Kotick: Treyarch "Didn't Get Their Due" for Making Call of Duty a Success

[Andy Chalk]

Kotick: Treyarch "Didn't Get Their Due" for Making Call of Duty a Success

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick says Facebook-style social interactivity is a big part of why the Call of Duty [http://www.amazon.com/Call-Duty-Black-Ops-Xbox-360/dp/B003JVKHEQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293056913&sr=8-1] games are so popular and credits Treyarch with making it happen.

True story: I've never played any of the "new" Call of Duty games. I have no interest in the multiplayer and based on what I've heard from people who do enjoy them, the single-player component is just a six-hour warmup for the real action that takes place online. Some players apparently don't bother with it at all.

That's probably okay with Bobby Kotick, though. Call of Duty is the world's preeminent FPS franchise and Kotick credits that largely to the game's online component, which he says has become a new medium for social interaction. "If you look at the 500 million people who are on Facebook and the way that people text each other and instant message and use video chat, there is now an evolution of media," he told CNN [http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/gaming.gadgets/12/21/black.ops/]. "Those are the characteristics and attributes that a generation and audiences feel are very important to their media and entertainment experiences. And we expect that."

You can thank Modern Warfare [http://www.treyarch.com/] games are the flagship of the Call of Duty franchise but their multiplayer components, which have made them so enduringly popular, were "largely developed" by Treyarch, the studio often viewed as IW's slightly-less-competent junior partner. "I don't think Treyarch got their due for how much they contributed in the production and polish to the multiplayer," Kotick said.

Not that I'm questioning his sincerity, but it's not really a surprise that Kotick is giving a boost to Treyarch, even if it means sticking it to Infinity Ward just a little bit. Like it or not, the implosion of Infinity Ward [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/106358-Update-Activision-Claims-EA-Tried-to-Drink-Its-Infinity-Ward-Milkshake] means Treyarch is now Activision's FPS Studio Numero Uno. A little pep-talk from the boss, and a gentle reminder to the world at large that there's more to Call of Duty than just Infinity Ward, probably isn't a bad idea.

via: Gamasutra [http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/32167/Kotick_I_Dont_Think_Treyarch_Got_Their_Due_.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GamasutraNews+%28Gamasutra+News%29]


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[TheRightToArmBears]

Well, I do love WaW more than all the other CoD games (and most other FPS games too), so I definitely think that Treyarch deserve more credit than the get. But then, they did make CoD 3... Eurgh.

But he's just saying this because he knows that he can't rely on IW being awesome anymore.

 

[theriddlen]

Just wow.

Kotick said something that wasn't retarded and filled with idiocy.
Probably the happy pills finally started working!

 

[uppitycracker]

I wish he'd bring us some clarification on what exactly they contributed. As much as I hate IW (MW2lol), COD4 seemed to bring more polish to the franchise since COD2. Since then, it's just been the same engine, reused and abused. If anything, Treyarch has done more harm to the multiplayer than good.

 

[Tim Latshaw]

"Facebook is great, but has it ever let you shoot people in the face? Treyarch gave you that. You're welcome."

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

"If you look at the 500 million people who are on Facebook and the way that people text each other and instant message and use video chat, there is now an evolution of media," he told CNN. "Those are the characteristics and attributes that a generation and audiences feel are very important to their media and entertainment experiences. And we expect that."

Surely you can credit the 500 million people for making it a success then? Just a thought.

Now, how about you pay Treyarch what they're worth before you fire them and accuse them of running to EA?

 

[NeedAUserName]

I really don't like Treyarchs entries into the CoD series. CoD4 thrust the series in a new and improved direction, dragging it out the rut that is WW2 FPS'. It brought a massive new, innovative multiplayer experience, that was unparalleled to any other FPS of the time. Then WaW comes along and drags the series right back into WW2, and takes the CoD4 multiplayer system, and just drops it into WW2, the only thing WaW had going for it was Nazi Zombies, and even they were pretty gimmicky in my humble opinion.

Then MW2 is released, its just as good as CoD4 if not slightly better, and brings the games back to their contemporary setting, and adds a hole new level of customization to the multiplayer side of the game, along with the third option of Special Ops missions. Then comes Black Ops, sure it wasn't a bad game, but I'll be honest, I thought the single player could be lifter straight out of most cliche ridden Vietnam war movies, and again the multiplayer just adds to the multiplayer introduced in CoD4, along with the still gimmicky, now slightly out of place Nazi Zombies (at least make them NVA Zombies).

Basically what I'm saying is I feel Treyarch has always brought the weaker, filler, CoD games, just filling in the gaps until Infinity Ward was ready with a new one. So unless Treyarch put in a lot of the effort to make CoD4s multiplayer in the first place I fail to see how they can receive much credit, since the multiplayer has barely changed since it was released with Cod4.

[/end anti Treyarch/anything Bobby Kotick says is wrong rant]

 

[Anachronism]

True story: I've never played any of the "new" Call of Duty games. I have no interest in the multiplayer and based on what I've heard from people who do enjoy them, the single-player component is just a six-hour warmup for the real action that takes place online.

Likewise. I loved the earlier games, and the first one in particular ranks among my favourite FPSes, but I gave up on the franchise when they apparently forgot that there are people out there who only want to play single player. Admittedly, the campaigns were never particularly long, even in the early games, but they weren't short, and they were polished enough that it wasn't an issue that there were shooters out there with longer campaigns. For some time now, the franchise's single player mode has felt like an afterthought, which is a real shame, in my opinion.

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

Just wow.

Kotick said something that wasn't retarded and filled with idiocy.
Probably the happy pills finally started working!

Or maybe he's just dick riding Treyarch because IW aren't around any more? I'm not buying it.

 

[Mortons4ck]

Kotick's remarks have a "But we've always been at war with Eurasia" quality about them.

 

[Rednog]

Wait....so updating the graphics of MW2, being lazy and just re-skinning guns without changing stats, still keeping the obscenely annoying faults of prestige (possibly making it worse, I mean wtf pro perks reset; screw you), and a boring new system of exp and CoD points warrants thanks?
Sorry 3arch you're going to have to win my love another way, I put you in the dog house after the hair-ripping ordeal that was the single player of World at War and BOps didn't get you out of it.

 

[MoNKeyYy]

Just wow.

Kotick said something that wasn't retarded and filled with idiocy.
Probably the happy pills finally started working!

Watch him blow his neutral/positive message by something idiotic this week or spewing bullshit. Quote me on this one.

My theory is that he's saying this to undermine the efforts of IW and give the credit to a company still frimly under Kotick's wing.

Or there's something in this for him.

Or someone at Treyarch was insubordinate and this is his way of appeasing them without actually appeasing them.

Or as you say he'll fuck it up somehow.

Or any combonation of the above.

But I think we can all agree that this is strange...

 

[Jumplion]

One instance of non-idiocy does not redeem oneself, it doesn't.

The fact that Infinity Ward was crushed and destroyed during all this doesn't seem like a testament to his ability to lead well.

 

[ENERTRON]

i think 3arc did a great job with black ops. this becomes more apparent when i try to play any other (non CoD) online multiplayer game.

i just can't stand the "cod4 was the best evar omgz!" bandwagoners. sure you're entitled to opinion, but i question how much of that opinion is based on the quality and balance of the game itself, and not nostalgia factor. it was a huge high to play cod4 when it came out because it was so new, fresh, different, and addicting, but remember stopping power? juggernaut? 3x frag? 2 claymores? same 3 killstreaks all day, every day, for everybody?

it's like me saying "ya lost odyssey was good but chrono trigger was the best rpg ever"

it's hard to value an opinion as much when you can't tell if it's based on legit factors or just a nostalgia trip down memory lane.

 

[Canid117]

While he didn't say anything rage inducing why can't he just let his PR department handle all the public statements from now on?

 

[maddawg IAJI]

So Treyarch should only be credited with making a smooth mutliplayer? Well I guess that's a decent accomplishment, but multiplayer is only suppose to be 1/6th of the video game formula. And from what I've seen from them lately, Treyarch just can't nail the other 5 parts.

 

[The Lunatic]

Did you mean: Infinity Ward?

I don't think they got their due either really...