Peter Moore: I killed the Dreamcast

[KnackChap]

Ex Microsoft man, and current EA Sports boss, admits that he made the final decision to pull Sega out of the hardware race

 

In an interview with British daily broadsheet The Guardian, current EA Sports boss and the ex head of hardware for both Xbox 360 and Sega has admitted that it was he who made the final decision to pull Sega out of the hardware market.

 

“We had a tremendous 18 months. Dreamcast was on fire – we really thought that we could do it,” Moore explained. “But then we had a target from Japan that said we had to make x hundreds of millions of dollars by the holiday season and shift x millions of units of hardware, otherwise we just couldn’t sustain the business.

 

“So on January 31st 2001 we said Sega is leaving hardware. We were selling 50,000 units a day, then 60,000, then 100,000, but it was just not going to be enough to get the critical mass to take on the launch of PS2. Somehow I got to make that call, not the Japanese. I had to fire a lot of people, it was not a pleasant day.

 

“It was a big stakes game. Sega had the option of pouring in more money and going bankrupt and they decided they wanted to live to fight another day.

So we licked our wounds, ate some humble pie and went to Sony and Nintendo to ask for dev kits.”

 

The admission follows comments made to MCV last month in our MCV Legends feature, where he said of the Dreamcast fiasco: “We were coming off the Sega Saturn debacle, so the consumer was justifiably sceptical. We had to build a positioning, creative campaign, pricing and distribution strategy, even figure out whether to put the modem in the box or make it an add-on peripheral.

 

“The parent company was in dire financial straits, Electronic Arts had decided to not publish for the platform – bless them – and US boss Bernie Stolar left the company a month before launch. Oh yeah, and we had to figure out how to work multi-player games through a 56k modem.

 

“Somehow we pulled it all together for the agreed date of 9.9.99, and for the next year and a half gave everything we had to take on the PS2 juggernaut. I still take pride on behalf of the team that I have yet to meet anyone who regretted buying a Dreamcast. I’ve still got mine.”

 

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/31763/Peter-Moor...d-the-Dreamcast

:cry5: :cry5:

[shockwave]

Dreamcast will live forever. Am a proud owner. Here's hoping to see a next-gen Dreamcast (Sega has renewed and secured the 'Dreamcast' name, so hey we can actually hope).

[KeezNah]

I still take pride on behalf of the team that I have yet to meet anyone who regretted buying a Dreamcast. I’ve still got mine.

 

Likewise, Petey. Three of em', in fact. Granted all the lens have crapped out, and one simply refuses to boot up. But good times were still had. No hard feelings

[Keyofx]

Nice find, this.

 

lol @ Peter Moore. Better board up your windows, just in case.

[KnackChap]

Here's hoping to see a next-gen Dreamcast (Sega has renewed and secured the 'Dreamcast' name, so hey we can actually hope).

 

09/09/09

[jackhammer06]

One of the best consoles EVAR!!

Hell Yeah.Still got my console.

[Somebody]

Moore: Microsoft considered buying Nintendo

 

EA Sports head reminisces about killing the Dreamcast, turning the Xbox into a competitor, and how the industry has passed Rare by.

 

Peter Moore has been a major player in the gaming industry for the better part of a decade. He was Sega of America president during the Dreamcast launch, a corporate VP at Microsoft since the middle of the original Xbox's life span, and currently serves as the president of Electronic Arts' EA Sports brand. Moore shared some of his experiences from that stretch of time recently with The Guardian tech blogger Keith Stuart, who has been posting excerpts of his interview in multiple parts.

 

This man killed the Dreamcast.

 

The most eyebrow-raising of the remarks published to date include those about his entry into Microsoft. Moore said that, when meeting with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer before taking the job, the discussion touched upon the issue of acquiring rival console maker Nintendo, even if the main goal was to crush Sony.

 

"Those were the conversations in those days," Moore said. "It was a classic "build or buy" conversation. Xbox had launched, but it was an aggressive black box for shooters, and how do we evolve that, how do we build the next Xbox, how do we get after Sony?"

 

Interestingly, not everyone at Microsoft was thrilled with the company's entry into gaming. Although most welcomed it, Moore said, "There was a vocal minority that disagreed with video games as a cultural phenomenon--the content we were doing--we did M rated, we did allow GTA to be published on the platform and I had no issues with that..."

 

Of course, not all of the content that Microsoft pursued was M-rated. The company also put resources behind games such as Rare's broad-appeal gardening game Viva Pinata, which was supported by a children's television show. However, Moore implied that the game, and even Microsoft's purchase of Rare itself, never paid off.

 

"We were trying all kinds of classic Rare stuff, and unfortunately I think the industry had passed Rare by," Moore said. "It's a strong statement, but what they were good at, new consumers didn't care about anymore. And it was tough because they were trying very hard--Chris and Tim Stamper were still there--to try and re-create the glory years of Rare, which is the reason Microsoft paid a lot of money for them and I spent a lot of time getting on a train to Twycross to meet them. Great people. But their skill sets were from a different time and a different place and were not applicable in today's market."

 

Going back to Moore's first gig in the industry, he talked about the Sega Dreamcast, and how it suffered an ignoble death less than two years after its launch. "We had a tremendous 18 months," Moore told The Guardian. "Dreamcast was on fire; we really thought that we could do it. But then we had a target from Japan that said--and I can't remember the exact figures--but we had to make N hundreds of millions of dollars by the holiday season and shift N millions of units of hardware, otherwise we just couldn't sustain the business. So on January 31, 2001, we said that Sega is leaving hardware. Somehow I got to make that call, not the Japanese. I had to fire a lot of people; it was not a pleasant day."

[shockwave]

09/09/09

 

Amen to that.

[The JACKAL]

Hmm soo Peter Moore is guilty of killing an awsome console+ firing sega employees. Why dosnet sum1

ASSASINATE

him already.