Electronic Arts chief Andrew Wilson announced in a company blog post today that EA is spinning up a new Competitive Gaming Division led by Peter Moore.
EA then noted to investors that Moore will remain EA COO through the close of the company's financial year next March. Moore has a long career in the game industry, with stints as president of EA Sports and an Xbox VP at Microsoft, and recently touted his efforts to increase dev diversity at EA while calling for more.
By placing him in charge of this new business unit EA is following in the footsteps of competitor Activision Blizzard, which launched its own dedicated eSports division in October led by former ESPN CEO Steve Bornstein. For developers, this is just another piece of evidence that eSports are now seen to be big business.
Both companies seem intent on marketing their extant game lines as competitive showcases, and part of Moore's remit as the new "Chief Competition Officer" at Electronic Arts is to nurture live events and broadcasting around franchises like Battlefield, FIFA and Madden NFL.
He'll be assisted in that work by newly-minted EA CGD general manager Todd Sitrin, who previously had a lead role in EA's international marketing efforts.