EA have finally made the jump into the deep waters of eSports, having announced that they are setting up their own Competitive Gaming Division. The EA CGD will be led by Peter Moore, the company’s current COO.
Moore will become the executive vice president and chief competition officer at EA, and will conclude his tenure as COO in March 2016. From then on, he’ll be focussed on all thing competitive at CGD, which will be based around “three core pillars”:
Competition – To create highly-engaging competitive experiences with our games, officially supported by Electronic Arts.
Community – To celebrate, connect and grow our community of players across all levels of expertise.
Entertainment – To develop live events and broadcasting that bring the spectacle of competition to millions of people around the world.
“There is no one better in our industry to lead this new effort than Peter,” said Andrew Wilson, EA’s chief executive officer. “He was an early pioneer in championing competitive gaming programs, such as the FIFA Interactive World Cup and the EA SPORTS Challenge Series, and Peter’s personal passions for the player experience, sports and competition, make him a tremendous leader for this new division. Peter’s team will partner with our development studios, marketers and publishing teams to bring this new platform to life.”
Moore himself explained that competitive gaming has long been in EA’s sights, and that future games will have dedicated elements that will help form the way CGD moves. “Prior to the formation of this division, conversations have been had, not just within the last few weeks but in the last couple years, about how we’ve got games that are coming to market in FY17, FY18, and FY19, and making darn sure that if you’re in a genre that lends itself to competitive gaming, you better have those modes built in,” he explained in an interview with IGN.
Joining Moore at the head of the Competitive Gaming Division will be Todd Sitrin, EA’s former senior vice president of marketing.
Thanks, GamesIndustry.