Harri Posted February 19, 2011 Report Share Posted February 19, 2011 I see a lot of people ragging on activision lately, and with Robert Kotick the CEO, the hate seems to be directed to him. I do understand some of the reasoning, such as the $60 pc gaming trend that has been going on lately, but largely, the hate is unfounded. For example, Kotick controls NO PART IN GAME MAKING. So, MW2 and the no dedicated servers is not because of him. A lot of people rag on him also dropping companies. Remember that Kotick is running a business, and if you don't drop them, you lose money. If you lose money, the company loses money, and so does everyone working under it. What do you do when you don't gain money? You cut your losses. If you run a store, and a employee is not performing as well as the standard, and you pay them the same, then should you not let them go? This is the case with Guitar Hero, and as I suspect GH has been to expensive to produce, with the licenses and the making of the guitars. So, I honestly don't see why Kotick is hated on so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyber Rat Posted February 19, 2011 Report Share Posted February 19, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McBeeferton Posted February 19, 2011 Report Share Posted February 19, 2011 Go forth, my thralls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akuam4n Posted February 20, 2011 Report Share Posted February 20, 2011 What do you do when you don't gain money? You cut your losses. I can't think of an example right now, but I'll continue anyway. Game development is a slightly different beast. IMO, to make a triple A game, you either need a ton of vets on the same team, or you have to have a very passionate team. The former is what Acti seems to want, and gets, so I can see how they shut down studios they make be making just a tad of money on their products, but not enough (again, I could be wrong, no info to back this). If a game doesn't sell billions of copies, the company should not be shut down, if they are incredibly passionate about what they do (IMO). I think the shareholders for Acti have come to expect the mega hits every fall, etc, so when a game isn't a flop per se, but it's not a mega hit they get antsy; and Koticks job is to please the shareholders. I know the Game Industry is a business just like everything else, but the really passionate developers seem to be getting stomped out, or are just dying out. It's kinda sad. Again, no facts to back anyyyyy of this. It's just an opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
excel_excel Posted February 20, 2011 Report Share Posted February 20, 2011 Bravo Harri bravo. You said it. Still I understand why people hate him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted February 21, 2011 Report Share Posted February 21, 2011 In the case of GH though if they hadn't of pushed it till it became unprofitable then they wouldn't of had any need to close the studio. It's like defending shooting a horse when it's broke it's leg. It wouldn't of broke it's leg if you hadn't pushed it so much. If it's your prize winning horse don't try to push it too much, go at a steady pace where you still might win some, come 5th in others, but overall your horse last longer. Though more in line with running a store, it's like putting the staff running day and night shifts, ten firing them because they fall asleep on the job. The employee didn't choose their timetable, you the employer did. Milking the Hero franchise until it became unwanted was not the developers fault. Entirely the publishers decision to churn out so many games in such a short space of time. Regarding COD, they'll of had a fair bit of input. Rarely do publishers just go "here's $50million, do with it what you want. We trust you". Especially when that $50million is going on your bread winner, you'll want to keep a close eye. As for the hate directed at Kotick, the guy has a habit of saying the wrong things. That is primarily where it all comes from. EA and Activision are about on par in regards to series exploitation (though not as much as with the Hero stuff) but the major difference is Ricitello knows when the fuck to shut up, and when he opens his mouth he makes sure that it's not stuff that will piss off his customers. http://www.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=riccitello+devil http://www.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&source=imghp&biw=1749&bih=933&q=kotick+devil&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq= Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted February 21, 2011 Report Share Posted February 21, 2011 A lot of the problem with Kotick is that while he is good at making money in the short term, he doesn't seem to have much of a plan for long term profits other than running as many sequels as he can for as long as he can. That simply isn't going to work forever. It becomes a problem because there are good franchises being ruined because they're being repeated ad nauseum. Even CoD will fall at some point if it keeps going like this. Simply put, the man makes it abundantly clear with his model that he does not care about games at all. They're just his vehicle to make money. That's why people have a problem with him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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