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.”

[NewsForMe]

Didn't both sides breach the contract?

[Christopher]

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.

[rroded]

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

[Tapey]

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.

[Rhythmattic]

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

[StanLee]

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?

[Ju]

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_dols]

@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.

[Rhythmattic]

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 ?

[Leio]

@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 ?

[Rrobba]

This.

[Robert Kotick]

Muhahahahahaha

[DORMIN]

Protip for Kotick: Be more like Kevin Butler

[Chuk_Chuk]

“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?

[kaveti6616]

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.

[JoelR]

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.

[DelbertGrady]

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.

[ZombieAutopsy]

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.

[outrageous]

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.

[Urmomlol]

Did Kotick really just say something about ethics and obligations?

L - O - MOTHERFUCKING -L

[theonlylolking]

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

[wicko]

Do we really need an article about every little thing Kotick says?

We already know the guy is a douchebag and full of shit, we don't need more articles to prove it.

[Kran]

Its just funny though, to see how bad things are getting xD

[wicko]

Funny and very sad at the same time.

[bjornbear]

can you believe it?

one interview disected into small parts, generating hundreds of pointless articles?

and then N4G lets them all though

proof - community based websites DO NOT WORK - its a broken system -_-

[Motion]

It was actually Kotick who broke the article up into lots of little pieces, trying to sell them each individually as dlc.

:)

[pustulio]

It's the same from the X360A interview in which some guy said "Who needs Blu-Ray?" and other stuff and there where like 10 articles form each thing he said.

[wicko]

I lol'd

Nice one :)

[Lazy_Gamer]

If this guy does get jailed it would be one of the happiest days in this gaming gen.

[LolololRumz]

27th September national hate Kotick day

[Lazy_Gamer]

Every day is a national Kotick hate day. Today is a bit exceptional because he talked too much on a monday morning.

[MGRogue2017]

He has got a point.. but he is still a dick.

[dorron]

Yeah, I wish he was jailed...and I wish he was assraped in the showers by a docen inmates too!

[user8397144]

Who in the world would want to rape that?

[nanometric]

You'd be surprised.

[Dnied]

Where the hell is all this coming from, i feel like we're watching a live blog of an interview going on right now lol

[Phi39582]

He really is a douche, I love the way he claims that the who walked out will have a hard time being successful again.....one of the walkouts is a 2nd cousin of my wife, and while that doesn't amount to anymore than beings friends on Facebook, he did at least tell me that he was working on a new property (name confidential, wouldn't even tell me what genre). No doubt in my mind that they'll all be successful working with the resumes and experience that they all have!

[Lazy_Gamer]

I'm no thimbs up whore but I'd like to make a little survey here :
-To all who support Respawn against Activision click the agree button.
-To all who support Activision against respawn click the disagree button.

Hopefully this proves that even on a site like N4G, people know the right choice.

[NewsForMe]

How can any of us take a side? The entire situation is almost unknown by anyone other than the involved and both sides' accounts are as one sided as a story can get. Both parties probably messed up big. After MW2 I could care less about both parties.

[Garrus_Vakarian]

Quick! Hide your wallets!

[electricshadow]

He'd probably charge five bucks just for the ability to comment on articles that mention him.

[Buff1044]

Can we please stop the "I hate Kotick" train? These guys were probably in talks with EA before they were fired. Sorry, but you can't do that.

[Garrus_Vakarian]

You're right. They very well may have been. We don't know for certain.

Where's the Lens of Truth(not the site) when you need it.

[Shuklar]

The incident with West and Zampella is only one (questionable albeit) item on a long list of reasons to hate Kotick

[Senden]

I like how he says they were using Activision.. surely it's the other way round? Thanks to IW's success with cod, they're able to milk the series each year. If it wasn't for IW and they gave the whole development to Treyarch, cod wouldn't be even a quarter of the series it is now.

[Shuklar]

No kidding. Activision act like they actually invented something...no they purchased the rights to a name and managed the advertising and distribution. Whoopty-freaking-doooo.

[TheLig32]

Kotick isn't one to talk about ethics. He is law abiding, but you learn in business classes that ethics and the law are not always hand in hand.

[antz1104]

Someone should just waterboard this jerk. Not to get info mind you, just.....well to do it.

[SuperStrokey1123]

I wish he would do them then...

[COINTELPRO]

As an Activision Blizzard stockholder, I believe Kotick is the best thing that has ever happened to Activision. I can't wait until he launches a subscription based COD after Black ops. It's gonna rain money! Hahaha, Go Kotick!

[shysun]

Sorry but I can't trust Kotick! He's the biggest POS in gaming right now! :(

[likedamaster]

Hey, Kotick... WE DON'T BELIEVE YOU. The evidence so far proves the contrary.

[gypsygib]

What is the difference between a man and a parasite? A man builds. A parasite asks 'Where is my share?'
-Andrew Ryan

"You [Kotick] came to rob what you could never build - a Hun gaping at the gates of Rome. Even the air you breathe is sponged from my account. Well... breathe deep, so later you might remember the taste."
-Andrew Ryan

Fuck corporations hoarding all the profits from the labours of others, stuff Kotick and other CEO's could never have created on their own. When did the creator become the fungible middleman?

[bviperz]

Greed is always no good.

[GigaGaia]

"It shook my belief in two specific people, who were my friends"

The sad thing about this is that he actually thinks he has friends.

[Atlas-1983]

http://www.youtube.com/watc... and http://img718.imageshack.us...