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Moore: 'Xbox One Wouldn’t Have Happened' if Ballmer Hadn't Approved $1.15B for RRoD

Moore: 'Xbox One Wouldn’t Have Happened' if Ballmer Hadn't Approved $1.15B for RRoD - News

by William D'Angelo , posted on 03 July 2015 / 5,381 Views

Electronic Arts' Peter Moore was Corporate Vice-President of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business Division in the early 2000s, at the height of the Xbox 360's Red Ring of Death controversy.

Moore has now said that if Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had not approved $1.15 billion to fix the RRoD issue then the Xbox brand would have been dead.

"I calculated with my finance team, Dennis Durkin, Doug Ralphs and [put] $1.15 billion right out there," Moore told IGN in a podcast. "I always remember $240 million of that was FedEx. Their stock must have gone through the roof for the next two weeks. And, I am trembling sat in front of Steve, who I love to death, but he can be an intimidating human being. Steve said, ‘okay, talk me through this.’ I said, ‘if we don’t do this, this brand is dead."

"I’ll never forget that moment. If you’re an Xbox gamer, you can thank Steve Ballmer for not even hesitating. Now, we were a wealthy company who could afford to do that, but not even hesitating because the brand was more important.

If we hadn’t made that decision there and then, and tried to fudge over this problem, then the Xbox brand and Xbox One wouldn’t exist today. [Ballmer] didn’t even think twice about spending $1.15B to protect a brand that’s probably worth three or four times that today. Xbox One wouldn’t have happened."

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A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.


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9 Comments
Dgc1808 (on 03 July 2015)

Good on them for sticking with their product.

  • +3
RenCutypoison (on 03 July 2015)

Makes me wonder wether 360 was profitable, I totally forgot RROD

  • +2
SWORDF1SH (on 03 July 2015)

$1.15 isn't that bad for the iss...... Damn you Arlo

  • +2
Arlo SWORDF1SH (on 03 July 2015)

runs away giggling like a leprechaun

  • 0
Arlo (on 03 July 2015)

inb4 $1.15 jokes and title change.

  • +2
Comment was deleted...
SamLeheny (on 03 July 2015)

Interesting stuff.

  • 0
Rafie (on 03 July 2015)

Definitely glad Xbox One happened. It's a great console. Also the competition is important. Otherwise, we would have a domination with a company that could possibly monopolize and give subpar quality. We don't want that.

  • 0
Rafie (on 03 July 2015)

Definitely glad Xbox One happened. It's a great console. Also the competition is important. Otherwise, we would have a domination with a company that could possibly monopolize and give subpar quality. We don't want that.

  • 0