470°

Kotick: I’d be jailed for doing what West & Zampella did

New light has been shed on the severity of Activison’s allegations against its former employees Jason West and Vince Zampella.

The ongoing lawsuit between the ex Infinity Ward duo and its former employer is being held behind legal tape, but Activision CEO suggests the crime scene is particularly gruesome.

“The frustrating thing about that is, the stuff that these guys did, I would have never expected them to do,” he said.

“We’re a public company, we’ve got ethic obligations, and the things they did were... I would go to jail if I did them.”

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develop-online.net
NewsForMe4959d ago

Didn't both sides breach the contract?

Christopher4959d ago (Edited 4959d ago )

Neither has been proven, so no word on that.

His comments are purely speculation and have no substance considering he's selling his side of the aisle's case. West & Zampella could come out and say the exact same thing about how Activision handled everything, but they're too busy working on developing a new game rather than wasting time throwing Activision under a bus.

rroded4959d ago

cant wait for the courts ta settle this in favor of IW activision is the scumist company in the games buis right now.

Tapey4959d ago

Activision might be an unlikeable company but I have no idea why people hold Infinity Ward in such high regard considering how terrible Modern Warfare 2 was. Yes Kotick is a money-grabbing ass but West and Zampella basically gave their fanbase the middle finger with MW2, and have somehow got away with it. It's absolutely mind boggling that they could crank out Modern Warfare 1.5, with a disgustingly short singleplayer campaign, terrible co-op and a hilariously broken multiplayer component and people will champion them.

It's made even worse by how arrogant these developers are, both trash talking Treyarch regardless of all the great things they introduced to the COD franchise, to treating their playerbase like idiots and pulling important features from the game just because they couldn't be bothered putting any effort in. I will be shocked if their new game under EA is any good.

Rhythmattic4959d ago

Kotick is lower than scum, he is what I would call a "Scrotum Gargler"

StanLee4959d ago (Edited 4959d ago )

All you little twats calling Bobby Kotick scum; what do you know about running a multi-billion dollar for profit company successfully and doing what's in the best interest of your company? How is Activision scum for releasing iterations of Guitar Hero and Call of Duty each year when consumer demand continues to be high? How is he scum for raising revenue, marketshare, share prices and his company's visability since he's been CEO? How about you little dipshits stop whinning about things you know nothing about on the internet for a change?

Ju4959d ago (Edited 4959d ago )

Yeah, he did a fine job. If you declare greed as one of your principals in your business strategy, that is. No other CEO is as outspoken as he is and yet manages to make money with their companies. Activision is sure not the only one who has achieved this. Others with a lower profit margin, but this does not disqualify them of being a successful company.

jony_dols4959d ago (Edited 4959d ago )

@Stanlee. What the hell do you know about running a multi billion dollar company? Bobby Kotick is a trash talking, arrogant fool, he is effectively driving away business from
Activision.

Is that what your idea of a professional is? How often do you hear the CEO of McDonalds trash talking about BurgerKing? Or hear the chairman of Texaco bitchin about BP. These companies compete angainst each in advertising and prices, like any other other professional business, not bickering like a jealous 4 year old.

I for one has made the decision to buy Medal of Honor instead of Black Ops. Many other gamers are consciencely not going to buy Black Ops because of Bobby Kotick. His little opinion pieces are going to end up severely tarnishing Activisions reputation and reduce profits.

Activision and Bobby Kotick both know that the companies profits peaked with MW2, both the COD and GH franchises are diminishing in popularity, and future enteries into the series will never sell as well as the originals, hes grasping at EAs coat tails, who he knows has fresh and innovative IPs and well established franchises.

Rhythmattic4959d ago (Edited 4959d ago )

StanLee

You are right.

He is a Business man, wanting to make money for his shareholders, which in turn , pays his most likely ridiculous pay cheque..

As for His ethics ??

The guy said they were friends in the infinity ward days..... now recently stating they have backstabbed him...

They probably did, and when all 30 or more walk out on him , do you really think it was the Love ??

PS. Twat do you mean, Stan Flap ?

Leio4959d ago

@StanLee

Thats make him a decent CEO but a scumbag he still is.

And what do you know about running a multi billions company you litle twat ?

+ Show (5) more repliesLast reply 4959d ago
DORMIN4959d ago

Protip for Kotick: Be more like Kevin Butler

Chuk_Chuk4959d ago (Edited 4959d ago )

“We’re a public company, we’ve got ethic obligations, and the things they did were... I would go to jail if I did them.”

hold on, stop right there. who are you to talk about ethics?

kaveti66164959d ago

Take an ethics class. Even though we feel that Kotick is an unethical dick, he hasn't actually done anything unethical. Seeking profit is not unethical.

JoelR4959d ago

The way this whole thing has come down has not been good for anyone involved and would have been much better handled internally but both sides decided the media should be involved... I am embarrassed to be in the industry with this stupidity going on.
I have never been sure West and Zampella weren't in secret negotiations with EA. Their new company formed and had a contract to fast not to suspect otherwise. In that case then yes West and Zampella would be in breach of contract at the very least and in the extreme case could be charged with any number of white collar crimes. OTOH we will see at trial the evidence for wrong doing on both sides - then we can decided who is guilty and who is not.

Guilty until proven innocent is not the western legal way.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 4959d ago
DelbertGrady4959d ago (Edited 4959d ago )

Kotick would never be jailed. He's constantly equipped with the "one with the devil" and "get outta jail freecard" perks.

@ZombieAutopsy - That's the official story. In reality Kotick tried to sell their souls as DLC. He's like Highlander. In a couple of years he will have harnessed enough power to run Activision completely by himself, developing and releasing a new COD on a monthly basis.

ZombieAutopsy4959d ago

Weren't they just looking for a different publisher because their contract was getting close to being up and Activision didn't pay them what they were suppose to???

I guess yea they should of waited to look for a different pub but when you are getting screwed out of what I can only imagine being millions of dollars I wouldn't wanna wait either.

outrageous4959d ago

They had signed a deal with the release of MW1 and then after the game started to do well, wanted to not only renegotiate the contract but thought they could actually walk away with the franchise...O_o

EA has a big role to play in this as it was them that started all the problems by telling those two morons to go over to EA and they would be paid a fortune. They actually worked for EA and then left to make COD at Activision. I hope these two Infinity Ward bone heads lose everything and are not allowed to market or sell a game in the same year as a COD game...meaning NEVER. Kotick was right, if he pulled something like that he'd be in jail.

Urmomlol4959d ago

Did Kotick really just say something about ethics and obligations?

L - O - MOTHERFUCKING -L

theonlylolking4959d ago

You better be jailed for just being the boss of activision.

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40°

Why Monopolies In Gaming Must Not Be Allowed

As of right now, there are no monopolies in the games industry, and for the sake of the medium as a whole, they never should either.

thorstein2h ago

Shouldn't be allowed in any field.

50°

Mugen Souls Retro Review – Sexy Demon Space Adventure

Gary Green said: We have a juxtaposition of 2D and 3D visuals, flashy turn-based combat, quirky anime characters with cheeky dialogue with plenty of partial nudity; Yes, this is a Compile Heart JRPG. Whilst the engine is borrowed from Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2, Mugen Souls is more of a Disgaea spin-off. It’s not a strategy RPG as such, it merely sits within Disgaea’s ever-expanding universe (Multiverse? Netherverse? Your guess is as good as mine). You won’t find cameos though, since Mugen Souls is a franchise which aims to stand on its own two feet.

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pslegends.com
130°

Looking Back At 2008, An Unbelievably Incredible Year Of Video Game Releases

Huzaifa from eXputer: "2008 was home to the likes of Call of Duty: World at War, Dead Space, GTA 4, Far Cry 2, Left 4 Dead, and many other hits, which is outright remarkable."

ChasterMies4h ago

Some of these low paid video game “news” writers weren’t born before 2007.

CrimsonWing6915h ago

I don’t think anything can compare to 2023

lucasnooker15h ago

1998 - the best year in gaming! Metal gear solid, crash bandicoot 3, medievil, half life, ocarina of time, thief, tenchu, resident evil 2, Spyro, tomb raider 3, oddworld abes exodus, banjo kazooie.

It was a different breed of a gaming era. You’ll never understand what it was like back then. The aura of gaming, it was different!

KyRo14h ago(Edited 14h ago)

I second this. Gaming was a lot more varied and fun than it is today. I'm 35 so getting on compared to some here but I got to see all the changes from NES up to now but I've never felt so disappointed in any generation than I have this current gen. I was expecting more from this generation rather than prettier versions of games that came before it. Game mechanics have become so refined that alot of games feel the same and has done for a while now.

Maybe it's time to have a break for a while. I love gaming but I don't feel I get much fun in the traditional sense out of it anymore.

CrimsonWing6914h ago(Edited 14h ago)

Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil 2, Abe’s Exodus, and Ocarina of Time are the only things from that list that I liked.

Here’s the 2023 game releases that I personally liked… and big releases that I didn’t care for:

- Dead Space Remake
- Wo Long Dynatsy
- Resident Evil 4 Remake
- Diablo 4
- Fire Emblem Engage
- Hogwarts Legcay
- Street Fighter 6
- Hi-Fi Rush
- Like a Dragon: Ishin
- Octopath Traveler 2
- Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters
- Final Fanatsy XVI (actually ended up not liking this, but it was still a big deal release)
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
- Lies of P
- Mortal Kombat 1
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
- Starfield (Ended up hating this one, but big release)
- Super Mario Bros. Wonder
- Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (I’m an old-school Zelda fan, but didn’t really enjoy this game)
- Alan Wake 2

I mean, honestly I’ve never seen a year of major IP releases like that, ever.

Profchaos11h ago(Edited 11h ago)

Isn't it just a generational thing realistically.

I've been gaming since way back and I some of my favourite games go as far back as the late 80s for me each generation has a year or two of game changing releases one after another before an inevitable dry spell.

I kind of agree gaming had a different feel games hit different because we didn't have the internet nothing got spoiled and you really had to put in the effort to beat a puzzle which could set entire groups of people looking for a solution. But most importantly games were experimental and not as cookie cutter as today even basics like controls were not universal today r2 is shoot l2 is ads garunteed you can't deviate from that in a shooter back then it could of been square, R1 or R1 and circle nothing was standard.

But as time moves on a new generation picks up their controller they are going to be interested in different things that PS1 demo disc with the t Rex blew our primitive 16 bit brains back on launch but to kids today it's laughable.
The new gen of kids coming into to hobby seem to value different things to us there seems to be a huge focus on online play, streamers, gaming personalities, and social experiences, convience of digital downloads. To me I value none of that but that's ok like my parents not liking the band's I would listen to its just the natural cycle.

Gameseeker_Frampt2h ago

Just about every year in the 7th generation was great and something we most likely won't experience again.

2009 for example had Assassin's Creed 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Dragon Age: Origins, Uncharted 2, Halo 3: ODST, Killzone 2, Borderlands, Bayonetta, and Demon's Souls to name a few.