In Today's Update, Bobby Kotick Discovers Other People Can File Lawsuits

I wonder if Activision will actually fight this out all the way, or if they will settle.

I know it probably won’t happen but I’m kinda hoping that the majority of the studio leaves.  Though, as I’m sure we’re all aware, the majority of the unwashed gaming masses are clueless as to who makes the games or what studio is involved … just the franchise name.

Modern Warfare 3 is probably going to suck the nether regions of a motherless goat. The bright light is that after all of this legal business is attended to we might be able to expect some sort of kick ass lawyer sim game.

Looks like someone’s public statements about how to “take all the fun out of making video games,” creating cultures of “skepticism, pessimism, and fear” and “keeping people focused on the deep depression” may come back to haunt him.
Or at least cost him.

Cymbaline:   Cost him?After he raked in $50M this past year alone from stock alone? Look, I hate to be the one to break this to you, but nothing will ever really “cost” American Nobility C*Os in the sense that you and I and normal people use the word “cost”.Nobility plays by different rules than you and I, and suffer vastly different consequences than you and I.Namely, none.If worse comes to absolute worse for Kotick, Activision will lose the suit for $500M, Kotick will get fired, and Activision will burn.Kotick will not have to pay anything as a result of losing the suit, he’ll probably get paid for getting fired, in the seven or eight figures, and then he’ll go onto a new job where he does the same thing all over again, because stock rose by five points during some six month portion of his tenure at Acitivision.If Activision stock prices take a hit, or (impossibly) disappear completely as a result of his slash-and-burn management, it’ll cost him in the same way that it costs me $190M when I don’t win the lottery.He’s already cashed out at least fifty million fucking dollars at what may be the apex of Activision’s financial status during his watch.Fifty million dollars, last year alone, from stock alone.That is a “cost” that I think he will gladly pay every time.Welcome to the world of modern American corporate life.

 
What it will cost him is the rub to his ego that he lost and had to pay – sort of like Mortimer and Randolph’s $1 bet. It’s the winning or losing, which is something that all his personal compensation can’t change.

As far as how those sorts of fuckers take care of themselves – I used to work at Enron, which is like a graduate course in the machinations you’re trying to explain, so I realize fully that (unlike Randolph and Mortimer) he won’t be destitute within his our our lifetimes.

Gx1080: We are in the land of the out-of-court settle, Iconic.

You’d think so, but if that were the case, simply paying the bonuses would have been a lot cheaper than letting it get into the hands of lawyers.

Very sad to see fantasyland ruined but cuthroats for a buck.

bob_d: The question is, does Kotick even care that a development studio is being gutted?

I’m sure a businessman such as himself only cares if it influences what’s in his wallet.  Like anyone else who lives to wield as much of the almighty dollar as possible, he looks at the destruction of Infinity Ward as a minor setback, at best.

If I was working at Bungie right now, I’d probably be only mildly perplexed that there seems to be resumes on every company printer.

bob_d: The question is, does Kotick even care that a development studio is being gutted?  He’s all about the assembly-lining of game production and I’d imagine that as far as he’s concerned, the IP is far more important than the talent behind it.  It seems like the IP is usually prized as the moneymaker, rather than the team (and sadly, this probably has a fair amount of truth for established IPs, at least in the short-term).

The answer is: of course not. And why should he? Every member of the original studio can be replaced. Sure, the new team might not have the creativity and vision that got the first title off the ground, but they’ll certainly capable of creating the sequel the fans want – that is, the same game with some minor tweaks and graphical changes. Fact of it is, there are plenty of very intelligent, talented would-be developers just itching for a chance to work in the industry – let alone on such a high profile game. Until we start as consumers start to demand, en mass ,quality and creativity in the games we buy then we simply won’t see it.

D506: You are quite right.  Which raises the question of WTF they’d ever want to *force* IW to make MW3.  The smart money would be to give IW the ability to make a new IP and farm off MW3 to someone else to milk to death.
Mind you, the text of the lawsuit suggests IW had to fight tooth and nail to be given the freedom to make MW in the first place as Activision rathered they keep producing COD sequels.  But you think they’d have learned that IW is an IP generating studio, not a an IP milking studio.

The world was a better place when MW stood for Mech Warrior.