"We're still the same fun bunch of guys" says the company that sent thugs in to eject employees that had just finished making what was then one of the best selling games in history for them, just to avoid paying out the massive promised bonuses.
"Fun and cuddly" lead by the joking rascal himself, Bobby Kotick, who is simply misunderstood... with his private jets, stewardesses, and sex scandals (despite my unpopular overall take on that situation, it's still a mess), he's outright adorable! Who could possibly dislike him just because of a few "jokes"? ....
I'll also say that just because a company was professional after being cut loose, as opposed to it turning into a war, doesn't mean much. Publically most such partings ARE friendly as the people departing want further employment, and the guys doing the letting go don't want to intimidate their other workers. What we've seen is not a matter of Activision being "nice" so much as a situation where sometimes things go down the normal way as opposed to always involving thugs.
IMO if Activision wants to get a better reputation, it needs to do more than just saying nice things about itself or taking an "oh, pity us" approach. Unfair or not, it's Activision that has the reputation that needs to be overcome.
In a purely pragmatic sense, if I wanted to overcome this reputation, I'd probably try and perform some grand, and expensive gesture for the fans, and just literally throw away some of those millions in hopes that the change in perception would lead to making more money back later. What such a gesture should be, is beyond me, because I've never been in the position of having to repair a reputation on this level.
Of course, while a bad joke, I half suspect that if Activision did try and be nice, the gesture would be something like erecting a giant statue of Bobby Kotick and telling us it's so we don't have to feel so put off by those giant robot statues in Asia anymore because we have Bobby... or including a set of baby seal killing clubs and a ticket to Alaska in every copy of the next Call Of Duty game so we could all "share the favorite hobby of the Activision board of directors".
