Bobby Kotick Took Fun Out of Making Games and More

These stories have been going around the past couple of days and I just wanted to comment on them. Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision Blizzard has made some rather disconcerting comments over the last few days that reflect poorly on his organization. Keep in mind, these comments do not reflect the attitudes of Activision as a whole, but still make you wonder what exactly is going on there.

From a Gamespot interview with Mr. Kotick:

"We have a real culture of thrift. 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."

The interview went on to comment:

The executive said that he has tried to instill into the company culture "skepticism, pessimism, and fear" of the global economic downturn, adding, "We are very good at keeping people focused on the deep depression."

Why would anyone want to work at a company where the whole goal is to not have fun while you're there. The business of video games, is as a general rule, about making things fun. If games aren't fun people won't play them. If it's not fun to make a game it won't be fun to play a game.

This from News.spong.com:

"Today, we'll sell you for $100 a guitar. You might add a microphone or drums, you might buy two or three expansions packs, different types of music. Over the life of your ownership you'll probably buy around 25 additional song packs in digital downloads. So, what used to be a $50 sale is a $500 sale today."

I know that gamers are partly to blame because they buy all the things that he has said, but that doesn't excuse the fact that he throws those comments right back at the person telling them flat out they're taking advantage of you to make money.

Game companies are in the business to make money. That's the beauty of capitalism, but if you want people to continue to buy your products you generally have a bit more respect for them and don't treat them like they're idiots.

Come on Mr. Kotick, there are plenty of people at your company doing good things for gamers and we want to support them, but if you continue to make ludicrous statements like the ones above people are going to lose a lot of respect for Activision because you are the face of the company. These comments will only hurt the people who work for you in the long run.