This little bit of news really caught me by surprise today. I was on my way out the house to run some errands and decided to sync my MP3 player to download todays podcast and noticed there was another Peter Moore interview on Major Nelson’s podcast. So I’m driving along, listening to different podcast, and started up the Major Nelson Podcast only to hear that the interview with Peter Moore was actually an "I’m leaving Microsoft" podcast for Peter Moore.

Peter Moore is leaving Microsoft!!!

Peter MooreThis is pretty huge. For those that don’t know Peter Moore came to Microsoft about 4 years ago to run the Games division, and has been pretty much the face of Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox live since his arrival. He was a really passionate and enthusiastic spokesperson for the games division, so much so that he has even gotten permanent Tattoo’s for a few significant events in his Xbox history. Including a Halo 2, and Grand Theft Auto 4 tattoo.

I really consider Peter Moore the second most influential person when it comes to Microsoft’s Xbox success. The first, who has pretty much been completely forgotten, was Seamus Blackley. Blackley, if you remember, was a co creator of the original Xbox. He courted game makers all over the world to try to get game development support. He was almost like a Hollywood star on stage, bringing excitement and enthusiasm to the gamers that watched him speak.

When Seamus left, Microsoft’s Xbox division was at a lost as far as a public figure until Peter Moore arrived (from Sega).

Peter Moore will be head of EA’s Sports division

Yep you heard it, Mr Moore left Microsoft to run EA’s Sports division. If you listen to the interview on Major Nelson’s podcast, He talks about why he left, and explained that the reasons were personal, dealing with being able to spend more time with his family.

I’m pretty sure Microsoft will miss Peter and my curiosity is who will take his place.