Game Lawyer Calls Bobby Kotick "Emperor Palpatine"

[Nomanslander]

You know, when a lawyer thinks you're evil...../shakeshead

XP

 

[shintakie10]

And number 2, all you have is money. You sell games. We got the fucking games, and you got shit without us. So pony up and back your talent, and treat them right. If you won't do it, somebody else will, and then they're going to replace you and your big company.

This is where the problem lies. The reality is that people aren't willing to quit their jobs and have to go without just to make a point. Of course when there are so many people out there and so few jobs you can understand why people take what they can get. But in doing so everyone devalues themselves and enables the rule of big business. If everyone said no it'd be one thing, but the reality is it'll probably just be you and then someone will take your job.

Its the same for us gamers, we say we aren't going to accept this or that from a developer (RaineHero's post illustrates this perfectly) then most of us run out and buy the game in question anyway. If we can't even stop ourselves from buying a single sequel, what makes anyone think they are going to go jobless just to boycott their employer?

This is pretty much the gist of it. Gamers have been giving clear signals to game developers and publishers that they are willin and able to buy sequel after garbage sequel. We whine, complain, write petitions, make threats, we do everythin imaginable...except not buy the game. How many years has Madden been out and how many years has the complaint that the new game offers absolutely nothin new, or not enough new to warrant a 50+ dollar price tag, yet how many years has it topped charts? Until gamers as a whole can get some damn self control, people like Bobby Kotick will be able to say and do the things he does and get away with it.

 

[Soxafloppin]

God, that must have been followed by an awkward silence!

 

[TheDoctor455]

SNIP.

Why would someone take offense to an insult that was made in the form of a Star Wars reference?
That just seems petty to me.

A bit high and mighty there. Its gets his point across clearly to his target audience.

I wasn't being "high and mighty", I just don't understand that. I'm a fan of the original Star Wars trilogy, and I've gotten insults where I was compared to... let's see... Chewbacca, R2-D2, C-3PO, Darth Maul (still don't get it), Darth Vader, and Count Dooku. I didn't take offense to any of these insults because they seemed a bit weak to me.

 

[Arcane Azmadi]

GOLD!

I'm surprised he didn't also jump on Kotick's statements about how he prefers to milk (read: "run into the ground") existing licenses which support expensive and compulsory peripherals rather than new IPs. When I saw 'Guitar Hero: Van Halen' I said "NO. Just NO!"

 

[Daniel Cygnus]

Pull your head out of your ass, cowboy up, you are the fucking evil Emperor. Just be who you are and stop trying to pretend like you're one of us. Number 1.

And number 2, all you have is money. You sell games. We got the fucking games, and you got shit without us. So pony up and back your talent, and treat them right. If you won't do it, somebody else will, and then they're going to replace you and your big company.

YES. This has to be one of the best and most deserved slams ever.

Seriously, his actions as of late seem specifically designed to elicit these sorts of comments.

 

[jono793]

I seem to be one of the few willing to give Kotick the benefit of the doubt. Even moreso after this latest bout of unprofessional grandstanding.

The ?take the fun out of gaming speech? is being dragged completely out of context. Kotick made that speech at a conference hosted by Deutsch Bank; a conference attended not by gamers, but by investors, money men and other serious people! The speech was intended to have the maximum impact on his audience. He would not have done that had he blathered on about how great video games are for half an hour! He was also making a legitimate point about rooting out the lamentable business practices that have blighted the industry in the past.

The Ire against Kotick highlights just how schizophrenic the gaming community is. The demand for big ticket, high-spec titles has never been greater, yet somehow we expect the industry to be run by gangs of altruistic computer-hippies. We want gaming to be taken seriously, yet we don?t like it when a serious businessman starts running the show. As gaming becomes increasingly mainstream, the industry needs to be run more like a business. That being the case, Kotick and his ilk are a necessity.

As for the IW fiasco, we?ll probably never know the truth of the matter. Activision probably acted in bad faith, but that doesn?t mean to say there were no faults on IW?s side. I?d be dubious about anything either side releases on the issue.

 

[Plurralbles]

This guy... this guy is my hero.

 

[evilartist]

So in the Star-Wars analogy, who are we?

JAWAS!

OOOTINI!

Naw, those would be more like Gamestop employees.

So in the Star-Wars analogy, who are we?

The good people of Alderaan perhaps?

That sounds about right. And we, the people of the Escapist, are the Rebellion.

I'd have to disagree about us being the stormtroopers, though. Casual gamers and Wii owners are the stormtroopers. They're the ones that buy all the crap shoveled to them like mindless drones, so they're the ones fueling Palpatine's success.

 

[The Great JT]

Does that mean Tom Buscaglia is Luke Skywalker?

 

[samsonguy920]

I have lived to see an actual LAWYER emit nerdrage. I feel like Dr. Alan Grant when he first saw brontosaurs at Jurassic Park. Color me giddy.

So in the Star-Wars analogy, who are we?

The wookies and ewoks. As in the slaves and the ignored. Both who will come forth and do their part to destroy the Empire!
Now one must ask which of Jason West and Vince Zampella is Mon Mothma.

 

[samsonguy920]

Well I have been saying this for a while, I even made a pic a few weeks back!

Welcome to the Escapist, your notoriety and esteem are sealed for eternity with that one post. I bow to you, sir.

 

[Lamppenkeyboard]

So in the Star-Wars analogy, who are we?

The rebel soldier who gets his neck snapped.

 

[Macgyvercas]

Wouldn't it be nice if the games industry could declare a vote of no confidence on Kotick and have him fired? The dude sounds like a jerk.

 

[Zepren]

Pull your head out of your ass, cowboy up, you are the fucking evil Emperor. Just be who you are and stop trying to pretend like you're one of us. Number 1.

And number 2, all you have is money. You sell games. We got the fucking games, and you got shit without us. So pony up and back your talent, and treat them right. If you won't do it, somebody else will, and then they're going to replace you and your big company.

If i was him, i would of said - "BAM!" and hit the table at the end of all that. It is one of them "Bam! i got you good" moments

 

[4fromK]

conversation snipped

LOL sorry, epic fail on my part. I just got my "evil" corporations mixed up.
If a CEO wasn't in it for the cash, I would be very worried about it. someone needs to be a whore, and there are money grubbing whores at the head of every corporation, gaming or no. If you hate a CEO, It's all to do with presentation; If you love a CEO(Miyamato for example, and only for example, this is by no means a personal attack) then it means that your good at swallowing PR bullshit. there are people who are in the industry it for the love, but I would be surprised if any of them made commercial decisions that were savvy enough for them to rise to CEO (for an example of what happens when someone who loves gaming runs a games company, see John Romero).

 

[Danpascooch]

The Infinity Ward CEO and President better win that lawsuit.

I still love that burn quote from EA on the matter