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[Jinxed]

The interesting bit for me is where he basically alleges that all the scandals were trumped up charges as part of a shakedown by the unions to get more members. Which I have to say strikes me as being quite plausible with them all coming along at the same time, getting pushed hard in the media (much less so in litigation), and most notably being oddly singular cases among organizations with thousands of employees yet presented as symptomatic of systemic imbalances/issues.

Yeah, it's a great interview. A lot of interesting things are being discussed.

 

[RCX]

The interesting bit for me is where he basically alleges that all the scandals were trumped up charges as part of a shakedown by the unions to get more members. Which I have to say strikes me as being quite plausible with them all coming along at the same time, getting pushed hard in the media (much less so in litigation), and most notably being oddly singular cases among organizations with thousands of employees yet presented as symptomatic of systemic imbalances/issues.

Found that really interesting. So much of those stories at the time appeared a little "off" to me. The campaign around it all seemed very manufactured

 

[Hudo]

Call of Duty is just US military propaganda for kids

Infinite Warfare still is the best one.

 

[diffusionx]

Found that really interesting. So much of those stories at the time appeared a little "off" to me. The campaign around it all seemed very manufactured

Activist driven scandals designed to turn over gaming companies happened a LOT post-GG and most people were just totally fooled by it.

The stuff you see from people like Schreier and Kotaku and Eurogamer and places like that, which discuss the woebegone gaming industry, are still are largely built on the narrative created by those scandals.

 

[havoc00]

Good watch

 

[GloveSlap]

Industry on shaky ground plus insane valuations during the Covid boom. Of course selling was a good idea.

 

[The artful mincer]

Sounds like a paranoid doomer. Like Activision can’t also make some Chinese start ups? This isn’t a zero sum world

I’ve always contended Kotick was straight up lucky rather than some brilliant strategist. All his success comes down to the original MW team

Maybe the one thing Kotick did that was smart is recognize when his luck had run out. Can’t blame him for that. Sounds like he realized he wasn’t good enough to keep his luck going.

Luck always plays a much bigger role than alot of people want to admit.

I think Bobby was patient enough to get lucky and capitalise on it. Modern Warfare blew up which gave him enough financial clout to buy Blizzard and later King.

Outside of Call of Duty the history of Activision has been one of failure and unsustainabilty.

Don't believe me check out this fucking release schedule

List of Activision games: 2020–present - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Utter dogshit just re releases and Call of duty. Consolidation up the point until all your eggs are literally in one basket.

Consolidation is so short sighted there's zero guarantee that Call of duty will be as big 5, 10 or 20 years from now.

If it's popularity tanks then what? It can happen EA has already started to feel the pinch with slacking fifa sales.

Consolidation helped them in the past but will be there un doing in the future.

 

[HoodWinked]

I just found this podcast and this is probably the best interview I've ever heard about the game industry and yet it only has 9200 views. Absolutely wild how much Kotick reveals about numerous deals and discussions that occurred while he was at Activision.

 

[MrCunningham]

Ah, Kotick the little troll.

$69 billion... I can't say that I blame him.... The man had his fair share of success with Guitar Hero and COD: Modern Warfare.

 

[Harlock]

They Created Worlds podcast has an episode about Kotick early years at Activision. Different time, but always good see the entire context.

 

[Hugare]

It's interesting how he mentioned all these media companies transforming their business model to subscription and destroying the value of the business... And then he sold to a company that was transforming the business model to subscription. But he also sold when these companies were paying for IP at an all time high rate.

He just got lucky by having great studios working on Call of Duty.

Activision has some cool franchises, like Crash or Tony Hawk, but despite having some great sales recently they've been dormant for years.

Microsoft paid that for COD and got some other franchises as bonus, thats the truth. Blizzard is also great, but havent been great for quite a while now.

 

[Bojanglez]

Really good interview this. Interesting that he offered Spencer a role but MS then offered him the Head of Xbox so he stayed

Also very interesting that when Satya first got to Microsoft Kotick told him he shouldn't be in the games business because they have no creative culture

 

[Felessan]

Activision has some cool franchises, like Crash or Tony Hawk, but despite having some great sales recently they've been dormant for years.

Obviously they didn't have much resources other than maintaining their CoD franchise that just turned into one big live service game that literally ate all Activision employees to maintain itself.
When resources are limited, they are allocated to most effective (profitable) direction.

 

[proandrad]

Damn it’s like gaming media completely misrepresented the guy. Bobby sounds smarter and more in touch than all current gaming CEOs.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Damn it’s like gaming media completely misrepresented the guy. Bobby sounds smarter and more in touch than all current gaming CEOs.

It's why numbers never lie.

Bobby Kotick took a company from near bankrupcy in 1990 to become the biggest (or 2nd - Tencent) 3rd party publisher in the world. The people who write the narratives can't sell **** for 70 billion dollars, they can only slander and defame to the applause of their toxic readership.

 

[RickMasters]

I smell bulls@@ it wasn't because of China the high powers could of easily said no to a Chinese buyout or stop China buying up every studio.. Bobby wanted to sell to Microsoft because they have the money and he knew he get a large chunk of cash. Could off sold or offer studios to sony or nintendo

So in inter words he sold it to MS because of china. …… J/k



As for selling to people with less money than MS for less……. Well….. from a business perspective that would be daft. The idea is to sell something for as much money as possible, ain’t it?

 

[RickMasters]

It's why numbers never lie.

Bobby Kotick took a company from near bankrupcy in 1990 to become the biggest (or 2nd - Tencent) 3rd party publisher in the world. The people who write the narratives can't sell **** for 70 billion dollars, they can only slander and defame to the applause of their toxic readership.

This. Same goes for the shit talkers on gaming forums like this. Most are not even successfully self employed, they work for other people. I’ll take what Bobby says over anything the gaming media or gamers on forum can cook up as far as his reasons for selling.


Like that man even cares what people have to say anyway. … He’s probably smoking a fat Cuban, an AP on his wrist… Laughing it up on a beach, with the keys to maybach in a Gucci man-bag. Meanwhile ‘gamers’ are spending their days crying about the state of the industry on forums ….. like they have a job in it! You Can’t make this shit up.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

I just find it funny that the publisher that turned every dev into CoD studios told Satya MS needs them cause they’re creative and MS isn’t a creative company.

 

[mayham2199]

Strange because that's not what he said during the FTC trial. This is a completely different answer than what he said to the judge.

 

[Nickolaidas]

I'm so fucking tired of all this anti-China propaganda. The Chinese and the Koreans are coming to claim the audience that the West kept telling to fuck off, and now the West is panicking as they see that the people they told to fuck off are doing exactly that.

What, you thought that these people would stick with you out of some masochistic sense of loyalty? Go fuck yourselves.

China and Korea are giving me what I want. If you need to blame someone, blame yourselves.

 

[Topher]

This. Same goes for the shit talkers on gaming forums like this. Most are not even successfully self employed, they work for other people. I’ll take what Bobby says over anything the gaming media or gamers on forum can cook up as far as his reasons for selling.


Like that man even cares what people have to say anyway. … He’s probably smoking a fat Cuban, an AP on his wrist… Laughing it up on a beach, with the keys to maybach in a Gucci man-bag. Meanwhile ‘gamers’ are spending their days crying about the state of the industry on forums ….. like they have a job in it! You Can’t make this shit up.

Because all successful business people always tell the truth and never bullshit anyone.

Can't make this shit up indeed

 

[Scrawnton]

Strange because that's not what he said during the FTC trial. This is a completely different answer than what he said to the judge.

This is a different time. Most of the time judges or lawyers say stuff like "at the time" or "was that true at the time." You could always argue that after the sale when AAA western games started flopping he rejustified stuff in his mind and applied it retroactively. Humans do that all the time. This isn't some situation where he perjured himself.

 

[RickMasters]

Because all successful business people always tell the truth and never bullshit anyone.

Ok…. Let’s run with that idea….

Now,Honestly…. Who the fuck cares? He could have sold it for Greenland, or the North Pole for all I care. Why are people wallet watching and getting their panties inna twist over it? Just seem like ‘gamers’ are a miserable bunch who always need some rich bastard to cry about.

 

[Kacho]

They work 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. They don't need a vegan meal at the cafeteria etc..

Just heard that. Brutal!

 

[Topher]

Ok…. Let’s run with that idea….

Now,Honestly…. Who the fuck cares? He could have sold it for Greenland, or the North Pole for all I care. Why are people wallet watching and getting their panties inna twist over it? Just seem like ‘gamers’ are a miserable bunch who always need some rich bastard to cry about.

Then why the hell do you care if anyone doesn't buy this China story on why he sold? You can't have it both ways.

 

[wipeout364]

I haven’t listened to it yet but is there any discussion of Bungie? I would love to hear his take on that fiasco.

 

[Kacho]

Harassment Lawsuits


Talks about how it went down, how smart the people behind it were (drops that they got fired too lol). What a gem of an interview. Gonna poop sock the whole thing later.

 

[DeepEnigma]

This. Same goes for the shit talkers on gaming forums like this. Most are not even successfully self employed, they work for other people. I’ll take what Bobby says over anything the gaming media or gamers on forum can cook up as far as his reasons for selling.


Like that man even cares what people have to say anyway. … He’s probably smoking a fat Cuban, an AP on his wrist… Laughing it up on a beach, with the keys to maybach in a Gucci man-bag. Meanwhile ‘gamers’ are spending their days crying about the state of the industry on forums ….. like they have a job in it! You Can’t make this shit up.

Designer man-bags/purses are the gayest flex ever.

 

[mayham2199]

This is a different time. Most of the time judges or lawyers say stuff like "at the time" or "was that true at the time." You could always argue that after the sale when AAA western games started flopping he rejustified stuff in his mind and applied it retroactively. Humans do that all the time. This isn't some situation where he perjured himself.

Maybe but I believe his first answer more than this. The more and more I hear from him it sounds like he's not a fan of MS and he throws quite a bit of shade at them. Even during the trial he was basically trashing GP and people were even accusing him of trying to sabotage the deal. Then recently he was talking about how he was just flat out saying to Satya "Why are you even doing this? You aren't creative company?, Get out of gaming".

Makes me wonder if he changed his answer here because he wants to make it sound like he wanted to sell as opposed to what he had to say during the trial which was the truth, that he was forced to sell because of shareholders. People like him are all about power and they don't like admitting that they were forced to do something they didn't want to do. It comes across as weak.

 

[RickMasters]

Then why the hell do you care if anyone doesn't buy this China story on why he sold? You can't have it both ways.

So hold up….. you are saying I shouldn’t comment on people wallet watching Bobby because I’m not wallet watching too? Word?

 

[RickMasters]

Designer man-bags/purses are the gayest flex ever.

Oh I agree. I’m an old school leather wallet type of guy, myself. But here in Florida everybody be flexin designer man bags…. They are even worse with them in London and New York

 

[Kacho]

Kotick gushing about Iwata. What a G.

 

[Topher]

So hold up….. you are saying I shouldn’t comment on people wallet watching Bobby because I’m not wallet watching too? Word?

Not even close to what I said, but I'm pretty sure I could rephrase it a dozen times and it wouldn't matter.

 

[RickMasters]

Not even close to what I said, but I'm pretty sure I could rephrase it a dozen times and it wouldn't matter.

You are absolutely right. It wouldn’t. I saw the name ‘Bobby kotick’ rolled my eyes and thought….’ Here we go again’


Jus cool nuh, bredda?

 

[Hudo]

Kotick gushing about Iwata. What a G.

In that interview? Do you happen to have the timestamp?

 

[Topher]

Jus cool nuh, bredda?

I googled that and got....

 

[Kacho]

In that interview? Do you happen to have the timestamp?

Jump to 1:39:25 for the full context. He talks about the first time Nintendo showed him the Wii demo.

 

[Hudo]

Jump to 1:39:25 for the full context. He talks about the first time Nintendo showed him the Wii demo.

Thank you!

 

[RickMasters]

I googled that and got....

It’s called Jamaican patios( I’m Jamaican-American btw but also have a home in the U.K.) . Don’t be so ignorant my guy…… it’s not normally your style.



I’ll say it plain English for you though. Just be cool brother( jus cool nu bredda?…. Not so hard to understand is it really? Maybe you are one of them peoppe better of staying in whatever country you live in though seeing as you would need to Google any English dialect other than European English) . Stop wallet watching that man, it’s corny.

 

[Hudo]

From the bits I have watched, I already find the young guy on the left to be annoying as fuck.

 

[Topher]

It’s called Jamaican patios( I’m Jamaican-American btw but also have a home in the U.K.) . Don’t be so ignorant my guy…… it’s not normally your style.



I’ll say it plain English for you though. Just be cool brother( jus cool nu bredda?…. Not so hard to understand is it really? Maybe you are one of them peoppe better of staying in whatever country you live in though seeing as you would need to Google any English dialect other than European English) . Stop wallet watching that man, it’s corny.

It was a joke my man. Unwad your panties.

 

[Kacho]

Bobby spilling so many beans here. Talking about Chris Metzen and how crucial he was creatively at Blizzard. Bobby begged Metzen to come back. When Metzen returned, he reviewed two upcoming expansions and told Bobby they sucked. Bobby was like, "do your thing, dude".

I wonder if we'll see World of Warcraft go in better direction now that Metzen has been back for a while...

 

[RickMasters]

It was a joke my man. Unwad your panties.

Lol ok…. Jus cool nuh? I ain’t trying to get dog piled by a bunch of PS boys ok. Next thing ya know I’m just responding to to people I never even really cared to respond too. Lemme just say m opinion and keeping moving nuh? I mean no harm dawg. We cool


You need a Google translater of something for that last part too?

 

[Rubim]

Regardless of what you think about him, what he said about work culture is on point.
"Btw, they go to the office everyday, 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, they dont need vegan meal at cafeteria."

My analysis on this is that game costs are over inflated and under delivered.

Kingdom Come 2 was arond 41 million right?

 

[SHA]

Just make Chinese games that apeals to westerners, Nintendo did the same thing with their games and it worked.

 

[Topher]

Lol ok We cool

Just installed my Google Chrome "shit talker deletion" extension. That's much better

 

[RickMasters]

Just installed my Google Chrome "shit talker deletion" extension. That's much better

Lol. You cool bro. Just rants and bants. I know your vibe

All I’m saying is people need to stop getting pissy about this guy. He’s not even in the biz no more. He is somewhere enjoying his n millions. I wish was ALL was so lucky! I can’t knock his hustle. He won, at life when everybody else was just trying to up their K/D off of his product. I can’t help but admire his accumen.

 

[Topher]

Lol. You cool bro. Just rants and bants. I know your vibe

All I’m saying is people need to stop getting pissy about this guy. He’s not even in the biz no more. He is somewhere enjoying his n millions. I wish was ALL was so lucky! I can’t knock his hustle. He won, at life.

Agree with you there. He's been incredibly successful.

 

[RickMasters]

Agree with you there. He's been incredibly successful.

Seriously if he wrote a book about business I would buy it.

 

[SHA]

He gave up on consoles, this is sad. He talks like a business man and wants to join the hardware team, give me a break.