Interview with a Vampire

So I just got finished reading Kotaku's interview with Bobby Kotick, regarding his rise to power as well as his personal feelings on everything. Of course, they strayed away from discussing anything with Infinity Ward, but it's still an interesting read, one that almost kept me from posting the title to this. But the thing is, the Inifinty Ward fiasco already happened. There's no going back from the demonizing shadow it casts on the CEO of Activision after what they did to the studio that made perhaps one of the biggest selling games of all time.

That's not to say they haven't done other things to the gaming community that have cast Activision in a demonizing light. I mean, they basically fucked around with Tim Schafer, on of the men responsible for some of the wittiest games in recent memory (including, but not limited to: Tales of Monkey Island, Psychonauts, Brutal Legends). Of course he has something to say about Kotick as well:

"We can approach it like we approach bars of soap, where you're just trying to make the cheapest bar of soap. He definitely has that that kind of widget-maker attitude. I don't think he's great for the industry, overall. You can't just latch onto something when it's popular and then squeeze the life out of it and then move on to the next one. You have to at some point create something, build something."

He's referring to the fact that Kotick has gone on record many times saying how he wants to make games almost like an assembly line: very little creativity, low cost (to make), and that will see the maximum profit possible (see: the Call of Duty franchise). He later goes on to say:

"Hopefully he'll go back to another industry scene. He could go to an industry that makes more money. Ball bearings… something that suits his passions more. Weapons manufacturing?"

Gotta love Tim Schafer. As much as I loved the writing of Brutal Legends, and the visuals, I wish the mechanics had have worked a little better. Here's to hoping their next project is fucking AMAZING.

And here's hoping that Activision will see the error of their ways pretty soon, and become a stellar publisher that doesn't only care about making money, but also will give more creative projects a chance to thrive, much like EA does with their "EA PARTNER" program.

A brief history of EA Partners

Credit to www.kotaku.com for the interview story, and www.gameinformer.com for the history lesson.