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Kotick questions continued Activision support of Sony platforms [update]
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is starting to believe that there isn't enough incentive to release games on the PlayStation 3 or PSP. Proving how confident he is that fanboys don't have his email address, he told The Times, "I'm getting concerned about Sony; the PlayStation 3 is losing a bit of momentum and they don't make it easy for me to support the platform. It's expensive to develop for the console, and the Wii and the Xbox are just selling better." Kotick openly called for a price cut on the PS3, citing a probable drop in attach rates. We can only imagine how Sony feels about being told its prices are too high by the CEO of the company behind (according to retailers) the $200 Band Hero box.When we look at 2010 and 2011," Kotick said, "we might want to consider if we support the console - and the PSP [portable] too." It's worth noting that, according to this Gamasutra report, both Call of Duty 4 and World at War moved fewer copies on PS3 than on Xbox -- but both broke a million on PS3, which would lead us to consider them "hits." Update: Sony comments, after the break.[Via Gizmodo; thanks, Ted]
Survey says: Activision exploring MMO monetization for Call of Duty franchise
Way back in March of ought eight, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick wondered aloud during a conference, "[What] would be the natural evolution of a property like Call of Duty into a massively multiplayer environment -- how do you monetize that?" And it seems as though the company is working on that very question, if a survey spotted by Destructoid holds any truth to it. Referring to a handful of features (such as "new in-game content like map packs and betas," and "team-management services," among others), the survey asks participants "How likely are you to purchase or subscribe to this online service when the next Call of Duty game comes out?" The survey goes into much gorier detail but, from what we can tell, it smells like Activision is testing the waters for that MMO-esque monetization that Kotick spoke of so long ago.
Report: Activision execs sell off a bunch of stock
Two Activision executives have a lot less Activision this week, according to The Business Insider. Last week, CEO Bobby Kotick unloaded 1.5 million shares of Activision stock, worth around $17 million, and co-chairman Brian Kelly sold 3.6 million shares, or $42 million worth.According to TBI, Activision stock is up around 30% since the start of the year (strong Q1 sales and the announcement of more Guitar Hero things helped, no doubt), making it an opportune time for the executives to get money. Plus, a long weekend was coming up, and the two executives wanted to make sure they didn't have to stop at the ATM on their days off. [Via VG247; Image source: Forbes]
Vivendi CEO becomes Activision Blizzard chairman
Jean-Bernard Levy, CEO of Vivendi, will add the role of Activision Blizzard chairman to his resume. Levy will pick up the duties of outgoing 67-year-old Rene Penisson. Vivendi is the majority owner in the empire known as Activision Blizzard. Blizzavision is expected to announce strong sales in the bajillions - despite the economy's influence - during its financial report this Thursday.Activision Blizzard director, president and CEO Bobby Kotick had no reaction to the news, as he is currently on a deep exploration inside the company's money bin. He'll comment after returning and depressurizing in a couple weeks.
Activision Blizzard expects to rake in more money this quarter
Activision Blizzard officials took time out of their busy schedule counting money to let the world know that the conglomerate is not only filthy rich, but expects to stay that way. The company notes that its financial take for the most recent quarter is tracking ahead of its own expectations, thanks to what it calls "better-than-expected" sales of its games at retail.Prior guidance had the company pegged to bring in a hefty $860 million in revenue for the period, though it's unclear how much this figure will inflate in the wake of "strong" sales of Call of Duty and Guitar Hero titles, as well as World of some such. Actiblizzard CEO Robert Kotick noted that this "bodes well" for the company's upcoming releases, which include a salvo of games "inspired by theatrical feature films," colorful prose we're sure was inspired by the bulge in Kotick's wallet.
Kotick: more original Wii titles coming, consoles still aren't cheap enough
In a Reuters interview, Activision CEO Robert Kotick talked about the state of the video game business in the current economic situation. "There's probably more opportunity for our industry than just about any other industry I can think of other than maybe bankruptcy lawyers," an apparently unworried Kotick said. The company plans share buybacks and some acquisitions, though nothing on the scale of the Activision-Vivendi merger.The executive showed confidence in the growth of gaming during this time, noting, however, that it would grow more if consoles achieved even lower, prices. "The price on platforms today has still not gotten down to mass-market price points," Kotick said, "and I think when you're in the economic circumstances that the world has found itself in, there really is a difference between a $199 game system and a $299 game system."Kotick then expressed an interest in improving Activision's performance on the Wii -- otherwise known as the console that most of the mass market owns. "In the past we approached the Wii as an extension of what we were doing on PlayStation and the Xbox and I think we can do a better job of creating original content for the Wii, and I think you'll see more of that this year." Does that mean original content like a Call of Duty, or like Big League Sports? [Via IGN]
Infinity Ward Twitter page welcomes suggestions for 'Modern Warfare 2'
You'd think Infinity Ward, developer of various Call of Duty titles (including 2007's enormously popular Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare) would just come out and say it already. Between the not-so-clandestine Tweets from IF Community Manager Robert "Fourzerotwo" Bowling and Activision big boss Bobby Kotick outright announcing the title to a group of potential advertisers, we're pretty sure Modern Warfare 2 exists ... somewhere. As if to add fuel to our already brightly burning fire, Infinity Ward recently created a Twitter page specifically for community contribution to their clearly in-progress game. Got something to tell Mr. Bowling and the rest of the folks hard at work on the next Modern Warfare game? Head over to your Twitter account and write in your under 140 character suggestion with a "#MW2" hashtag. And no, like you, we didn't know what a "hashtag" was until just now.
Official enough: Kotick confirms DJ Hero for 2009
Activision has yet to announce DJ Hero through any official channels. The "rumored" game has been revealed through trademarks, secret sources, and even musicians whose work is included. But because Activision hasn't sent out a true press release, the game continues to be in some kind of limbo between reality and rumor. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick totally spilled the beans to CNBC, saying, "We have this product called DJ Hero coming out later this year which is a turntable that you can actually play competitively, spin discs and mix on." Can we call this first Guitar Hero spinoff "confirmed" yet? Because it's totally happening. In other news: CNBC's Joe Kernen is basically mystified by Nerf N-Strike. Just like everyone else.[Via GamesIndustry.biz; image credit: lolololori]
Forbes writer defends "knockoff" slam against Rock Band
Earlier in the week, Forbes writer Peter C. Beller became the industry's latest whipping boy after taking ironic (and comical) shots at Harmonix for knocking off Activision's Guitar Hero to develop Rock Band. Calling Rock Band "a shameless knockoff of Guitar Hero," many chalked the remarks up to a journalist swallowing public relations fluff, often served to the gaming unaware in hopes to strike a cord with the readership of an unrelated industry publication.Surprisingly, Beller has come to the defense of his statements saying, "If you define knockoff as "a copy or imitation of someone or something popular" the way Merriam-Webster does, then I think Rock Band fits the bill nicely." Beller continued, explaining he is aware Harmonix was the development team behind both titles but made the statement to outline that Activision has strong competition regardless of how profitable its franchises are. Unfortunately, in the statement made to GameDaily, Beller failed to explain why his editorial was so slanted. In fact his statement failed to explain anything, really.
Is Bobby Kotick bad for Blizzard?
Yesterday, when we wrote about Blizzard's mistakes in patch 3.0.8, I made very sure to stay away from any mention of Activision. Call me naive, but I still don't think the Activision-Blizzard relationship has yet affected how Blizzard conducts business -- Blizzard's mistake of releasing the patch before it was ready was, in my mind, all their own. But not everyone feels that way (just read the comments on yesterday's post), and Ben Kuchera of Ars Technica will go a step further: he's calling Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick out for caring more about how much money his games make rather than how good they are.We've talked about Kotick here before, and we've got him saying both that Activision will leave Blizzard alone and that they'll be seeking additional revenues where they can get them. But Kuchera isn't so balanced -- he's ready to pin Blizzard's decisions, including the idea to cut Starcraft II up into three different games, and the pending monetization of Battle.net on Activision's influence. And the last nail in the coffin is Kotick's recent profile in Forbes, which apparently had the writer calling Rock Band a "knock-off" of Activision's Guitar Hero (even though history says otherwise, since Harmonix, without Activision, created both franchises).But that gets a little too far into non-Blizzard territory for us. Kuchera finishes by saying that there's two forces at work in Azeroth: "the loyalty of [WoW's] players" and "Kotick's cash lust." And he questions what will happen when the two finally face off. Which is basically what we've been saying for a long time. But the question so far is whether that's happened or not. Have Activision and Kotick pushed Blizzard to make the Starcraft II and Battle.net decisions, or is Blizzard making all of these choices on their own?
Forbes: Rock Band a 'shameless knockoff' of Guitar Hero
We can only assume that Forbes lives in a world with no GuitarFreaks. In the latest issue of the business magazine, a biographical profile of Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick turns controversial when it accuses Rock Band of ripping off Guitar Hero. According to the magazine, "EA also teamed with MTV to sell Rock Band, a shameless knockoff of Guitar Hero that added drums, bass and a microphone to the world of make-believe rock stars."Leaving aside the fact that Guitar Hero hardly represents the roots of its genre, such a brash statement feels distinctly at odds with the rest of the (pretty neutral) piece. There's also the role of Harmonix to consider: after all, theirs was the name behind both franchises! %Gallery-19119%[Via Joystiq]
Forbes profiles Activision CEO, calls Rock Band "shameless knockoff"
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is this month's Forbes magazine cover boy, where the business mag recounts his journey from sandwich delivery boy to billionaire CEO. Surprisingly (read: Not really), Kotick describes himself as not being interesting in games personally but has been more than happy to build Activision Blizzard into one of the industry's leading companies. One quote sending the games industry into a laughing dizzy is the line, written by Forbes itself (hold back the tears): "EA also teamed with MTV to sell Rock Band, a shameless knockoff of Guitar Hero that added drums, bass and a microphone to the world of make-believe rock stars."We suppose the irony should be that Guitar Hero was first developed by Harmonix, the company responsible for Rock Band. Maybe we should be laughing that it was Harmonix that took the music genre into the group setting, which led Kotick's Activision to follow suit and create Guitar Hero: World Tour. But honestly, we just think the irony is that Forbes is a shameless knockoff of Fortune.[Via Videogaming247]
Forbes profiles Kotick, calls Rock Band 'shameless knockoff of Guitar Hero'
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is the cover story for the latest issue of Forbes magazine, and the article's got one helluva quote -- and it's not even from the man himself. While you might balk at the businessman's lack of gaming credentials (read: he doesn't play games), this is the line, written by Forbes itself, that'll cause more than a few raised eyebrows: "EA also teamed with MTV to sell Rock Band, a shameless knockoff of Guitar Hero that added drums, bass and a microphone to the world of make-believe rock stars."The decidedly negative tone without attribution is uncharacteristic for the magazine, and also feels a bit ... off? We know the Harmonix-RedOctane schism can be a bit confusing, but when the creators of the hit franchise are the ones making Rock Band -- and doing the multi-instrument thing first -- is that really the best choice of words? [Via geoffkeighley]
Phil Harrison would 'love' to prove Activision wrong about Ghostbusters
When it comes to the much anticipated Ghostbusters game, Atari's Phil Harrison – somehow it still sounds wrong – clearly wants Activision to know what it lost when it cut the game (and several others) loose earlier this year. Speaking to MCV, he called out Activision-Blizzard CEO, Bobby Kotick, on the decision. "What Bobby, perhaps unhelpfully said, was that those games were franchises which wouldn't make $100m of revenue and generate sequels," Harrison said of Blizzivision's choice to offload Ghostbusters. "If that's his benchmark, then fine – and we'd love to aspire to the same benchmarks. But you know what? I would love to turn Ghostbusters into a $100m franchise, just to prove him wrong." That may not happen, but given the hype and fan following – not to mention the fact that it's coming out on at least five platforms – Activision might yet kick itself when the sales numbers are tallied.
Activision's Kotick a runner-up for 'CEO of the Year award'
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has had a pretty big year, all things considered. The sales success of his company's titles helped soften (but not completely abate) the blow of the economic crisis, garnering the company a smaller stock drop than their fellow big-name developers. The merger he helped create last December drastically increased Activision's second-quarter revenue to about twice the amount that the company earned on its own in Q2 of last year. Also, he made a bunch of comments that made gamers really angry. Oh, wait -- that's a bad thing.For the first two achievements listed above, Kotick was recognized as a finalist in Marketwatch's 2008 CEO of the Year award. Ultimately, he didn't win -- that honor went to Hasbro's Brian Goldner. However, we hear he's still in the running for Colgate's prestigious "Most Precious Smile of 2008" award. Best of luck, Bob-o![Via GamePolitics]
Activision Blizzard CEO Kotick: Vivendi franchises lacked 'potential to be exploited'
Whereas Electronic Arts has been actively pursuing a more diverse portfolio of original IPs, rival publishing powerhouse Activision Blizzard is looking to take a less risky approach of focusing on a narrow field of franchises and, in CEO Bobby Kotick's words, exploit it. Hey, it's just business.When asked about the Vivendi Games franchises that were tossed aside when Activision consumed the company (e.g. 50 Cent, Ghostbusters and Brutal Legend) during yesterday's conference call (transcript via Seeking Alpha), the Big Kahuna said, "With respect to the franchises that don't have the potential to be exploited every year across every platform with clear sequel potential that can meet our objectives of over time becoming $100 million plus franchises, that's a strategy that has worked very well for us."Kotick said that there's only been a "small single-digit number" of new, successful franchises in the last five or 10 years, and that properties they work on are those that "we know if we release today, we'll be working on 10 years from now." He cited rising development costs as a factor in this conservative business strategy. Of course, as gamers we typically don't mind sequels as long as they show noticeable improvement over their predecessors (and sometimes that's not even necessary), but come on, Bobby, we know you've given KennyL free reign. We really do appreciate it, now do us another favor and just release Brutal Legend. You can write it off as a charitable deduction, we promise!
Who's who at BlizzCon: WoW Insider's guide to the staff of Blizzard
Everyone going to BlizzCon this year will get to roam around the convention hall with some of the very people who bring you World of Warcraft and other Blizzard games. While many World of Warcraft fans might be familiar with the online pseudonyms such as "Drysc" and "Tigole," very few probably know what they actually look like.We've searched the internet high and low for pictures of these folks and have compiled them into a nice and handy gallery complete with some biographical information. The pictures are small and mobile enough that they can be saved to an iPhone or other mobile device that can be brought into the convention hall.If you happen to be going to BlizzCon be sure to stop and say hello to these Blizzard people. And if you aren't going, check out WoW Insider during the convention for the latest and greatest reporting right from the floor.%Gallery-33827%
Activision Blizzard CEO questions rhythm game royalties yet again
Last week, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick criticized complaints made by Warner Music exec Edgar Bronfman, who claimed the royalty rates for songs used in rhythm games such as Guitar Hero are "paltry." Kotick responded hastily, saying Bronfman's comment was "one-sided". Apparently unsatisfied with his single verbal riposte, Kotick brought the matter up yet again in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, in which he ponders whether music publishers who contribute to rhythm games should be paid at all -- even more, Kotick contemplates whether the music companies should be the ones to shell out the cash.Kotick claims that rhythm games with licensed tracks have a "significant" impact on the record and ticket sales of contributing artists, causing him to wonder if developers "should be paying any money at all and whether it should be the reverse." He makes a somewhat valid point, though we humbly abstain from picking sides in this royalty rumble -- we'll leave that to you, our well-informed and judicious readers.
Bobby Kotick talks about what Blizzard can do for Activision
The Wall Street Journal sat down to interview Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, and our little World of Warcraft game got a nice bit of face time (one wonders why no one's asking Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime about, say, Guitar Hero, but who are we to question the corporate structure?). Kotick says that Activision closely examined what everyone else was doing with MMOs and online gaming, and saw that the only real winner in the market was Blizzard. Rather than investing in their own franchise, then, they decided to just buy Blizzard from Vivendi (and as you know, that's what happened). Kotick says what's so difficult about running these online games is just the scale -- you've got to handle credit card fraud, keep thousands of servers up and running (and patched), and still provide a good experience for millions of players at a time.Kotick also talks about the way that WoW is sold in Asia (there, instead of paying a monthly fee, many people in Internet cafes pay per hour in cash), and says that Blizzard's experience with setting up a viable pay model may come in handy with other Activision properties overseas, Guitar Hero being his first choice.We're still not exactly clear on how all of this relationship works -- while both Blizzard and Activision have said in the past that it's hands off, you have to think that even though things are buddy-buddy now while the money's flowing, but what happens when the two sides start to disagree?
Actilizzard CEO finds Warner Music's logic on music licensing 'one-sided'
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick finds comments made by Warner Music -- saying it should be paid more for the use of its music in games like Guitar Hero -- a little "one-sided." The Financial Times reports that the Blizzavision chief thinks comments made by Warner Music's Edgar Bronfman don't take into account the "capital and resources" required to turn the song into something "fun to play."With the music industry taking a backseat to the games industry, it's not surprising to find record execs trying to figure out a way to squeeze more money out of a billion-dollar franchise. The thing is, though, that Activision's merger with Vivendi Games, connects it to Vivendi Universal, which owns Universal Music, the "world's largest music publisher." At the end of the day, Kotick can snap his fingers and never talk to Warner Music again, all the while squeezing every last dollar out of the Guitar Hero franchise until it stops being the soup du jour.
