In a new interview with Edge Magazine, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said the key to his company's success is respecting the independence of his studios -- and in his typically-outspoken style, the exec specifically called out publisher Electronic Arts.
In his comments, Kotick claimed EA "doesn’t know how" to implement such a model and that "great people don’t really want to work there" as a result. Excerpts from the interview are already widely circulated among games publications even before the print edition with Edge in which it features arrives on newsstands tomorrow.
But Electronic Arts won't take those assertions silently: "Kotick’s relationship with studio talent is well-documented in litigation," EA corporate communications VP Jeff Brown tells Gamasutra in a statement.
"His company is based on three game franchises – one is a fantastic persistent world he had nothing to do with; one is in steep decline; and the third is in the process of being destroyed by Kotick’s own hubris."
The litigation to which Brown refers is Activision's public sparring with both Double Fine and Infinity Ward. In the case of the former, Activision dropped the studio's Brutal Legend from its publishing slate amid its acquisition of Vivendi and later sued Double Fine and EA when the latter picked it up.
As for Infinity Ward, the departure of the Modern Warfare house's founders and the resulting lawsuits between the studio and Activision received quite a high profile in the press.
It's to the Call of Duty brand, whose future has been much-debated by analysts and industry-watchers in the wake of the Infinity Ward co-founders' departure, to which Brown likely refers when he discusses the Activision CEO's "hubris." The considerable revenue from the "fantastic persistent" World of Warcraft became Activision's in the Vivendi deal as well; by a franchise in "steep decline", Brown presumably refers to the considerably-contracted Guitar Hero property.
Activision and EA have quickly become bitter rivals in the public forum, a war of words that began with the conflict over Brutal Legend, escalated when Visceral Games heads Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey left EA to found Activision's Sledgehammer Games, and has come to a head as the two square off in the shooter category. EA's Medal of Honor takes on Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops this season, and EA has been vocal about its goals to reclaim the shooter crown.
Further, Infinity Ward's Jason West and Vince Zampella's conflict with Activision culminated in the pair's new studio, Respawn Entertainment, immediately revealing a publishing contract with Electronic Arts' EA Partners division. Activision's claimed legal grounds to terminate West and Zampella pertain in part to its allegation that the pair were in secret talks EA while still employed by Activision.
A more historical view might suggest Tony Hawk as the franchise "in steep decline," though I haven't compared the revenues to see the contrast with Guitar Hero. Lifetime sales figures would show the angles of decline, and how important that franchise was to the whole organization.
I believe contrary to the better product winning, it is actually the better hyped-up product wins. So it all comes down to how much cash they push for marketing their games.
Rofl. I'm seriously crying right now as I type this.
I'm not going to bother retreading the usual elements of his failing as a gaming CEO (i.e. this is completely reversed), but has he even looked at what people are saying? Or at his franchises and what his employees say (Hint: Not everyone at likes working for Actvi)?
Just sayin'. Please excuse the tears that splatter my keyboard.
I would argue that where as the republicans may be evil, the dems are just a bunch of yellow bellied cowards that make single celled organisms appear to have more of a backbone.
I just can't understand what goes through Mr. Kotick's mind. Is he pulling and Andy Kaufman on us, making a joke that only he knows about? Give the general perception people have of him, how can he be as bold as to make all these statements? Specially in light of how his company's main franchises are being perceived.
I've never been one to jump into the boat "Kotick is the devil". But it seems he is prone on making absolutely sure that everyone that gives a damn about video games hates him. I don't know if he's just childish of if he was drowned in power, but this has got to stop. It's not good, for anyone.
Just did some research today for an article about gaming visions, when I stumbled again across Electronic Arts first advertisement in the Antic Magazine in 1982. It quietly depressed me, how high where the hopes then and how little things have improved.
The text in the advertisment was:
"CAN A COMPUTER MAKE YOU CRY?
Right now, no one knows. This is partly because many would consider the very idea frivolous. But it‛s also because whoever successfully answers this question must have answered several others.
Why do we cry? Why do we lough or smile? What are the touchstones of out emotions?
Unil now, the people who asked such questions tended not to be the same people who ran software companies. Instea, they were writers, filmmaker, painters, musicians. They were, in the traditionel sense artists.
We‛re about to change that tradition. The name of our company is Electronic Arts.
Software worthy of the minds that use it. We are a new assiciation of electronic artists united by a common goal – to fulfill the enormous potential of the personal computer.
In the short term, this meanstranscending its present use as a facilitator of unimaginative tasks and a medium for blasting aliens. In the long term, however, we can expect a great deal more.
The are wondrous machines we have created, and in them can be seen a bit of their makers. It is as if we had invested them with the image of our minds. And though them, we are learning more and more about ourselves.
We lean, for instance, that we are more entertained by the involvement of out imaginations than by passive viewing and listening. We learn that we are better taught by experience than by memorization. And we learn that the traditional distinctions – the ones that are made between art and entertainment and educcation – don‛t always apply.
TOWARD A LANGUAGE OF DREAMS. In short, we are finding that the computer can be more than just a processor of data.
It is a communications medium: an interactive tool, that can bring people‛s thoughts and feelings closer together, perhaps closer than ever before. And while fifty years from now, its creation seem no more important than the advent of motion pictures or television, there is a chance, it will mean something more.
Something along the lines of a universal language of ideas and emotions. Something like a smile.
The first publications of Electronic Arts are now available. We suspect you‛ll be hearing a lot about them. Some of them are games like you‛ve never seen before, that get more out of your computer than other games ever have. Others are harder to categorize – and we like that.
WATCH US. We‛re providing a special environment, in which big ideas are given room to grow. And some of America‛s most respected software artists are beginning to take notice.
We think our current work reflects this very special commitment.
And though we are few in number today and apart from the mainstream of the mass software market-place, we are confident that both time and vision are on our side. Join us. We see farther.“
Didn't wanted to say, that Electronic Arts haven't published some really great games. The whole start lineup was fantastic, M.U.L.E. is still one of my all time favorites, along with Archon, what is making me sad is, how little the whole industry has evolved. You can practically take the whole text and publish it today, it would still fit. The main question was "Can a computer make you cry?", now, almost 30 years later, people still are working on a practical answer to that question (Heavy Rain) and now, almost 30 years later, most games seem to be what the author described as "a medium for blasting aliens".
"And though we are few in number today and apart from the mainstream of the mass software market-place, we are confident that both time and vision are on our side.
This is why we bring you - Madden 2011!"
Yup, makes me cry all right. Mission Accomplished.
Various parts of Okami did too (mostly at the sheer beauty of that game).
More recently, when I first saw the opening of Little Big Planet, I was laughing and crying at the same time.
I'm in my 30s now, but there's probably still some seven-year-old left in me.
I agree with your point though, the vast majority of games can't engage the player emotionally with the characters and the story enough to make them cry when something bad happens, and most of them are not even trying to.
"His company is based on three game franchises – one is a fantastic persistent world he had nothing to do with; one is in steep decline; and the third is in the process of being destroyed by Kotick’s own hubris."
Keep it going Leigh! I want to see Kotick's reply to this, and they keep going back and forth and getting more and more personal, before it escalates into a flat-out declaration of war.
Like a real street war. With drive-by shootings and structure fires. Except all the gangsters are wearing fine Italian suits and fake smiles and yammering incomprehensibly about protecting shareholder value from The Enemy.
All of this fighting must stop! When will people finally recognize that the true meaning of video games and computer entertainment can best be summarized by the phrase, "Living, loving, and learning."?
My wish is that one day ATVI and EA can fist bump each other much like Dudebro.
Let's just make games, shall we?
EA and Activison will both be judged based on the merits of their products. Gamers will vote with their wallets.
Now...RELEASE THE KRAKEN
I'm not going to bother retreading the usual elements of his failing as a gaming CEO (i.e. this is completely reversed), but has he even looked at what people are saying? Or at his franchises and what his employees say (Hint: Not everyone at likes working for Actvi)?
Just sayin'. Please excuse the tears that splatter my keyboard.
I've never been one to jump into the boat "Kotick is the devil". But it seems he is prone on making absolutely sure that everyone that gives a damn about video games hates him. I don't know if he's just childish of if he was drowned in power, but this has got to stop. It's not good, for anyone.
The text in the advertisment was:
"CAN A COMPUTER MAKE YOU CRY?
Right now, no one knows. This is partly because many would consider the very idea frivolous. But it‛s also because whoever successfully answers this question must have answered several others.
Why do we cry? Why do we lough or smile? What are the touchstones of out emotions?
Unil now, the people who asked such questions tended not to be the same people who ran software companies. Instea, they were writers, filmmaker, painters, musicians. They were, in the traditionel sense artists.
We‛re about to change that tradition. The name of our company is Electronic Arts.
Software worthy of the minds that use it. We are a new assiciation of electronic artists united by a common goal – to fulfill the enormous potential of the personal computer.
In the short term, this meanstranscending its present use as a facilitator of unimaginative tasks and a medium for blasting aliens. In the long term, however, we can expect a great deal more.
The are wondrous machines we have created, and in them can be seen a bit of their makers. It is as if we had invested them with the image of our minds. And though them, we are learning more and more about ourselves.
We lean, for instance, that we are more entertained by the involvement of out imaginations than by passive viewing and listening. We learn that we are better taught by experience than by memorization. And we learn that the traditional distinctions – the ones that are made between art and entertainment and educcation – don‛t always apply.
TOWARD A LANGUAGE OF DREAMS. In short, we are finding that the computer can be more than just a processor of data.
It is a communications medium: an interactive tool, that can bring people‛s thoughts and feelings closer together, perhaps closer than ever before. And while fifty years from now, its creation seem no more important than the advent of motion pictures or television, there is a chance, it will mean something more.
Something along the lines of a universal language of ideas and emotions. Something like a smile.
The first publications of Electronic Arts are now available. We suspect you‛ll be hearing a lot about them. Some of them are games like you‛ve never seen before, that get more out of your computer than other games ever have. Others are harder to categorize – and we like that.
WATCH US. We‛re providing a special environment, in which big ideas are given room to grow. And some of America‛s most respected software artists are beginning to take notice.
We think our current work reflects this very special commitment.
And though we are few in number today and apart from the mainstream of the mass software market-place, we are confident that both time and vision are on our side. Join us. We see farther.“
This is why we bring you - Madden 2011!"
Yup, makes me cry all right. Mission Accomplished.
Various parts of Okami did too (mostly at the sheer beauty of that game).
More recently, when I first saw the opening of Little Big Planet, I was laughing and crying at the same time.
I'm in my 30s now, but there's probably still some seven-year-old left in me.
I agree with your point though, the vast majority of games can't engage the player emotionally with the characters and the story enough to make them cry when something bad happens, and most of them are not even trying to.
Shoryuken!
K.O.
Like a real street war. With drive-by shootings and structure fires. Except all the gangsters are wearing fine Italian suits and fake smiles and yammering incomprehensibly about protecting shareholder value from The Enemy.
My wish is that one day ATVI and EA can fist bump each other much like Dudebro.