It’s been weeks since Uncle Bob Kotick has been seen in public, dishing out fan-boy baiting sound bites with gay abandon but now he is back – or should that be – he’s backtracking.
In the past Kotick clearly stated that he wanted to take the Call Of Duty franchise, make it a subscription-based service and squeeze every last penny from your wallet. In a rather abrupt U-turn, Bob has had a change of heart.
At the Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference in California, Kotick dismissed any plans to charge for Call Of Duty multiplayer.
“That’s what people are paying their $60 for. They get a game that has a lot of replayability. I think why Call of Duty has been so successful is because we’re delivering extraordinarily high quality gameplay, production values and interactivity at great value.”
Bob then went on to criticise forms of in-game advertisements, claiming “It would not be respectful towards players.”
Okay, own up – who has kidnapped the real Bob Kotick and replaced him with one who has the interests of his customers at heart? No subscription fees? Against online advertisements?
Nu-Bob then went on to explain that Activision’s experience with customer support (mostly for WoW) was one of the main reasons Bungie decided to team up with the publishers. This statement has had many publications predicting that the mystery Bungie project will be online only.
Source: GamesIndustry.Biz
Mikiyaru
Am I the only one who thinks that the Bungie project is online project is the most important thing here? That would be awesome!
Kovacs
I’m still pumped Bungie are developing on the PS3 at all.
Bungie. PS3. Woah …
hazelam
their last playstation game was oni remember.
Mike
Yeah, and that sucked balls.
cc_star
Although Kotick is known for making business statements (to his financial buddies) which may not sit well with his customers (gamers) I know 95% of the stuff said about him is misquoted, taken out of context or just written in such a biased fashion to suit a writer’s agenda in whipping up some fanboytastic style hits amongst their readers.
Activision are only interested in blockbuster games that are suitable for mass-market consumption (and sales figures) if people don’t like that, they are free not buy any of the company’s products, bitching & whining about them says more about them than it does about Activision.
Most of the statements that don’t sit well with gamers can be attributed to analysts who have nothing to do with Acti or Bobby, but it doesn’t stop people thinking Acti or Bobby have said them.
I just put it down to the Internetz hive mind, here is a blog post which explains how a few of his supposedly most memorable ‘quotes’ weren’t actually said by him at all.
BrendanCalls
cc_star, that blog you linked to is quality. Completely changed my view of Kotick
Im so glad I read it, I’ve been rather vocal about my negative views on Kotick in some of the TSA stories printed previously. I’ll hold my tongue(or my fingers) next time.
cc_star
Yeah I know. He’s just a very rich CEO of a successful company people’s bitterness towards those two facts often gets in the way of the truth, and in the examples shown in my linked too blog they provides a great insight into how poor ‘journalism’ can be on the web as nobody drills down to the source to try and see, either the whole quote or the context it was said in.
I’m not saying he’s 100% an angel though I’m sure there are a few examples of things he’s said or done that I don’t like (but thats life), just that he’s done very little to deserve the animosity towards him, and the reputation that proceeds him is more down to ‘teh internetz’ than it is his own actions.
Bilbo_bobbins
well thats good. Bungie online only confirmed ;-)
gazzagb
Well said Bobby, at first I thought MW2 was too expensive, but I’ve easily got my monies worth out of it. :)
DannyFantango
After finishing the Halo Reach campaign today (I’m on 3-11 shifts all this week, alright!), I can say that I would be a bit dissapointed if Bungies next game is online only.
I wonder if Bungie will make a shooter that is similar to Halo or will try something completely new?
bajere
i dont really see the argument for paying a subscription on games like COD… if they ever did try and push that, they game would have to be free IMO
DJ-Katy
So here’s what happened.
Bob contracted out some goons to do a market research survey.
Response came back overwhelmingly against a subscription model, full of seething resentment and loathing.
Bob realised gamers would shit all over him if he released such a product and backtracked. But most importantly: only for 6-12 months. He knows that consumers are sheep with short memories, and will re-push this agenda with the 2012 releases instead.
bunimomike
Can’t help but agree with you.
Grey_Ghost13
Or old bobby is the puppet and there is a higher master puppeteer controlling him and what he says!
aerobes
He gets an awful lot of bad press so it’s nice to read something positive
bunimomike
Hitler was the same until I read about him running a kitten orphanage from 1937 to 1939.
cc_star
@bunimomike
Lol
@aerobes
He does get bad press, and 95% is just because of the internet hivemind. He’s been misquoted, taken out of context or just lied about more than anyone I know, and sadly once you’ve read enough bullshit from all angles you just end up believing it.
Partly to blame is the fact that more than half of all gaming stories on the web are just sourced from someone else and like a game of chinese whispers the message which comes out the other end is nothing like what was mentioned at the start.
People are just sheeple and the hive mind rulez all.
Read this blog post I originally linked to above, to see how some of Bobby’s supposedly most famous quotes are just misreported on and then in the cut & paste world of games journalism people never drill down to the ultimate source to see what was actually said or the context it was said in.
Grey_Ghost13
Just read the blog and my god he has been spun into the devil, from reading the transcripts you get the impression that he is a very intelligent man and knows his business. Some of the miss interpretation must go down to the good old green eyed monster! Thanks CC_Star for pointing it out!