A New Term
Bobby Kotick gave another interview. This is always a good time to make popcorn.Here are just a few excerpts from an interview he gave to Edge Magazine:
"The core principle of how we run the company is the exact opposite of EA," he says. "EA will buy a developer and then it will become ‘EA Florida’, ‘EA Vancouver’, ‘EA New Jersey’, whatever. We always looked and said, 'You know what? What we like about a developer is that they have a culture, they have an independent vision and that’s what makes them so successful.' We don’t have an Activision anything - it’s Treyarch, Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer.
...EA has a lot of resources, it’s a big company that’s been in business for a long time, maybe it’ll figure it out eventually. But it’s been struggling for a really long time. The most difficult challenge it faces today is: great people don’t really want to work there.
"It’s like, if you have no other option, you might consider them...we have no shortage of opportunity to recruit out of EA – that’s their biggest challenge: its stock options have no value. It’s lost its way. And until it has success, and hits, and gets that enthusiasm back for the company, it’s going to have a struggle getting really talented people, which is going to translate into less-than-great games."
There are times when standard language fails me. I know that there are tens of thousands of words in the dictionary, but none of them seem adequate to describe the degree of arrogance that Bobby Kotick possesses. That's why I'm proposing a new hybrid term created just for him: the dickopotamus.
That works. Tasteful Photoshops welcome.
So let's take a look at what dickopotamus Bobby Kotick said, given that his entire interview was bathed in the rancid smell of self-congratulation. The entire premise of the interview was that Activision was successful, while EA wasn't.
That's certainly an interesting perspective.
As a quality check, here's a list of all games developed by EA (or a subsidiary studio) in the last 12 months for the 360 that have an 85+ score over at Game Rankins (minimum 10 reviews):
Mass Effect 2 (95)
NHL 11 (90)
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (89)
FIFA Soccer 10 (89)
Dragon Age: Origins (86)
NCAA Football 11 (86)
Madden NFL 11 (85)
Here are Activision's 85+ games for the 360:
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (93)
DJ Hero (85)
PC? Three EA games, two Activision games. PS3? Five to two.
Basically, Activision appears to have put out three 85+ games in the last year: Modern Warfare 2, Starcraft 2, and DJ Hero ( I LOL'd). Oh, and not to piss in Bobby's breakfast cereal, but most of Infinity Ward is gone.
So the "other" company is putting out quality games at a 2-1 ratio over Activision, but Bobby Kotick is talking about why the other company has failed. THAT'S how you get to be a dickopotamus.
Here's the other funny part. Kotick says that EA's options have no value, but Activision stock has been flat for the last three years. Guess who's going to have the same problem soon?
Good grief, I just defended EA. I need a hot shower with a new bar of soap to wash off the shame.
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