I would say Microsoft lost more when Allard went than Moore.
If anything Moore is the one who started a lot of the problems.
He goes to EA, suddenly EA goes after Mass Effect.
I don´t know what problems are you refering to, but when Moore was there, the Xbox brand was actually a force to be reckoned with when it comes to games and developers acquisitions.
They actually made very good decisions.
Allard was extemely important, but it´s not comparable to Moore due to the fact that he was a hardware guy.
And, ask yourself, why is everyone Xbox related running for the hills?
Peter Moore, J. Allard, Robbie Bach, Shane Kim....
One of the things i don´t understand is Don Mattrick.
When he went to MS i thought it was a good substitute to Moore, due to the fact that he is a gamer, he is one of the creators of the Test Drive Ip, but after a few months i was speechless about the man, he is nothing more than a tool, he didn´t brought anything new.
But, like i said, Phil Spencer is, imo, the worst of the bunch...
As for Mass Effect going to EA, it has nothing to do with Moore but with Riccitiello.
John Riccitiello was the COO of EA until 2004, and, imo, he was the best thing about the company.
He then left and co-founded Elevation Partners (The firm is named after U2's song "Elevation, due to the fact that Bono is also a co-founder) .
In 2005, Elevation invested $300 million to create an alliance between video game developers BioWare and Pandemic Studios.
From what i´ve read, Bioware became good friends with Riccitiello.
In 2007, he left Elevation Partner and returned to EA, now as a CEO (best move EA made in years).
The first thing he did was to write a letter to fans, saying he was sorry for years of bad decisions (the closer of Westwood, Bullfrog and Origin) and that things would change; buy Bioware and Pandemic for $860 million and to hire Peter Moore for the job of President of EA Sports.
So, it had nothing to do with Moore, but with John Riccitiello and Elevation Partners.
2007 was, imo, the begining of the fall of the 360 (which is weird, because it was their best year so far), but the raise of EA.
Either way, Microsoft ALWAYS keeps its cards close to its chest. It's still the first week of 2011 and we've already got the doom and gloom naysayers out in full force. As usual, E3 will roll along and everyone stops being Chicken Little.
I never said otherwise, i´m sure MS will have something to announce on E3, maybe a new Halo, more exclusive DLC crap and another partership in the likes of ESPN.
Fans will go wild if they show more of Codename: Kingdoms, and that´s the problem.
Sure, Kingdoms is a great exclusive due to the fact is Crytek´s and it´s first party (from what i´ve read, it´s MS ip), but it´s only one new Ip in a console that has a shortage of exclusives and 1st party games.
A great E3 would be for MS to announce 2 more AAA exclusives (1st parties, not timely, not third party, not Kinect....and no Gun Loco crap), the next Perfect Dark, Kingdoms gameplay and the acquisition of 2 or more developers.
I got hyped two times during the MS press conference since 2007, one during E3 09 and the other last year.
I got really excited about the Alan Wake reveal, not only looked great, it was Remedy´s (i love them since Max Payne) and it was totally diferent from what MS usually have.
Last year, about Kingdoms, more even when i thought that, when Mattrick said it was 1st party, i misheard i thought it was
MADE by a 1st party studio, which meant they had bought Crytek.
For a publisher that really lacks 1st party studios, to buy Crytek was amazing....but i was wrong, and my excitement went downhill.
I´m still very hyped, but not nearly as i was when i misunderstood the all thing
As far as the move towards social media, compare the numbers. You'll see why there's a shift towards that. Complain all you want, but the industry is changing and like it or not, this is how things are moving. Hate motion controllers? Guess what, they're here to stay. It's not just Microsoft, it's everyone. The industry is changing, and much like the change from joysticks to gamepads, not everyone is going to be happy.
Have you went to the Elder Scrolls: Skyrim thread?
I have nothing against motion control, nor casual games for that matter.
The same goes to the all social media, the problem is when the focus on that put the essence of a gaming console, namely the games, on the back burner, which is what MS is doing.
I´m not defending the PS3, i have no reason to, but look at them, they have
EVERYTHING the 360 has when it comes to the social and media and they never once put the games aside, the Playstation is still a gaming console at heart...as it should.
If tomorrow, by any chance (just an example), the 360 puts the games aside and focus 100% on being a media hub, no one will buy it.
The problem about Microsoft is that they are a bad company.
It was never like this, but it is in the last few years.
The business rule of having to spend money to make money doesn´t apply to them, as their rule is to spend the least possible money, so, what they do is, they stand still, don´t take chances and do partnerships galore (ESPN, Activison DLC timely exclusivity,...).
Halo sells, let´s make 10 of it....Fable sells, let´s make 5...and so on.
One can say that other companies do the same, but, when you have 3 Ips that you use on a daily basis (Halo, Fable and Forza), it becames stale and a bit pathetic.
Other companies have more games that that, even if they return to one or two golden Ips.
Kinect showed that Microsoft can still innovate if they want to, but i´m sure the same rule will apply, because it is selling like hotcakes (have no idea why), MS will be all over it, making tons of casual games for it and only changing their way when it starts to fade (what will not happen very soon).
A company should always try to be better than they are, always aim higher; that´s why they were surpassed by Apple, because MS is a stale company.
Sony always tries to transcnd themselves, always try to make better games, sometimes they win, sometimes they lose...but they try, MS, on the other, releases the same thing over an over again because it sells.
Just a quick note, i have nothing against Halo, Fable or Forza.