Electronic Arts exec defends company’s stance in support of Tiger Woods

As the company launched its Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online game today, Electronic Arts executive Peter Moore defended the company’s continued backing of Tiger Woods in an interview on CNBC.
Moore, president of EA Sports, said the company stood by Woods as sponsors such as Gatorade and Accenture dumped him because it had a “deeper relationship” with Woods, who is a gamer. Woods’ name and image has been on the cover of EA’s PGA Tour golf games for 12 years.
“He’s in the game itself,” Moore said. “He’s not an arms-length endorser. He is the world’s greatest golfer until someone proves otherwise.”
EA clearly waited to launch the online game until Woods came back into the picture. Woods tees off at the Masters on Thursday after a four-month hiatus from the game. But Moore said the company made no changes to the online game, which was in development for 18 months, as a result of Woods’ sex scandal.
“We have made it clear that we are in support of Tiger the golfer,” Moore said. “We are supportive of the challenges he has gone through in his personal life.”
Moore said that the company discussed Woods but was not divided about whether to continue supporting him as a sponsor and game licensee. EA has sold more than 25 million games in the Tiger Woods franchise.
Moore said the target demographic for the online game is not the typical young male gamer. Rather, the online players are 40-year-old golfers, mostly male. It’s thus targeting a new market. The game is free-to-play and then, Moore said, “It’s our job to upsell them.” Moore said there was “strong interest” in the console version of the game coming on June 8, based on pre-sales. He said sales are not dependent on how Woods does in the Masters, though a strong performance by the athlete would help. During the turmoil of the last four months, Moore said there was no drop off in business for the golf games.
“We’re delighted to see him back….Now it’s all about golf,” Moore said. “There is no doubt in my mind that first tee shot on Thursday might be the most watched for many many years.”
[image credit: CNBC]