14 DAY TRIAL // Tim Shafer, the founder of Double Fine Productions, the studio behind Psychonauts and Brütal Legend, has expressed in a recent interview his low opinion of the chief executive officer of Activision Blizzard, the infamous Bobby Kotick. Of course, there is bad blood between Shafer's outfit and Activision because of a hard fought law suit that occurred before the launch of Brütal Legend over the publishing rights for the title.
Asked by Eurogamer what he thought about Kotick and if gamers are mistaken in thinking that Kotick has an obligation to them, Shafer answered that, “His obligation is to his shareholders. Well, he doesn't have to be as much of a [jerk] about it, does he? I think there is a way he can do it without being a total prick. It seems like it would be possible. It's not something he's interested in.”
Shafer said he understood that games must be profitable, especially when they have a big budget, but Kotick's business philosophy was exaggerated. “We can approach it like we approach bars of soap, where you're just trying to make the cheapest bar of soap. He definitely has that that kind of widget-maker attitude. I don't think he's great for the industry, overall. You can't just latch onto something when it's popular and then squeeze the life out of it and then move on to the next one. You have to at some point create something, build something,” Shafer said. “Hopefully he'll go back to another industry scene. He could go to an industry that makes more money. (...) Weapons manufacturing?”
In 2009, Activision sued Double Fine for the publishing rights of Brütal Legend. Activision had dropped the title from its portfolio after its merger with Vivendi Universal, the original publisher of the game. Electronic Arts picked it up and Activision tried to stake its claim that it still owned the rights to distributed Brütal Legend. Double Fine and Activision Blizzard later settled out of court and Tim Shafer's latest creation saw the light of day.