Kotick Rules With Fear, Like Good Ol' Stalin!
Activision's Robert Kotick doesn't much care for parties, he disdains video games, and acknowledges that he prefers to foster a corporate culture of "skepticism, pessimism, and fear" of the world's financial state. Robert Kotick proudly cares about one thing and one thing only: profit.
This from a man who skipped class to make money and once threw parties at Studio 54 for his underage pals - but remained bewildered by their hedonism. This from the guy who's responsible for Activision's "laserlike focus on the bottom line." This from the dude whose stated goal coming into Activision 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games. Let me repeat that:
"The goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks into Activision about 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games."
And:
"We are very good at keeping people focused on the deep depression."
In addition to bringing in people from the packaged food industry to run a packaged game company, Kotick is currently hyped about the prospect of a Guitar Hero game that bypasses consoles entirely; Kotick's enthusiasm stems mainly from the increased "leverage" with first parties that an untethered Guitar Hero might bring, and the resulting sweeter deals on DLC and the business model in general.
Kotick also promised a "transformation of the medium" thanks to his investment in real-time mouth movement technology and spent some time celebrating his reworking of Activision's employee incentive program to ensure that it "really rewards profit and nothing else."
I think I'll go out on a limb and say that Kotick's remarks are not likely to make him any more popular - he's already gone after the music industry (ironically, for being greedy) threatened to boycott the PS3, tried to cockblock Brutal Legend, and declared any game without the potential for multiple sequels to be not worth making. And, just for icing on the cake, Kotick was one of only three gaming bigwigs who donated to the Republican presidential campaign.
I'm betting the guy drinks bunny blood before bed every night, too.
tiny dancer
Posted to Hot Stuff, Miscellany on 16 September 2009
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He killed several Kittens and Puppies!