and we're a little bit more innovative here - although the UK is our premier singular market in Europe, and we'll do a little more TV here for the primary FIFA base.
Kikizo: Thinking back to when the current generation was first unveiled, EA Sports was there - there really wasn't much see of this gen before that Madden footage. Presumably you want to have the same impact when the next wave comes, so are you thinking about the timing on that?
Moore: Well I can't put a time on it, because that's out of my control, and I'm hopeful that this generation lasts as long as it looks like it's going to last, which is many, many more years to come. And then as you might imagine, typically when new consoles come along, we'll be there as the leader in publishing for decades now, we'll be there with our good friends at Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. But that's a long way away.
Kikizo: So, "a long way away" then.
Moore: There you go, you can quote me on that. It's a long way away.
Kikizo: Well, that's pretty much everything - I was just going to ask how San Francisco has been treating you since you got back.
Moore: I love it, that's why I moved, it's the greatest city in the world! It's a little warm right now, I think it's like 90 degrees there today. My two eldest kids went to Berkley right across the Bay, went to university there. For the most part they grew up there, so as I've said on many occasions, it was a personal decision to go back home, if I can call San Francisco home... I first moved there in 1984 - so 25 years ago was my first taste of San Francisco, and it's always felt like home, so I do enjoy it. Perfect weather, wacky people, beautiful environments, and unbelievably expensive! It's great.
Kikizo: Awesome. Can I get a photo of you sat right like this. We've got the West End in the background and everything.
Moore: [Peter sings the tune, "West End Girls"]. Good seeing you, Adam.
Our thanks to Peter and the fantastic EA staff for their time last week. Look out for upcoming coverage of their hottest stuff for 2009 and 2010 - we've got loads of it on the way.
