Former Xbox executive Peter Moore–who helped run Xbox during its earliest days–has come forward to say the console war between Microsoft and Sony was maybe “all my fault.” Speaking to The Game Business, Moore said he might bear some of the responsibility for how heated things can get when fans of one piece of plastic argue with fans of another piece of plastic. To be sure, the console wars didn’t begin with PlayStation vs. Xbox, as Nintendo and Sega had beef years before.
“Maybe it’s all my fault, developing the console wars and getting in each other’s faces,” he said.
Moore specifically help orchestrate the so-called “console war” based in part on learnings from when he worked at the shoe company Reebok. He said when he was competing with the likes of Nike, Adidas, and Puma, the idea was to “create this sense of competition.”
Why? Because it makes consumers feel like they are “soldiers in a battle,” he said.
Moore was a corporate vice president at Microsoft during the original Xbox launch and through the Xbox 360 days. Before Xbox, Moore worked at Sega and helped launch the Dreamcast. Moore went on to say that part of why former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates and his then-No. 2 Steve Ballmer wanted Moore to lead Xbox was because of his fire and passion.
“[Microsoft] was nerdy. It was Bill [Gates]. It was Steve [Balmer]. This is nerd central. I had lunch with Steve and his words were: ‘We don’t have people like you.’ He had seen me on stage at Sega throwing punches,” Moore said I love being a challenger brand and giving Sony all kinds of irreverent abuse. We were just mocking each other all the time. Steve said: ‘I need somebody to throw punches. We’re a bunch of nerds.’ Those were his words.”
Moore also recently talked about console wars in an interview with Games Beat. He said “competition drives innovation” and new Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma might want to lean into this in her new job.
“I loved the sense of competition, the console wars. I’ve been very front about saying I loved pitching Xbox versus PlayStation versus Nintendo,” he said. “I felt it was good for the industry. I felt that competition drives innovation. We kept each other on our toes every single day. We made better games and better experiences as a result.”
The console wars have died down lately, as Microsoft adopts a more multiplatform strategy, with Sony leaning in as well with releases like Helldivers 2 and Marathon on Xbox. Sharma has said she’s heard the calls from fans about wanting Xbox exclusives to return, but it remains to be seen if this may happen. For Sony, the company may be pulling back on PC releases, which some have taken to mean PlayStation might be returning to more console exclusivity.
