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EA Sports' Peter Moore

On MotionPlus, E3 and taking the fight to the internet.

Johnny Minkley avatar
Interview by Johnny Minkley Contributor
Updated on
EurogamerAnd the medical community is now turning to games as a useful tool in the fight against obesity, particularly childhood obesity - it's just getting that message across that games is a socially responsible industry.
Peter Moore

Yeah, as you probably remember, I'm a former P.E. teacher and I can remember the difficulty of getting kids out on a cold day to play rugby or whatever it used to be in those days, and I see more and more, how do you make physical exercise more relevant to the modern lifestyle? And tying it to a videogame seems like the obvious thing to do to get kids more interested in it.

I think we have a huge opportunity to impact change, and boy do we have a childhood obesity issue in the United States. And if you can make exercise fun, and you can make it more relevant to their regular lives, then job well done for us.

EurogamerWith your wealth of experience of doing E3 shows, what do you think each platform holder needs to achieve this year?
Peter Moore

First of all, I think all three platforms in their own right are doing very well. I think the industry is incredibly healthy - if you look at the numbers, certainly the Nintendo Wii continues to bring new people into our business, and boy are we thankful for that. And we as an industry need to continue to take advantage of that and maybe make better games for the Wii, and make sure we're delivering entertainment that that consumer wants at that time.

The 360 and the PS3 are obviously in a slightly different space. I think online in both seems to be giving us a lot of business opportunities going forward for us to take advantage of, and it's going to be interesting. To your point, it feels like the old E3s again, and while it's not going to be as big as the 60-70,000 days, 45,000 sounds pretty big to me. And it seems like there'll be a little bit more of a consumer linkage this time.

McEnroe is our favourite sportsman who sounds a bit like a type of pasta.
EurogamerAs a major publisher boss, but with your prior Microsoft connections, are you privy to the plans of Nintendo and Sony, as well as the Microsoft?
Peter Moore

Mmm, no.

EurogamerAre you anticipating new hardware - not in terms of new consoles, although we believe a new PSP is almost certainly going to happen - but in terms of new peripherals, that kind of thing?
Peter Moore

I don't actually worry about that. Our primary focus is making sure that we have our own press conference as well, which will be on the Monday, and we're focused on making sure we're delivering that. We look forward with everybody else to sitting in the audience of the Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo press conferences and learning what the future is with that. So no, I'm not privy to it, I've got enough to worry about. I think I understand what I need to do to be successful at E3 and get ready for the holiday.

EurogamerIs EA Sports working on any titles specifically to take advantage of any new hardware that might be unveiled at E3?
Peter Moore

No.

EA Sports Active meant Moore had to "go talk to a woman". We recommend not playing it in jeans with this woman.
EurogamerSo you're going to do your own show at E3. And that's one of the things EA hired you for, to be at the front and the personality. The other thing you're doing, of course, is your blog - how's that going?
Peter Moore

The blog is just a barrowload of monkeys. I thoroughly enjoy it; it's a great forum for having controversial subjects. You've got to have some thick skin, as you know, and you have a lot of critics which is perfectly fine, and you get a lot of feedback. Most of it is very valid and you have to pick through it, and our teams read it. I love the ability to interact directly with consumers. Most of them like the ability to interact directly back with me!

I get a bee in my bonnet sometimes. Maybe I'm sat there at Christmas watching Eurogamer every day unfold thinking, boy, FIFA must be in the top 40. No! It must be in the top 30. Wow! It's in the top 20! Oh my goodness, it's in the top 10! Wait a second! It's not in the top 50 at all?!

And then you sit there and you type away and you vent. And that actually was a lot of fun.