Activision Hate Not Based in Reality, Says Activision

[Tom Goldman]

Activision Hate Not Based in Reality, Says Activision

Some gamers might believe that Activision is the evil empire, but Activision doesn't feel that way about itself at all.

Reading internet forums can give you the general idea that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is Emperor Palpatine and Activision is his evil Empire. According to Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg, or Darth Vader if you will, all of that hate is misdirected and not based in reality.

If gamers aren't happy with how Activision manages its portfolio, Hirshberg apologetically told IndustryGamers that certain "tough decisions" just have to be made. "Sometimes, really talented people get caught up in those, unfortunately," he said. You could relate this to Activision's explained [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/92199-Activision-Suing-To-Stop-Brutal-Legend-Release] was just about business.

Hirshberg says that managing Activision's "slate" is a very challenging process. Laying off staff and closing studios isn't done because Activision wants to, but because videogames are a "tough business" and a "high stakes game." Activision never takes firings "lightly," Hirshberg affirms, saying: "I want to make sure that comes across, because it really is true. We don't ever make those kinds of decisions in a cavalier fashion, I can assure you of that."

Much of Activision's current reputation is likely related to the situation [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/101995-Amended-Infinity-Ward-Lawsuit-Details-Activisions-Police-State] that saw Infinity Ward's heads ousted from the company. Hirshberg points out that there's two sides to every story, and believes "there's definitely some disconnect between the perception and the reality." He likens the hate to that once foisted upon the PlayStation 3 when it was released, hate that Kevin Butler, and a few price drops, have been able to dissipate. Hirshberg says it's a positive thing to have a core fanbase out there to keep companies like Activision honest, but hopes that it'll be possible to patch up the damaged relationship his company has with these gamers.

It's tough to judge the decisions of a huge company like Activision from the outside, without staring at financial reports and budget figures like its executives do. If you think about it, Activision really could be siphoning more money off of gamers than it is, primarily by participating in Project $10 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/98497-Retailers-Warn-Project-Ten-Dollar-Will-Hurt-Consumers] and the like with its <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Call-Duty-Black-Ops-Xbox-360/dp/B003JVKHEQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292454091&sr=8-1"
target="_blank">Call of Duty series. Bobby Kotick himself said that he'd adamantly [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/101503-Kotick-Wants-Call-of-Duty-Subscriptions-Tomorrow] stated multiple times that the game will never have subscription fees. If Activision were truly run by Palpatine and Vader, I guarantee subscription fees would be attached to the series right away, and you'd pay because of their Force persuasion.

Source: IndustryGamers [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/activision-hate-is-akin-to-ps3-bashing-a-couple-years-back-says-publishing-ceo/]

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[killamanhunter]

If they're in the dumps in terms of money that they can't keep their subsidiaries then maybe Kotick should take a few dollars out of his bathtub of call of duty revenue.

 

[Adzma]

Of course they don't care; they have shareholders and CEO's to pay millions, remember? What does Darth Kotick care a shit about Joe B. Logg who works at the Indianapolis dept being fired? He has a CashStar to build.

Yeah what he said. This is just generic PR bullshit they're spouting. Maybe when they stop milking long dead franchises and actually encourge the development of new IP I might consider regarding them with less scorn.

 

[NeedAUserName]

Eric Hirshberg doesn't seem like a bad guy (maybe he just has better PR people then Bobby), but I don't care what he says, I hate Bobby Kotick and everything he touches. He is just an awful human being. He could develop a cure for cancer, AIDS, create global peace, solve global warming and make poverty history, and I'd still think he was a dick.

He doesn't care about the gaming industry past his next paycheck. He clearly doesn't play his games and would happily make games drastically more expensive just to line his pockets with a bit more disposable income.

 

[neurohazzard]

"Some gamers might believe that Activision is the evil empire, but Activision doesn't feel that way about itself at all."
Of course they don't, evil empires never think they're evil, hell, that's part of what MAKES them evil.

 

[RUINER ACTUAL]

I don't believe any of this bull shit. Consolidating developers to work on CoD games because you fired one of the best devs around. Go you. I'm actually looking forward to see what the next CoD will be, you know, for the lulz. You keep doing what you're doing Activision, I'm gonna go play some EA and THQ games.

 

[Danpascooch]

I'm so sick of this shit about the IW ousting.

West and Zampella TOLD their side of the story, how the hell can you expect us to believe your side of the story when you DON'T TELL IT! I mean honestly, everything about it just looks like they're saying "Yeah, the real story totally clears our name, but we're keeping it secret because......" I know there could be some legal considerations with releasing it, but they could at least give us a basic idea of what supposedly happened! I remember Bobby Kotick's quote about it "Those guys, they, if I did what they did, I would probably be in jail". What the hell is that supposed to mean anyway? Tell your side of the story already, or accept that everyone believes West and Zampella. One or the other.

Also, I don't see how Kotick making a statement like "Bungie is the only good independent developer left" is not a cavalier move.

 

[Spygon]

This the problem with activison they now have woken up that consumers are not happy with them but the stupid thing is they still can not understand why.

Activison everytime your in the news it is normally because your trying to screw someone over either developers or your customers.

So i am going to point out the reasons i feel the public dont trust you.
MW2 price increase that was only sorted out due to retailers rapidily dropping there prices in a kinda price war but if was the retailers who lost the extra money they still have to pay you the normal price.Taking out party chat in game yes clans could cheat but i would rather face people talking to each other on party chat than having to mute half the server to talk to my friends.Dedicated servers i dont play on the pc but why take them out when they worked fine for years.Filling MW2 with balancing and spawn problems then ignoring they were any.Suddenly you take over blizzard then a couple of months down the line they come up with live ids on forums sounds abit fishy and they had to back out due the shitstorm it created.Also sueing a number of people for what seems no apparent reason

So if i can come up with at least 4+ problems off the top of my head i am sure someone can fire up alot more but they all come down to you trying to tell the industry how it should work.

 

[Exile714]

The gaming community speaks with two mouths. One mouth is the keyboard of the blogger/forum poster, the other is the wallet.

When it comes down to it, Activision (like everyone else in the gaming production business) listens to the latter. If you don't like their games, don't buy them. If they're losing money, they will change the things you don't like. If they're making money, they're not going to change anything.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Then how about as a sign of good faith you fire Bobby. I'm sure he won't mind.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Some gamers might believe that Activision is the evil empire, but Activision doesn't feel that way about itself at all.

So tempted to invoke Godwin, but I'll pick any dictator instead. No one thinks of themselves as evil.

If Activision were truly run by Palpatine and Vader, I guarantee subscription fees would be attached to the series right away, and you'd pay because of their Force persuasion.

They're not evil because they're not as bad as they could be?

Oh come on. Activision have repeatedly been in the news for PR scandals, gloating, and law suits.

In fact, I'm sure Emperor Palpatine would talk about his great reluctance to add fees to Call of Duty. He loves games. He wants them to be free. With the fees you give him, he will lay down once the pirates have been abated! His first act, with this new income, will be to create a Grand Army of Online Shooters and MMOs, to counter the increasing threat of the Separatists."

Yeah. "But who would have the courage to suggest such a radical amendment?"

"If you will not be turned... you will be destroyed!"

 

[Sight Unseen]

This the problem with activison they now have woken up that consumers are not happy with them but the stupid thing is they still can not understand why.

Activison everytime your in the news it is normally because your trying to screw someone over either developers or your customers.

So i am going to point out the reasons i feel the public dont trust you.
MW2 price increase that was only sorted out due to retailers rapidily dropping there prices in a kinda price war but if was the retailers who lost the extra money they still have to pay you the normal price.Taking out party chat in game yes clans could cheat but i would rather face people talking to each other on party chat than having to mute half the server to talk to my friends.Dedicated servers i dont play on the pc but why take them out when they worked fine for years.Filling MW2 with balancing and spawn problems then ignoring they were any.Suddenly you take over blizzard then a couple of months down the line they come up with live ids on forums sounds abit fishy and they had to back out due the shitstorm it created.Also sueing a number of people for what seems no apparent reason

So if i can come up with at least 4+ problems off the top of my head i am sure someone can fire up alot more but they all come down to you trying to tell the industry how it should work.

Here I'll contribute some more from a guitar hero perspective:

-Don't release 6 games from the same franchise in one calendar year.... (from Nov 2008 to Nov 2009 they released GHWT, GH:Metallica, GH: Smash Hits, GH: Van Halen, Band Hero, GH5, and DJ Hero if you count that)
-Don't screw over the artists that give you their music to put into your game. No Doubt and Courney Love/Dave Grohl had legitimate complaints about misusing the avatars of No doubt and Kurt Cobain respectively, and to countersue them for something and/or deceive them into signing the contracts that authorised their avatars use in ways they did not intend is just a low blow.
- When you do make new games, put something NEW in them! GHWOR is literally GH5 with a shitty story and a decent if schizophrenic setlist. There is nothing new here that couldn't have been DLC.
- When you "innovate" a new feature.... be sure that you're actually the first company to do it... When GHWT came out, you advertised it as "the first game to feature a full band including drums and vocals" when Rock Band 1 had been out for over a year.
-Listen to your fanbase/ fix gamebreaking bugs... In GH5, there was a bug where if you played drums on expert, it would think you were playing on expert+ ( double bass pedals) and have invisible kick drum notes that if you didn't hit would cause you to fail... Your response "We are aware of the problem, but we will not fix it until our next iteration." Basically buy our new game if you want playable drums... That's not good enough.

 

[Something Amyss]

Pretty much every evil empire has said the same thing, so it's no surprise they say it.

Whether they themselves believe it is another story.

The gaming community speaks with two mouths. One mouth is the keyboard of the blogger/forum poster, the other is the wallet.

When it comes down to it, Activision (like everyone else in the gaming production business) listens to the latter. If you don't like their games, don't buy them. If they're losing money, they will change the things you don't like. If they're making money, they're not going to change anything.

"Voting with your wallet" is a line of feelgood crap.

The market doesn't differentiate a "no" vote from that of the thousands of consumers who don't buy games, and there is no defined sum.

Beyond that, poor sales of a title don't guarantee Activision stops. it might seem like a double standard to point that out, since most gamers whine that they never take chances on new titles, but the development of titles like DJ Hero 2 should be a pretty good indicator.

 

[sunburst]

I find it rather strange that he uses the "It's just good business" defense as if that somehow excuses anything or nullifies their public image. You can't run a cutthroat business that only cares about profit without gaining a reputation as a cutthroat business that only cares about profit. As long as they continue being that company, attempts to improve their image are unlikely to be well received. See this thread for examples.

 

[Fursnake]

I think the reality is more like Activision does not have it's mentality based in reality. Another misguided PR attempt by Activision where they try to convince the gaming community that we can't think for ourselves.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

Games are loosing their sense of reality and fiction, even worst Activision is becoming EA's Apprentice !!! who will save the Galaxy ?

Bioware is secluded in the city in the sky...

lol

 

[Dexiro]

Well they're not doing stuff for the sake of being evil, Kotick would like to, but he's realised he has to maintain a relationship with gamers to sell his games.

What Activision do in reality is purely business, but that doesn't make it any better. If the quality of our games are being compromised just because some men in suits want to squeeze out every last penny they can then they're not welcome in the game industry.
There's nothing I can do to make them bugger off but I'm sure as hell not going to buy any of their games.

 

[Superfly CJ]

*insert useless Activision hate here*


I mean, come on, internet. I understand that you're over-entitled and because you're king of the schoolyard everyone should operate according to your whims, but Activision deserves nowhere near the level of hatred it gets.

I personally enjoy the annual COD releases, and the regular music games. Heck, in my opinion, DJ Hero 2 was the best improved sequel of 2010- much moreso than the likes of Mass Effect 2. Yet most people look straight past the games themselves and don't buy or play them out of principle.

There's a businessman like Kotick behind most gaming companies, the only difference being that the others do better PR. If anything, it's admirable that Kotick lays his cards on the table rather than bullshitting us like the others.

As a gamer, I enjoy games. I'm not a business analyst, and i'm not an activist waving virtual placards around in a futile attempt to defend a medium that's 90% made up of people shooting other people in the face. I play Activision games because I enjoy them, and i'll keep buying them as long as that remains the case. Lighten up, and just play the goddamned games you want to play, regardless of who makes or endorses them.

EDIT:

Hitler didn't think he was evil either.

We have a winner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwins_law