News Bot
01-22-2009, 04:10 PM
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Ben Kuchera, let me buy you a drink. Or, at least hit me with a virtual high five. Better yet, how about we just hit up a Louisville-area Buffalo Wild Wings and discuss our discontent for Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick? I would purchase your airline ticket, but I am a bit strapped for cash at the moment.
For those in the dark, Kuchera is a writer for technology site Ars Technica. He recently posted a piece (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090121-activisions-bobby-kotick-brings-cash-but-not-heart.html) that is rather critical of the Activision Blizzard boss. I wrote a similar piece last year (http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2008/11/things-i-wish-were-fiction-kotick-confirms-activision-blizzards-exploitation-strategy.html), but Kuchera has significantly more experience covering the industry than I do. For instance, the Ars Technica man has dealt with industry titans like Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime, Sony’s Jack Tretton and Harmonix’s Alex Rigopulos.
I won’t post a bunch of quotes from the piece, but do highly recommend that you go check it out.
However, here is a tasty bit to whet your appetite:
The only reason we care about him is that he makes a ton of money, and yes, that’s great for business. I get that. But usually, when you put the devil in charge, you have the good graces to at least keep a smooth-talking demon or two around to deal with the press. With Kotick, he’s very brazen about his need to squeeze every last dollar he can out of every franchise under the Activision Blizzard label.
As Kuchera points out, Kotick will probably ignore his fiery article. While his company is successfully flogging franchises (http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21873) like “Guitar Hero” and “Call of Duty,” numerous publishers and developers are suffering in the current economic climate.
The gaming industry continues to generate tons of cash ($5 billion (http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21885) in the U.S. in December alone), but don’t tell that to Crystal Dynamics (http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21809), Sega of America (http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21942), Midway (http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21897), Free Radical (http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21699) or Factor 5 (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21625).
Then we have Sony. According to this Gamasutra report (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21964), the Japanese gaming giant will post an annual operating loss of $2.9 billion. Yikes!
However, Microsoft is also looking to save money. Reuters has reported (http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE50L2XB20090122) that the company will be shedding a maximum of 5,000 employees over the next year and a half. According to the report, these cuts will affect “research and development, marketing, sales, finance, legal, human resources and information technology.”
In other news, Nintendo executives continue to wipe their bums with $100 bills.
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http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/TheSarcasticGamer/~4/z1DzhE9fxpY
Click here to view the article. (http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheSarcasticGamer/~3/z1DzhE9fxpY/thunderous-applause-journalist-disses-activision-ceo-bobby-kotick.html)
Ben Kuchera, let me buy you a drink. Or, at least hit me with a virtual high five. Better yet, how about we just hit up a Louisville-area Buffalo Wild Wings and discuss our discontent for Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick? I would purchase your airline ticket, but I am a bit strapped for cash at the moment.
For those in the dark, Kuchera is a writer for technology site Ars Technica. He recently posted a piece (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090121-activisions-bobby-kotick-brings-cash-but-not-heart.html) that is rather critical of the Activision Blizzard boss. I wrote a similar piece last year (http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2008/11/things-i-wish-were-fiction-kotick-confirms-activision-blizzards-exploitation-strategy.html), but Kuchera has significantly more experience covering the industry than I do. For instance, the Ars Technica man has dealt with industry titans like Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime, Sony’s Jack Tretton and Harmonix’s Alex Rigopulos.
I won’t post a bunch of quotes from the piece, but do highly recommend that you go check it out.
However, here is a tasty bit to whet your appetite:
The only reason we care about him is that he makes a ton of money, and yes, that’s great for business. I get that. But usually, when you put the devil in charge, you have the good graces to at least keep a smooth-talking demon or two around to deal with the press. With Kotick, he’s very brazen about his need to squeeze every last dollar he can out of every franchise under the Activision Blizzard label.
As Kuchera points out, Kotick will probably ignore his fiery article. While his company is successfully flogging franchises (http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21873) like “Guitar Hero” and “Call of Duty,” numerous publishers and developers are suffering in the current economic climate.
The gaming industry continues to generate tons of cash ($5 billion (http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21885) in the U.S. in December alone), but don’t tell that to Crystal Dynamics (http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21809), Sega of America (http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21942), Midway (http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21897), Free Radical (http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21699) or Factor 5 (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21625).
Then we have Sony. According to this Gamasutra report (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21964), the Japanese gaming giant will post an annual operating loss of $2.9 billion. Yikes!
However, Microsoft is also looking to save money. Reuters has reported (http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE50L2XB20090122) that the company will be shedding a maximum of 5,000 employees over the next year and a half. According to the report, these cuts will affect “research and development, marketing, sales, finance, legal, human resources and information technology.”
In other news, Nintendo executives continue to wipe their bums with $100 bills.
http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?d=41 (http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?a=rVuzimwQ) http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?d=43 (http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?a=iqNSTibX) http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?i=CIlOG42D (http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?a=CIlOG42D) http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?i=4RbIRnhj (http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?a=4RbIRnhj) http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?d=52 (http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?a=i4ATYlzo) http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?i=LxPTg091 (http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?a=LxPTg091) http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?i=1u2neUML (http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?a=1u2neUML) http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?d=50 (http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?a=R0jHRGjs) http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?d=54 (http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?a=MSlnuqKt)
http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/TheSarcasticGamer/~4/z1DzhE9fxpY
Click here to view the article. (http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheSarcasticGamer/~3/z1DzhE9fxpY/thunderous-applause-journalist-disses-activision-ceo-bobby-kotick.html)