The Curious Case of Bobby Kotick

by exterminat

©2010 Nicholas Laborde

I wake up on a Monday morning with a usual routine: eat breakfast, get dressed, check my email, and finally, see what’s up in the gaming world.

I browse a forum and see a thread with the first word “Activision.” From that moment onward, I know that Bobby Kotick is involved in the topic at hand.

Recently, Mr. Kotick has been speaking his mind quite freely.

For those of you who know of Mr Robert Kodick (Bobby), and for the select few that don’t (seriously, living under a rock can’t be too comfortable), no matter what words are uttered from his mouth, he just about always manages to stir up a storm of anger in the gaming community.

There have been three claims made by Bobby in recent times that have been stirring up much more than a storm on the vast opinionated machine that we know as the internet or world wide web.

I’m here to talk about these claims and why I believe Mr. Kotick acts the way he does.

Case Number 1:

Capitalizing on What You Already Own

The first of the three claims was made about a week ago. He wants to sell you cut-scenes from your favorite Activision games!

After seeing StarCraft 2, which “had over an hour of cinematic content” (Kotick obviously hasn’t viewed a video game in modern times, because that’s standard for nearly any game with a story mode) he thinks it a creative idea to sell these cinematic pieces of games as a downloadable video or even a movie in theaters.

And at what price? “20 or 30 (US) dollars.”

Mr. Kotick, I barely want to pay nine dollars to see a movie in a theater, let alone another $US20 – $US30 for some trailers I already have in my game I just paid $AU110 for.

What makes you think I want to pay that much to view something that will become as milked and boring as most of the games released under your company’s name?

Case Number 2:

Bigotry of The Umpteenth Degree

The second claim was probably the biggest of the three announcements, since he single-handedly insulted and demeaned every independent developer in the entire industry.

How did he manage to do this in a single statement? With the Kotick Charm©, that is.

He stated that Bungie is “the last-remaining high quality independent developer in the world.”

And this comes hot off the heels of the not-so-recent announcement that Bungie and Activision have a ten-year multiplatform deal for a new IP.

You do realize, Bobby, that although you have managed to acquire a very talented independent developer, that they are not the only one on Earth?

What about Gearbox, who brought us Brothers In Arms, Borderlands, and has apparently been successful in keeping Duke Nukem Forever from being killed off?

I didn’t think so.

Case Number 3:

We’re The Best

We’re The Best, Because Even Though It’s Been Done, We’re The Ones Doing It Now

Now, for statement number three! To put it simply, he said that Call of Duty: Black Ops is the “Holy Grail” of gaming, mainly because of the facial animations and “emotional connections.” Hmm, seems someone has already laid claim to that award, Studion Bondi who are in the throws of completing LA Noir with Rockstar as the publisher. The game’s animation and facial recognition is above any game being produced on the market, released or otherwise.

So let me get this straight: a game that is the newest iteration of a series that has been repackaged for countless years is the Holy Grail, and all because the faces can have dimples and Treyarch decided to remotely try to incorporate a story?

In roughly thirty minutes, I could write a short story and make you emotionally attached to a character. It’s not hard; and I’ve never even had a proper tutor for my writing.

I Am Who I Am

Why is Bobby Kotick such a curious case? He’s a CEO, and he’s doing what his bosses love best: making them money, no matter the cause.

See, the true reality of the world is that hardly anyone at the top of a hierarchy does something because they like it. It’s nearly always done for money.

And that’s what ol’ Bobby is doing.

But it does not stop here. Some of his friendly previous statements included talking about charging for online multiplayer on consoles, even though we need to move away from subscription fees.

Industry minds such as Tim Schafer have called him countless names that aren’t very family friendly.

He’s said he wants to take all the fun out of video games, if only for profit.

If he could, he would charge more for anything and everything, including games themselves.

He reminds me of a figure equally near-and-dear to our hearts, Mr. Jack Thompson.

The difference being that Kotick wants himself associated with video games because they can turn him a profit.

What spawned this man, who cares nothing for the hearts of his millions of loyal fans?

He had a very abused childhood, where his parents forced him to work to no avail on a day-by-day basis.

When he asked for compensation for his hard work, they simply laughed at him and sent him out again.

This led to the way he now leads his business.

That makes for a good story, if only it were true.

We, the people, of the gaming world…

In a world where profit is seemingly more important than quality content, people like Mr. Kotick will always exist.

Can we, the simple gamers do much about it? – Not really.

Can we make our voices heard? – Of course.

Will they listen?- Probably not.

I jokingly say this, but the only way a message could be sent to Bobby Kotick was if you walked up to him, punched him his face and stated your desires.

I’m honestly surprised that someone hasn’t already done this.

And to the disagreement of 100% of the entire gaming community, I agree with his business ideals.

He makes money and is good at it; what more could you want in life?

©2010 Nicholas Laborde

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Filed under: Blogbanter, Console gaming, Editorial, Xbox 360 Tagged: | "Gearbox studios", Activision, Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick, BobbyKotick, Borderlands, brothers in arms, bungie, Call Of Duty Black Ops, Duke Nukem Forever, Earth, games, Gearbox, Holy Grail, Robert Kotick, Video game