Microsoft Loses Game Exec to EA

Electronic Arts (ERTS) is again shaking things up at the top, this time in a bid to further tighten its grip on the lucrative sports game segment.

The company has poached a key Microsoft(MSFT) game executive, Peter Moore, who will join up as president of the EA Sports label.

He is currently the corporate vice president at the entertainment and devices division of Microsoft and leads both the Xbox and Games for Windows businesses.

Moore, who will start at EA in September, is CEO John Riccitiello's second high-profile hire. Last month, he appointed Kathy Vrabeck, former president of the publishing division at Activision (ATVI), to lead the new casual games unit at EA.

"I have tried to recruit Peter twice in the last decade," says Riccitiello. "He is the perfect candidate and was the toughest competitor EA faced when he ran Sega." Moore was president and chief operating officer of Sega of America before he joined Microsoft in January 2003 as the head of marketing for the Xbox and Games division.

Shares of EA were up $1.38, or 2.9%, to $49.47 in regular trading and were unchanged after hours.

Moore's appointment rounds out the recent reorganization of EA into four autonomous divisions -- EA Games, EA Sports, EA Casual Entertainment and the Sims division.

EA Sports contributes more than 30% to the company's revenue and has nearly 75% of the market in its category in North America. Moore could help take it to the next level.