The era of console wars seems to be nearing its end, but one of its key players, Peter Moore, who led the charge during the launch of the Xbox 360, is sharing his memories of his time on the gaming frontlines. When it came to pitting the Xbox 360 against the PlayStation 3, Moore says 10 million was the magic number–“You’ve got this flywheel effect … of [if] your mate in the school yard’s got one, you better get one.”
Speaking to Eurogamer, Moore explained that getting the Xbox 360 into the market ahead of the PS3 was key to its strong performance, saying that the first 10 million sales were vital. “I think it was really important to get it out first,” Moore said. “Get going, get momentum, and aim for that 10 million installed base that I felt that would give us an amazing advantage over whatever Sony could do to catch up.”
He explained that having the 10 million install base creates a network effect where a sense of social pressure could drive sales–“All of a sudden you’re out of place and you’re on the outside if you’re not coming to school, or going to class in college the next day, or even coming to work, and saying what a night we had playing Halo, or whatever game it happened to be.”
