Activision CEO Says He Would Raise Prices Even Higher

Keane Ng

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Sep 11, 2008
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Activision CEO Says He Would Raise Prices Even Higher



Bobby Kotick, showing an almost admirable disregard for what people think of him, admitted during the Activision-Blizzard earnings call yesterday that if he could, he would raise game prices even higher than he already has.

At some point, you become so successful that you just stop caring what other people think. They will call you evil, they will call you greedy. They will call you insane, but what do you care - you sleep on top of a pile of money with many beautiful ladies. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick must be at that point. First he threatened to cut off PS3 support entirely, and now he's made a casual admission that comes off as completely callous and greedy but is almost disarmingly honest.

Asked a question during the Acti-Blizz earnings call about price points, Activision's Mike Griffin had this to say: "And then on the second question, Tony, on the pricing, we've had for all of our launch titles in the back half of this year, some of which contain peripherals, as you point out, very strong retailer acceptance and support for all parts of our plan, including our merchandising plans, our marketing programs, and our price points."

After which Kotick stepped in and added this: "And Tony, you know if it was left to me, I would raise the prices even further."

Even further might be in reference to Activision's pricing of Modern Warfare 2 in the UK, where the game will run for £54.99 (about $90).

Kotick was probably joking - all the executives reportedly laughed after he made the remark. But that doesn't make it any funnier to me, since it just conjures an image of a bunch of cartoon fat cats laughing it up and wearing top hats and monocles while sipping martinis and eating ribeyes. And you know, even if he was joking - humor's an easy cover for your true feelings. Either Kotick is playing with us and doesn't give a hoot about what people think, or he's just flat out crazy. Gonna go with a little bit of both.

[Via VG247 [http://www.vg247.com/2009/08/06/kotick-i-would-raise-game-prices-even-further/]]

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Feb 13, 2008
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I believe this would be best illustrated by illustration.

Gentlemen, we have a smiling photo to deface, don't you think?
 

Amnestic

High Priest of Haruhi
Aug 22, 2008
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Amnestic (Forum poster) says he would kick Activision CEO in the balls gladly.

Because caring about the consumers you're serving is such a drag.

And people wonder why I have no brand loyalty to Activision.
 

fix-the-spade

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Feb 25, 2008
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The man is clearly Tony Blair's long lost brother.

Never mind the greedy backstabbing lieing bit, he's even got the same smile!
 

LaBambaMan

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Jul 13, 2009
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Wow, this guy is an evil son-of-a-***** isn't he? Next thing you know, he's going to suggest raised the prices for WoW subsriptions(which actually might help ween people off of that crack). Seriously, that sort of thing isn't acceptable as a joke.

It seems like the games industry, hell almost all industries, are intent on hating Australia as much as humanly possible. They tack on random time extensions for products and then charge 4 times as much? I know the country was founded by convicts, but I think it's about time we cut them a freakin' break.
 

Doc Theta Sigma

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Jan 5, 2009
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He is aware that Gamers are already howling for his blood? This can only make things worse. I call dibs on his trachea.
 

HardRockSamurai

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May 28, 2008
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An Activision CEO wishing he could raises prices higher? Are you fucking kidding me?

OK, is there anything ELSE Activision could do right now to make themselves appear EVEN MORE satanic? Even Kotick's picture looks as if it were taken at his summer home in the depths of hell!

[small]Say hello to the new face of evil folks![/small]​
 

Exocet

Pandamonium is at hand
Dec 3, 2008
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Why Activision?Why are you making us hate you?
You already lost me buying MW2,why are you trying to lose me as a customer all together?

I truly believe this man is a James Bond villian in the making.
 

Rhayn

Free of All Weakness
Jul 8, 2008
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I don't know what goes on in his head. I'm trying to understand what it is with money that makes you go crazy. This guy already makes ungodly amounts of green, yet it seems all he has to say involves him making even more of it.

It's pissing me off, to say the least. What's even more annoying is that he is in fact allowed to do that - Activision is a company, companies need to make money.

I guess what I'm trying to say that I wasn't expecting any goodwill from Activision, but damnit, this is going overboard. I would like to say that I'm going to completley stop buying any of their games, but I play WoW, so that's not going to happen. Regardless, I already decided to not get MW2 and instead buy two copies of Brutal Legend.
 

leviathanmisha

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Jun 21, 2009
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Give me the picture...me and my art friends would make him look like a ken doll in drag!

And seriously, how much is Modern Warfare 2 going to cost, I don't wanna give an arm and a leg for a damn game.
 

AceDiamond

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Jul 7, 2008
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So Kotick thinks consoles should cost less and games should cost more.

what a dick.

Unless of course he's now fully aware of his public image and is screwing with people's heads, in which case he's the richest troll in the world.
 

Anachronism

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Apr 9, 2009
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Amnestic said:
And people wonder why I have no brand loyalty to Activision.
In my case it's because of their treatment of the Call of Duty franchise. What was once one of my favourite game series has been murdered, buried, dug up again, and handed over to Treyarch to do questionable experiments with. I realise they do it with all of their franchises, but CoD was one which I particularly liked.

Whether he was joking or not, this isn't exactly going to benefit Activision's image. Although, given most people's opinion on them, it could hardly get much worse. Maybe he's just decided to wing it and do whatever the hell he wants to do.
 

Amnestic

High Priest of Haruhi
Aug 22, 2008
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NekoiHiokans said:
Give me the picture...me and my art friends would make him look like a ken doll in drag!

And seriously, how much is Modern Warfare 2 going to cost, I don't wanna give an arm and a leg for a damn game.
RRP is £55 in Britain, though a number of retailers (Play.com, GAME) still have the price listed at a more normal price of £30-40 last I checked, seemingly bucking Activision's desire to price gouge.

Whether that changes between now and release remains to be seen.
 

walls of cetepedes

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Jul 12, 2009
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fix-the-spade said:
The man is clearly Tony Blair's long lost brother.

Never mind the greedy backstabbing lieing bit, he's even got the same smile!
Oh crap, he does. I need a new avatar...
 

leviathanmisha

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Jun 21, 2009
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Amnestic said:
NekoiHiokans said:
Give me the picture...me and my art friends would make him look like a ken doll in drag!

And seriously, how much is Modern Warfare 2 going to cost, I don't wanna give an arm and a leg for a damn game.
RRP is £55 in Britain, though a number of retailers (Play.com, GAME) still have the price listed at a more normal price of £30-40 last I checked, seemingly bucking Activision's desire to price gouge.

Whether that changes between now and release remains to be seen.
Ick...that's sounds expensive, I don't even wanna know the amount US, guess I'll just have to have a heart attack when I go to buy it.