Moore praises "flair and creativity" of Rare

Following a lengthy interview with The Guardian in which he questioned the relevance of UK studio Rare, EA's Peter Moore has clarified his respect for the UK-based team.

Moore had originally remarked that he doubted the developer of GoldenEye and Banjo Kazooie was relevant in today's gaming business, stating the studio's skillsets "were from a different time and a different place and were not applicable in today's market."

The remarks prompted Microsoft Game Studios boss Phil Spencer to defend the studio, as he praised the team for being central to the future vision of the Xbox 360 business.

Before joining Electronic Arts, Moore was with Microsoft for over four years as boss of the Xbox business, a fact the exec has now fallen back on to sing the praises of his former paymasters in Redmond, in a new editorial for The Guardian.

"I guess you have to work there to truly appreciate what a unique and special company Bill and Steve have built, and I think gamers need to fully appreciate the positive impact that the Xbox consoles, and in particular Xbox Live, have had on our industry," said Moore of Microsoft.

"I worked with a team of people so special and so near and dear to my heart, that not a day goes by where I don't miss them in some way. Same with our studios – the flair and creativity of Rare, the sheer brilliance and focus of Bungie, the game-changing team at Lionhead, and all of the other brilliantly-talented teams that helped drive hardware sales with great software," he added.

Moore isn't the first high-profile exec to make regrettable comments to the press, and he's unlikely to be the last.

Last week, Paul Barnett of Mythic – a studio owned by Electronic Arts – said that EA "know nothing about launching MMOs in Europe, unless it's spending lots of money closing them down," - a comment that prompted studio co-founder Mark Jacobs to claim Barnett was just being sarcastic.