Activision Hate is Akin to PS3 Bashing a Couple Years Back, says Publishing CEO

Remember how much the core gaming audience used to hate EA? While some of that sentiment persists, much of the disdain has been shifted to Activision Blizzard over the last couple years. CEO Bobby Kotick and the company as a whole have become the new "evil" publisher and the whole Infinity Ward situation certainly didn't help matters.

[donniebaseball]

Nice try Activision, but no... just no.

[Christopher]

Does this include the same bashing Activision gave to Sony when they practically 'demanded' that Sony cut their consoles prices or they'd stop making games for it?

[hay]

I don't hate them, I just refuse to buy their products. Starcraft 2 was the only exception.
Preowned Prototype doesn't count.

[-Alpha]

That was a lulzy attempt at bluffing.

Let's face it, Activision was never going to drop support for PS3.

[thematrix1298]

I wish they would drop support for PS3 so we can focus on better release. They are not doing any good by releasing half done games on PS3.

[mandf]

There are 150 million plus this gen consoles on the market. COD sales are around 10 million each for each COD. They sell to less than 10% of the market. The problem is like Madden football new coat of paint ,updated roster and bang a yearly game. This business model will make the industry go stagnant. Developers are copycats for the most part in the industry. They see the sales and are afraid to try something new. That is why I hate Activision. They are arrogant because of gamers who buy what marketing tells them is hot. COD4 was hot for it's time after that Madden syndrome. My advice for new gamers is to try other games to see that COD is a mediocre game compared to a lot of other games out there.

Edit They never polish half of their ip's either. Patch upon release or weeks after is getting old.

[UCMEandICU]

Gee, I thought it was all a conspiracy spewed only by PS3 "fanboys" :/

Fun cause Activision were part of that PS3 bashing too and now they pull this out their butts lol. Nice one Activision, nice one.

[DORMIN]

I LOL'd, Not really.

People said the PS3 was doomed.

People said Activision are money hungry wh0rez.

Only one of those things have been proven wrong...

[Pillage05]

thas weird, I seem to remember activision being a part of that bashing...

[xAlmostPro]

i'll belive the guy the day COD(for example) uses ps3 as the lead console platform..

[Bloodlyte]

I can understand the frustration, but this HATE thing is just plain stupid.

People act like this gaming industry is some kind of charity.

Mappacks for example are idd damn expensive but should you blame activision or the people that buy it...

ITS ALL BUSINESS PEOPLE!! ( see the VGA's lol )

[donniebaseball]

True. A company is a company, and even the so called "good" ones ultimately just care about profits, not the gamers. Activision just seems to be a bit more blatant about it.

[ThatArtGuy]

Of course all companies care about profits. The problem is when companies care about profits more then their customers. Good companies will want to foster a good relationship with their customers to generate profits. Lesser companies will simply look at the bottom line and won't care where the money is coming from.
As a consumer, I will buy from a company that generates trust with their attitude and product than one that simply throws what they have at me and charge a premium for it.

[Karum]

I disagree and I'll tell you why.

Yes companies are in business to make money but the smart ones know that looking after their customers and doing right by them keep them coming back for more and they are likely to gain more custom by word of mouth and of course marketing.

Yes, ultimately it is a pursuit of money but the way in which some companies actively go about it is what matters. I mean would you paint a company like Insomniac Games with the same brush as you would Activision and say all they really care about is my money? I would doubt it.

[-Alpha]

Image is a big thing and if you don't have a good one then it's probably for a good one

[UltimateIdiot911]

Ever heard of the saying that goes "You scratch my back and I'll scratch your back."

Same rule applies to business. Customers are not likely to return if you don't treat them right. Treat them right, and customers would be glad to do business.

Business is a two way street, except for a monopoly.

[Baka-akaB]

or put it that way ...
If you actually produce good games , i wont hate you for being greedy .

They all are indeed , but bring something worthwhile to the table , unlike activision for the most part .

hell to illustrate the example , i'll happily hate EA again , if they revert back to their crap

[gamingdroid]

I find it ironic that people complain about it being worthwhile, yet if a large amount of people actually paid $15 per map pack doesn't that suggest that it was worthwhile?

Maybe not for you, but then that is a different issue....

[Baka-akaB]

obviously since i dont finance them , there is hardly anything ironic in my dislike of the company .

Hardly my fault if not everyone stay true to their words and threats , or if they are outgunned by more customers .

[deadreckoning666]

I don't "hate" Activision and I don't see what whining about it on the Internet will achieve. If gamers don't like Activision...then maybe they should look in a mirror and assess the true problem....THEMSELVES. You can't be greedy if no one buys your games.

The same people who complain about Activision tend to be the same ones who keep buying their games. Yes, Activision is greedy...but the majoirity of gamers ALLOW it to happen.

Main point: Blame the GAMERS who DEMAND a new COD game every year.

"Of course all companies care about profits. The problem is when companies care about profits more then their customers. Good companies will want to foster a good relationship with their customers to generate profits."

Thats the thing right there. If the majority of PS3/360 owners buy a game from the SAME franchise EVERY YEAR...doesn't that mean that there is a "good' relationship between the publisher and the customer?

If gamers "supposedly" hate Activision...why are COD games selling more and more each year?

[Baka-akaB]

"If gamers "supposedly" hate Activision...why are COD games selling more and more each year? "

Tired of that argument personally .
two things :

n4g is a drop in the ocean , so a few of us boycotting cod means squat in the long schemes . It's too easy to claim they still bought the game without even a shred of proof .

How is that of any relevance anyway and supposed to shut up the naysayers ? Are we supposed to just blindly accept "the inescapable fate" ?

Now back to the drop in the ocean thing . Last we checks , there are at least over 150 millions gaming consoles this generation ... and probably at least as many gaming pcs .

COD might be one of the top selling current franchises , but looking from that perspective ... it's yet another drop in the ocean , a bucket of water , with far more gamers not interested in cod .

[Ducky]

^ ... If CoD is a drop in the ocean, then what does that make everything else?
O.o

Dead's got a point, it's the consumer that lets them get away with it, so why blame the company?

[Parapraxis]

"I don't see what whining about it on the Internet will achieve"
Yeah, let's NOT be vocal...real bright Dead.

The only reason Activision realizes that people dislike a lot of their practices is due to people "whining" on the internet.

Market pressure is one thing, but any good and savvy company seeks consumer feedback.

[Baka-akaB]

@FatOldMan

Like i said , it's one of the top franchise ... but with at least 130 millions of gamers whom didnt care to buy it , it's far from representing everyone ... unlike what's often said in the medias and around here .

[PinkFunk]

@dead, it seems to boil down to two different types of people. The ones who will perpetuate the system (blindly or not), and those who take responsibility in their own hands and act based on their good judgement.

I'm not blaming anyone for liking COD, it's built on a good engine (though somehow with each new iteration it seems to keep on delivering a buggy mess). Overall, it's a fun experience. I wouldn't say it's worth 60$, but someone else might.

I blame Activision for not having any integrity. I mean, one looks at other publishers and developers for any genre, whether gaming or literature, and you find people who care about their work so much that they personally seek to evolve and improve each iteration of their work. That's something I personally respect, and that's where my business goes.

With that said, I don't mind if you buy COD, or everyone else does. I know I won't.

@Baka, "Are we supposed to just blindly accept "the inescapable fate"?" good question. :) It's important to form your own opinions about these sorts of things, and act on your judgement.

[militant07]

So if you wake up in the morning and you find everything's price went up 3000% because its business, It will be OK for you?

[Bloodlyte]

I wont buy it, but as deadreckoning666 states, if people will buy it, there is no reason for them not to do it. That's my whole point.

[cyguration]

Thank you. Bubbles for you.

I'm so tired of the people sticking up for these greedy dastards with stupid comments like "It's just business"

It'll always be about the "bottom line" but doesn't mean we have to stand by idly while they rape our wallets and churn patch-worthy releases that's just a texture-remap of the previous year's outing.

Dang, some of the stupid people on here are proof of why Activision is doing so well at milking the industry dry. Sort of like AIG or Enron, with a bunch of idiots saying "Well, it's just business".

[Sinner101GR]

Maybe they shouldn't fire dedicated guys whom they owe a lot of money too next time?

[PirateThom]

Didn't Activision threaten to stop making PS3 games at one point?

[saoco]

yea that BO is the last COD game, it's the only Activision product i buy....

[Trunkz]

I couldn't agree more. I was expecting a lot more from Black Ops, but in the end, it played very much like CoD4 (I never got MW2, I canceled my pre-order via no Dedicated Servers)

So I won't be buying any more CoD's unless they make a huge change to the game, and I doubt they will. One company will make the CoD game, and the other will just take the coding, paste it and work on it from there...

I'll stick with EA and look forward to Battlefield 3 - In the end I prefer Teamwork when it comes to FPS.

[saoco]

:) hey i have an idea....FIX BLACK OPS!

Yes i can complain, i paid 60 dollars for an unplayable game. Put my money to work Treyarch.

[trounbyfire]

Glad to see someone say that was PS3 bashing. The media tries to push it under the rug but i remember WE REMEMBER! It slowed down but there are still people inthe media saying things about the PS3 that are just wrong and don't get called out on them.

[donniebaseball]

Yeah, for the first couple years EVERYONE was bashing the hell out of PS3 and Sony. Basically no one held any punches. I don't think the analogy to Activision is right, as much as Activision would like to try it.

[palaeomerus]

The crying baby robot and the E3 2006 and the launch price and the first batch of game STILL sucked. It wasn't bashing. It was reporting.

[trounbyfire]

funny because the games were the same quality as the 360's which is why people said why buy it, I alread have xbox live with a bunch of friends and the games aren't any better so lets hate the ps3 every second we can.

PS3 game were to hard to make so we got crap ports which made it even worse. no one talks on PSN , well maybe because you always play 360 and never made friends with PSn people.

the price is to high even thought the 360 was high as well but had a year to get production cost down not to mention the same old tech in the 360 while the ps3 has new tech.

my 360 broke but that ok it show how much lf an bot i am. level 3 as in 3 dead 360's.

[iceman06]

@trounbyfire....
That was a great argument! Truly, there was indeed console bias by the media and the industry in general for about 2 years...starting at launch. I haven't really seen a stellar console launch...when comparing the games to those that released 2 years later. It takes that time for each console and the developers to mature and evolve. Game for game, the launches were about identical. Not meaning that they had the exact games...but quality wise pretty much. There were a couple AAA titles thrown in with the multiplats and "please buy me because you have a new system and I'm all that's out" titles.
Price wise, the PS3 was more expensive. BUT, to get every feature on the PS3 (including HD video) would cost more on the 360. So, it was a value choice more so than an economical one.
Xbox 360 had the established community from the original Xbox ready to go...so sure..XBL was truly the advantage. But, PSN gave you what you needed to get online and play multiplayer games...and did it for free. (it's a personal preference thing really)
After all of that, the games got totally crapped on. The system was shunned at every turn. It took years for people to realize how great Uncharted looked...and played (not like the formula changed between games...they just refined it to make it great).

[KaiokenKid]

Eh, thats true I guess.

[M4ndat0ry_1nstall]

Yeah I remember Activision threatening to stop PS3 support if the PS3 didn't receive a price cut, though I'm pretty sure they had inside knowledge that a price was coming anyway.

The EA hate stemmed mainly from PS fans due to crappy ports and (so they say) EA's "greediness" etc, but now EA are welcomed with open arms by the same fans because EA are now on Sony's nut-sack. Completely forgetting that EA are still the same "greedy" and "evil" company they have always been.

Will history repeat itself but this time with Activision? Stay tuned for scenes from our next episode...

[Karum]

EA aren't shafting people and acting like complete douchebags, which is why people don't mind them.

How many crap ports have EA come out with apart from their work on The Orange Box?

Burnout Paradise, published by EA was awesome on PS3 and they allowed Criterion to put out numerous free DLC and Criterion are going to be putting out free DLC for Hot Pursuit now too, another game which runs great on PS3. They've also tried some new IP's this gen with the likes of Mirror's Edge.

Then you've got Activision who pump out Guitar Hero, CoD, ride the coat tails of the world's most popular MMO which they had nothing to do with and also decide it's a good idea to put Prototype up on PSN for £31.99 when it's £19.99 on XBL Games on Demand and £14.99 on Steam.

Oh then there's the price of map packs etc. for CoD which they charge simply because they know people will pay it.

A stark contrast imo, personally I've never had much of a problem with EA apart from how stale the FIFA franchise became for me.

[Simco876]

They really need to get Black Ops fixed. If its the last PS3 Call of Duty, then Bobby boy doesn't like money anymore. You got millions of people that play on the PS3, what businesses do you know that would turn away a million customers?

[silkrevolver]

...Sony’s never continually ran franchises into the ground, they treat their studios with respect and they admit their mistakes, aka NOT Activision.

[Drano]

More akin to EA hate from a couple of years ago... Still as greedy but at least they shut the hell up! (Wink wink Kotick).

[Dylantalon1]

Ps3 bashing is still going on today. Have these people seen the reasoning for rating ps3 exclusives with low scores.

[redDevil87]

Just tell Treyrach to fix the game.

How dumb do you have to be to make a patch that breaks a game. I mean seriously? its boggles the mind

[Z501]

@trounbyfire & @donniebaseball
Excatly!

http://www.gamesetwatch.com...

3 years later, still waiting on that RROD cover :[

[Ingram]

No, I hate Activision because they disrespected Tim Schafer, my friend because of the PS3 Black Ops fiasco, my cousin because of their pricing policy...

There's a thousand reasons to hate Activision, this guy just named the one he sees fit.

You see, you can't expect to overtake company after company, rehashing games a la FIFA style, having such dickhead corporate attitude and expect people to love you, you bureaucratic turds just leeched on Infinity Ward's talent, Tony Hawk's name, and Harmonix popular appeal.You overthrown the old Blizzard staff and replaced it with emo asians from world of warcraft.FFS, yes I do hate Activision.

[Deleting]

I picked two words up from that

Perception and Reality

[Sizzon]

Fuck you Treyarch and Fuck you Activision for treating the PS3 users like crap -_- (I'm one of them) freezing and connection interrupts in every goddamn map/server it's ridicolous.

[Gamer112]

How is that activision/treyarch fault that you are disconnecting from servers? its your internet or its psn because from experience psn aint the best online server so my guess is psn

dont care if any ps3 fanboys dissagree with me because a dissagree wont change the fact that psn aint stable.

[Silly gameAr]

So that's a fact huh? Your comment won't change the true fact that that comment is nothing more than opinion and doesn't apply to PSN anymore than XBox Live. I play both.

Guess which one I get dropped from the most.

[niceguyWii3]

Do you ever play on psn? I have been disconnected from Live the same if not more then psn, get real. You wish psn was bad, but kills you to know that it works and it works great. Cod is just a crap game made by mediocre developers.

[saoco]

men you brought that upon your self. out of all the games i own NONE not even MW2, is as fucked up as BO. it s not psn i this TREYARCH GARBAGE. this is the last time i buy any of their products. PSN is on poin.... why do peple keep saying is not????? ........ by the way i used the PSN browser......

[Masterchef2007]

I really dont like activison that much. I mean every call of duty game that gets released the PS3 owners get shafted. I mean seriously why dont they make both games equal? Modern WareFare 2 was pretty close and i was expecting vanquish like parity in black ops. But that didnt happen they seriously screwed ps3 owners with black ops. I mean its not like the PS3 version wasnt going to sell or anything it did the opposite it sold a crap load.

[Fatal Blow]

there games are all about run and gun with crap graphics but still people who complain hear go out and buy it

[R_aVe_N]

I am in a full out boycott of anything Activision. I haven't gotten one of their games in a long time. (that includes StarCraft 2) Sadly I will miss out on Bungie's new title, but I will stick to my guns and see it through.

[earbus]

Seems mainly ps3 fans dont like em no skin of activisions sack they are rolling in it i have no allegiance to any company i know what i like make a good game ill play black ops plays well on 360 dont have ps3 version will avoid it if its so bad.

[Gamer112]

@ Silly gameAr

Its not an opinion its a fact but if i was a ps3 fanboy like you i would also dissagree with that fact so just because i got 7 dissagrees from ps3 faggots doesn't mean psn would get any better.

[Silly gameAr]

For one thing, I didn't disagree with you, for another, if I'm a "PS3 f******", what kind of f***** are you?

[Gamer112]

I own both consoles so yea...

[Silly gameAr]

Me too. Plus a Wii. That makes me more special right?

[clrlite]

MW2 might be my last game from them. Plenty of other quality titles to keep me busy. Never know though...

Oh and NICE TRY BTW, but not everyone is stupid enough to fall for generic PR bull#@$%. Try to redeem yourselves by authentic means.

[SnakeShady]

He have Google.

[DrGroove247]

That is laughable, I mean, seriously. That's prolly the funniest thing I have ever heard. They think that it stems from the 2-3 years ago. Guess what, Activision? As far as I can tell, we, as gamers, are tired of being screwed out of $60. If anyone wants to know why I say this, take it from the man I trust:

http://www.hiphopgamershow....

[iceman06]

Maybe if this guy were to speak for the company instead of Bobby Dumbass...then there might not be this type of hate. Activision has some decent games. Let's not kid ourselves by saying that everything that comes out of Activision is great. Mostly, they specialize in low cost/ high return gaming. Churning out yearly sequels keeps the costs on the low side...sell millions and get a high return on the investment.
They are like the WalMart of developers. Sure, we probably all have shopped at WalMart. We know EXACTLY what to expect from it. But, if we need high quality clothing for and interview...I don't think we automatically think...hmm...WalMart. Just as when we think high quality games...Activision is NOT the first name that comes to mind. Most of this has to do with asinine and arrogant Bobby Kotick and his ideas for filching every last cent possible from our collective pockets.
Good business is predicated on RETURN business. It's about assured quality and value for a purchase AND value for a customer. Not screwing customers over to gain economic advantages.