EXCLUSIVE: Will Fortnite Kill Football? Ex-Liverpool CEO Talks Gaming, Sports And Saudi Arabia

For someone who is on a plane more than he is on ground, Moore’s gaming options are slim. “I am on level 72, which is about 4,000 games,” he said with a grin. “It’s a game that I can play in three of four minutes, keeps me sharp.”

For Moore, games have never been just entertainment. They represent communities, passion and the future of fan engagement – all familiar feelings for the former Liverpool boss.

“It’s all about engaging your fans. Whether it’s a gamer or a football fan, they’re all the same. They’ve got passion, they’ve got emotion,” he said.

His career trajectory reads like a roadmap of digital transformation in sports and entertainment: from Reebok to Sega, Microsoft’s Xbox to EA Sports and finally to Liverpool FC, where he helped transform how global football fans connect with their supporters.

From shoes to screens

Moore’s journey into gaming began not by choice, “At Reebok, I was a shoe guy for a long time,” he recalled.

At the age of 44, “Nike was just killing us,” he said, a push that marked his entry into SEGA.

“I ended up going to SEGA. I knew nothing about video games,” he admitted.

However, what he did know was how to manage people and build communities. That foundation would prove crucial as he navigated the gaming industry’s explosive growth from the late 1990s.

Reminiscing fondly, he said, “I joined video games in the late 90s and it was still dial-up, so your mom picked up the phone and it disconnected you from the internet.” He chuckled while describing his journey of watching the evolution of gaming with a front-row seat.

His timing? Perfect. Moore arrived at Sega just as gaming was beginning to reshape the industry. Later at Microsoft, he would help build Xbox Live, creating the infrastructure that would make online gaming mainstream. At EA Sports, he oversaw fan-favourite titles like FIFA and Madden during explosive growth periods.

The heart of his career always circulated back to the same core principle – community.

 “It’s all about community,” he said.

The Liverpool legacy

Born in Liverpool, Moore’s joining as the CEO of Liverpool FC strengthened his community-first philosophy, bringing the ideology to one of football’s most global brands. The challenge was immense: hundreds of millions of Liverpool fans worldwide, but Anfield Stadium’s capacity was limited to just over 54,000.

“There are 350 official Liverpool supporters clubs (OLSC) around the world and wherever I travelled, I would find them,” he said.

Driven by a passion for the community, even when he was on vacation, Moore would take time out to meet the fans. “I loved it.”

What most people would think is a public relations exercise was actually market research in its purest form, “I learned from them what keeps them up at night about the club, what their concerns are? Whether it’s ‘I can’t buy the kit, I can’t get a ticket’ It gave me the impetus to build out our technology base, web apps and mobile so that we can engage,” he said.

Moore’s impact to the fans from his time with Liverpool FC still trickles, not just in metrics but through emotional connection, “People will stop me, they stopped me here [in Riyadh] and they say ‘Thank you, you made me feel closer to Liverpool’ and I did it primarily through social engagement,” he reflected.

His unique positioning spanning traditional sports and gaming gave him insights into esports before most executives even understood its potential, however, Moore was candid about the challenges the companies faced.

“The interesting thing was at EA, sports games like FIFA, Madden, NHL didn’t actually convert well to esports and we had to do a lot of work … It’s rather ironic, the sports games were not built for esports so we had to retrofit,” he explained, citing the advantage of games such as Counter Strike and League of Legends which were built for team involvement.

At the New Global Sports Conference 2025, Moore observed something that took him back to his early days advocating for the gaming industry. “What I heard from the [Saudi] minsters and the Royal Highness, I was blown away.”

The contrast with his experience testifying before the US Senate in the 1990s could not be starker. Back then, Moore testified in front of the John McCain and Joe Lieberman hearings that blamed video games for societal problems.

“Looking at these people, who have never played a game and it’s not their fault. They did not understand it, they thought it was a waste of time and the thought was shooters were teaching people to kill. It was an easy, lazy headline,” he strongly stated.

“I will always remember the ‘Call of Duty killer’ headline by the tabloids,” he said.

The Middle East’s approach, particularly from Moore’s observation in Saudi Arabia, represents a generational shift.

He sees particular promise in competitive gaming’s ability to mobilise national pride, following the announcement of the Esports Nations Cup, announced at NGSC 2025 on Saturday. “Once you get national pride involved, as we have seen for 60-70 years with the World Cup, you are then mobilising an entire nation,” he exclaimed.

The Fortnite threat

The former Liverpool boss’s perspective on competition in the attention economy is informed by his dual experience in sports and gaming. He calls out an unexpected threat to traditional sports: highly engaging games that capture time that might otherwise be spent watching matches.

“There’s only 24 hours in the day and really engaging games like Fortnite, we’re taking our potential fans away from watching and engaging [in sports],” he said, acknowledging his “tongue in cheek” comment.

For Liverpool FC, Moore believes that the gaming aspect brought fans closer to the club.

“I can tell you many Liverpool fans will tell me that I first learned about Liverpool playing FIFA, I learned the players, I learned the history and I first heard ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ on the FIFA soundtrack,” the club embraced the trend.

Moore believes that traditional sports organisations must move faster to keep pace with digital audiences. Looking ahead, he sees the convergence of national pride and competitive gaming as the next major leap for the industry.

“We Americans don’t care about the Olympics but all of a sudden if they’re wearing the stars and stripes, you talk about archery, curling and we’re experts. We’re jumping out of our seats because they’re wearing our flag,” he laughed.

Circling back to the recent announcement of the Esports Nations Cup, he said, “Casual or even non-gamers are going to get behind it because they’re wearing the national team shirt and that’s the brilliance of it.”

For the region, this represents a strong opportunity.

Throughout the interview, Moore repeatedly returned to the theme that launched his career transformation: community. Whether managing gaming communities angry about game changes or Liverpool fans frustrated about ticket availability, the fundamentals remain.

“Video gamers are a passionate bunch, if they don’t like something, they’ll let you know,” he said. “No different than fans of Liverpool or any other club, it’s the emotion and passion they wear on their sleeve.”

This understanding guided his approach at every stage. At EA, when games faced criticism, at Xbox, building online communities from scratch or at Liverpool, connecting global supporters to their club’s identity.

If one thing was made clear in Moore’s understanding of the intersection between traditional sports and esports, it is community.

With bold ambitions within the gaming industry and Saudi taking the leap in line with Vision 2030. This game, as Moore well knows, is just beginning.

As the interview concluded, he warmly smiled and continued onto his next calendar invite, leaving us to wonder if he’ll squeeze in a quick round of Jeopardy before he gets there.