Microsoft feared Sony's dominance in the living room, says Peter Moore

Peter Moore, prominent figure in the history of Xbox, revealed in an interview with Eurogamer excerpts from his book "Game Changer" about his time at Microsoft. The executive confirmed that Microsoft was driven by a strategic fear: being dominated by Sony in the home entertainment market.

According to Moore, Microsoft and, particularly, Bill Gates, feared that Sony would "control the living room". At that time, Sony was firmly established as an "entertainment company" and "center of entertainment in the living room", through televisions, Blu-ray players on the way and music players.

The fear of Bill Gates and Microsoft was "simply being relegated to the office", being seen only as a "productivity company". This fear drove the need for Microsoft to enter the living room.

The video game strategy of Microsoft was, in large part, shaped by this concern, along with the vision that the internet "would bring together hundreds of millions of people". This idea gave rise to Xbox Live, a fundamental structure in the company's strategy.

Moore stated that it was this vision that convinced him to join Microsoft. Xbox Live emerged before social networks, bringing together millions of video game fans sharing the same space and playing together around the world.

To what extent does Microsoft's fear of being "relegated to the office" still influence the current decisions of Xbox and the ongoing investment in Game Pass as a cross-platform service?