14 DAY TRIAL // Activision Blizzard is big. And, more importantly in this tough economic times, it is turning to profit just as the video-game business is hardly hit by the economic downturn, with the NPD numbers for August showing a 16% decline when compared to 2008. The one man who seems to be directly responsible for this is Bobby Kotick, the chief executive officer of the publisher, who has talked in a bit of detail about how gaming is now serious business and how financial expertise is important to bring into an organization.
Talking at the Deutsche Bank Securities Technology Conference in San Francisco the CEO has boasted about how he implemented an incentive program for the employees at Activision Blizzard, which “really rewards profit and nothing else,” before talking about how now, “You have studio heads who five years ago didn't know the difference between a balance sheet and a bed sheet who are now arguing allocations in our CFO's office pretty regularly.” Part of the success of the company, which combined the properties of Activision, Blizzard and Vivendi, is directly a result of a culture that focuses on making money rather than just making games.
If that sounds like cold capitalism gobbling up the sunny soul of video-game development, then Kotick has something more to tell you. Apparently, the company culture at his company aims for “skepticism, pessimism, and fear,” in relation to the global economic downturn.
Of course there's also a downside to creating a culture focused on the bottom line. A few years ago, gamers used to complain about how Electronic Arts only created sequels and didn't listen to players. Now, the name Activision Blizzard pops up more and more in those kinds of statements, while EA is seen as trying to innovate and has gotten back some of its clout.