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Peter Moore: I killed the Dreamcast

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Peter Moore: I killed the Dreamcast

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.

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Koch

“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.”

...............

posted by Pantythief Sep 15, 2008 at 12:17 pm
1
Pantythief

I honestly dont know what to make of this.......?!

What can you say?

Maybe it was because he didnt tatoo the Dreamcast logo on to his arm?!

I dunno.....

All I know is, the Dreamcast got pulled, I got sad.

Been miserable ever since.

:(

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Re: ...............

posted by beemoh Sep 15, 2008 at 12:59 pm
2
beemoh

So it's his fault?

Burn 'im! ;P

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Re: Re: ...............

posted by Sep 15, 2008 at 1:37 pm
3

I still have, and play, my DC too.

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Peter Moore == Satan

posted by oldest gamer Sep 15, 2008 at 1:52 pm
4
oldest gamer

How many times is this guy's name going to show up and be tied with failures? Dreamcast gets axed, Xbox 360 RRoD scandal, EA's shoddy sports games for the PS3. Piss off Moore, take M$ with ya.

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Re: Peter Moore == Satan

posted by Sep 15, 2008 at 2:22 pm
5

@4

That's so ridiculous it makes me want to cry...

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Re: Re: Peter Moore == Satan

posted by Hnbeanz Sep 15, 2008 at 5:38 pm
6

It was a sad day when the Dreamcast finally left the market. I thought it was a very good machine, great games such as Shenmue 1/2, Jet Set Radio Virtua Tennis/Fighter 3, and Prince Of Persia.
Plus the failures -putting it mildly- of the 32x and the Mega CD didn't help.

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Re: Re: Re: Peter Moore == Satan

posted by Northern monkey Sep 15, 2008 at 9:42 pm
7
Northern monkey

@6 Sega got greedy and too big for their boots and believed they were untouchable when launching the MegaCD and 32X, retailers like myself at the time did ok with the MegaCD but the 32X margins were a joke! The Sega rep refused to believe they were going in with a price too high and a too lower margin for the indy to support the product and myself like many others never carried it, the Saturn situation was even worse (plus the hardware was not up to scratch - a 2D powerhouse in an emerging 3D world!). Shame 3DO never took off as well as it could, might not have made Sony the force it became and therefore given the Dreamcast the chance it deserved as a great piece of kit - by far the best of the last gen systems for great games even tho it left the party far too early!!!

Still it goes to show with the PS3 that big companies believe their own bull and think people will pay whatever they wish to charge if there new systems, isn't that right Sony?............ Oh yeah sorry,that isn't the case as you found out when stockpiles of your shiny black system sat there wanting buyers beyond the fanboys purchases at the ridiculous price point you launched at!

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Re: Re: Re: Peter Moore == Satan

posted by Northern monkey Sep 15, 2008 at 9:43 pm
8
Northern monkey

@6 Sega got greedy and too big for their boots and believed they were untouchable when launching the MegaCD and 32X, retailers like myself at the time did ok with the MegaCD but the 32X margins were a joke! The Sega rep refused to believe they were going in with a price too high and a too lower margin for the indy to support the product and myself like many others never carried it, the Saturn situation was even worse (plus the hardware was not up to scratch - a 2D powerhouse in an emerging 3D world!). Shame 3DO never took off as well as it could, might not have made Sony the force it became and therefore given the Dreamcast the chance it deserved as a great piece of kit - by far the best of the last gen systems for great games even tho it left the party far too early!!!

Still it goes to show with the PS3 that big companies believe their own bull and think people will pay whatever they wish to charge if there new systems, isn't that right Sony?............ Oh yeah sorry,that isn't the case as you found out when stockpiles of your shiny black system sat there wanting buyers beyond the fanboys purchases at the ridiculous price point you launched at!

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Re: Re: Re: Re: Peter Moore == Satan

posted by JD Sep 16, 2008 at 10:59 am
9
JD

To read that crap once was enough, but twice! You retailers are all a bunch of clueless lying retard’s who are just as interested in screwing over the general public as much as the companies you bait!

Hypocrite!

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Re: Re: Re: Re: Peter Moore == Satan

posted by Elvis Sep 16, 2008 at 11:03 am
10
Elvis

@ 7, funny the PS3 us doing very well atm. Just be you can't afford the system doesn't mean you have to slag it off. Also how is it a rediculous price you idiot? It has a ****ing blu ray player in it, wireless, and top end hardware. I mean come on you really are a pleb.

Anyways enough of that penis, the dreamcast was an amazing machine and i still have mine. Power Stone, Shenmue and Crazy Taxi were brilliant as was Skys of Arcadia. I really loved the Dreamcast and played Phantasy Star Online endlessly lol. It was certainly better then the PS2 for me =(

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Re: DC

posted by Mark Sep 16, 2008 at 12:59 pm
11
Mark

Me and my 8yr old son often play with the DC. We have DC, Cube and Xbox(orig). Just a shame that the big names stop producing for last gen consoles as soon as latest gen arrive (PS2 being the exception for some reason). Loads of money to make still supporting last consoles. Look at Ebay and how popular trade is with DC and others still. It just needs someone to buck the trend.

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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Peter Moore == Satan

posted by Your Mom Sep 16, 2008 at 1:10 pm
12
Your Mom

It is because of people like Peter Moore that I was screwed out of a lot of money from being loyal to a company where their game consoles wouldn't be supported for very long. I had the first Sega Master system, Genesis, sega cd, 32x, Saturn and dreamcast. Everything after the Genesis just wasn't worth the money. I should have just stuck with sony and called it a day. Thanks again for once feeding us a nice little system with poor management and business skills.

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