kotick

Activision CEO: Competitors' games 'are less than adequate'

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick took a shot at competitors during an earnings call with investors yesterday.

During the call, Hudson Square Research analyst Daniel Ernst asked Kotick why he believes Activision Blizzard is performing relatively well when the entire game industry "was down 30-something percent in the first half of the year."

Kotick first discussed issues with the "macroeconomic environment," saying that unemployment and other negative economic indicators are having an impact on the industry. But then he unloaded a shot directed squarely at his company's competitors.

"I think you have had, unfortunately, a … Read more

Activision CEO: 'Great people' don't want to work at EA

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick believes Electronic Arts, his company's biggest competitor, won't attract people who will help the Madden maker keep up with his firm.

Speaking to Edge Magazine in a recent interview, Kotick said that EA "has been struggling for a really long time." And one of the main problems the company faces, he believes, is attracting talent to help it build high-quality games.

"The most difficult challenge [EA] faces today is great people don't really want to work there," Kotick told Edge Magazine. "It's like, if you have no … Read more

Activision: Violent games law chokes free speech

Activision Blizzard, which is prepping the release of M-rated Call of Duty: Black Ops later this year, has joined the games industry's fight against a California law that blocks the sale of violent video games to minors.

Back in 2005, California passed a law that banned the sale of "violent and inappropriate" video games to minors. At the time, the bill was challenged by the gaming industry, which said that it violated First Amendment rights. The bill was blocked by a U.S. District Court in 2005 and again by the U.S. Appeals Court in 2009.

Now, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case on November 2. In preparation, Activision Blizzard has filed a "friend-of-the-court" brief to show its support for the games industry. The industry is also supported by 10 state attorneys general, Activision said.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is outspoken about the California law.

"Our First Amendment has survived intact for 219 years amid far greater technological, historical and social challenges," Kotick said today in a statement. "The argument that video games present some kind of new ominous threat that requires a wholesale reassessment of one of our nation's most treasured freedoms, and to take that freedom away indiscriminately from an entire group of our population based on nothing but age, is beyond absurd."… Read more

'Guitar Hero' rocks D6

CARLSBAD, Calif.--D6 is getting ready to rock.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is speaking at the conference here, with host Kara Swisher promising the keynote will wrap up with a star-studded demo of the next Guitar Hero.

Before that, though, Swisher and Kotick are discussing where gaming is now and where it is headed. Kotick noted that the current machines have broadened the notion of console gaming, each in its own way.

The PlayStation 3 has brought cinematic video quality to gaming, adding the opportunity to have emotional ties with the characters, he said. The Xbox 360 added deep online … Read more