Activision CEO Robert Kotick Slams EA

Chron · Sep 28, 2010

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has taken a shot at rival Electronic Arts.

In a recent interview with Edge magazine, Kotick said Activision's recent success is the result of allowing its internally owned studios to retain an identity, something EA is currently lacking.

"The core principle of how we run the company is the exact opposite of EA," Kotick said. "EA will buy a developer and then it will become 'EA Florida', 'EA Vancouver', 'EA New Jersey', whatever. We always looked and said, 'You know what? What we like about a developer is that they have a culture, they have an independent vision and that's what makes them so successful.' We don't have an Activision anything - it's Treyarch, Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer.

"That, to me, is one of the unassailable rules of building a publishing company. And in every case except for two, the original founders of the studios are still running the studios today. The only thing that we try to do is to provide a support structure to make them more successful.

"If you do a really good job - and a lot of our studios do - you get to pick what is, in my view, the most difficult thing to pick in the industry: to make original intellectual property."

Kotick also believes EA is struggling to attract talent, which he says will ultimately result in lesser quality titles.

"Look, EA has a lot of resources, it's a big company that's been in business for a long time, maybe it'll figure it out eventually. But it's been struggling for a really long time. The most difficult challenge it faces today is: great people don't really want to work there.

"It's like, if you have no other option, you might consider them. They have some… the team that makes Madden is a really great team, it's been able to manage, capture and keep some good people. But we have no shortage of opportunity to recruit out of EA – that's their biggest challenge: its stock options have no value.

"It's lost its way. And until it has success, and hits, and gets that enthusiasm back for the company, it's going to have a struggle getting really talented people, which is going to translate into less-than-great games."

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Quoted from Ign.com

Thoughts?

Vicious3745 · Sep 28, 2010

I just think electronic arts is trying way too hard. I don't even think the guys that run the place have any idea how to make a game anymore

BASED GOD · Sep 28, 2010

Vicious3745 said: ↑

I just think electronic arts is trying way too hard. I don't even think the guys that run the place have any idea how to make a game anymore
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Make sense seeing as they're a publishing company

Juggernaut · Sep 29, 2010

Hotpokkaminny said: ↑

Make sense seeing as they're a publishing company
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Lol

Also, Kotick is an idiot and Activision is ruining games and by games I mean good game series. Guitar Hero never got better after the third and now that Blizzard and Activision have merged, I know Diablo 3 and all of it's stupid ****ing rainbows and disabled character customization will be a piece of junk. *sigh*

Willmatic · Sep 29, 2010

Kinda funny how he says nobody good wants to work there even though he just fired the 2 lead developers of their most successful game and they went to join EA.

Gr4phix · Sep 30, 2010

Has anyone noticed the fact that Kotick said, "We don't have an Activision anything -"
When it's Activision BLIZZARD?

LOLFAILNOOB.

Security · Sep 30, 2010

What about DICE?

Activision CEO Robert Kotick Slams EA

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Activision CEO Robert Kotick Slams EA

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