Activision Executive Believes Creative People Should Lead Publishers

Speaking at the DICE 2012 conference, Eric Hirshberg, the chief executive officer at Activision Publishing, has said that video game publishers should make better use of creative people, rather than limiting their involvement to the development side.

The executive stated, “I've always believed that creative people, while critical to the creative industries they work in, are actually a little under-utilized in the business.”

He then added “creatives are rarely thought of when it's time to fill the CEO's seat. On the other hand, there are a lot of industries where creativity and creative instincts are the critical ingredient for success.”

Hirshberg says that Bobby Kotick, the leader of Activision, hired him because of his art background and because he would bring a new type of vision to the company.

The Activision Publishing leader believes that publishers should look at their video games as brands rather than products, which means the players need to buy into Call of Duty rather than simply spending money to get the boxed copy of the title.