14 DAY TRIAL // Activision boss Bobby Kotick has once again went on the offensive against rivals, this time focusing his sights on his company's biggest challenger, EA, and revealed that it has suffered in terms of game quality and that talented developers are becoming increasingly weary of the corporation.
Kotick attributes Activision Blizzard's impressive success to the fact that the company keeps the identity of its independent developers alive, and allows studios to have bigger autonomy than other companies, specifically EA.
"The core principle of how we run the company is the exact opposite of EA," he says. "EA will buy a developer and then it will become ‘EA Florida’, ‘EA Vancouver’, ‘EA New Jersey’, whatever.
"We always looked and said, 'You know what? What we like about a developer is that they have a culture, they have an independent vision and that’s what makes them so successful.' We don’t have an Activision anything - it’s Treyarch, Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer."
Kotick admits EA is changing these days, allowing for studios to be more independent and creating their own brand identity, but the company is still a long way from reaching the success of Activision.
"Look, EA has a lot of resources, it’s a big company that’s been in business for a long time, maybe it’ll figure it out eventually. But it’s been struggling for a really long time. The most difficult challenge it faces today is: great people don’t really want to work there. "
"It’s like, if you have no other option, you might consider them. They have some… the team that makes Madden is a really great team, it’s been able to manage, capture and keep some good people. But we have no shortage of opportunity to recruit out of EA – that’s their biggest challenge: its stock options have no value. It’s lost its way. And until it has success, and hits, and gets that enthusiasm back for the company, it’s going to have a struggle getting really talented people, which is going to translate into less-than-great games."
Kotick's words are a bit awkward, as Activision has been accused a few months ago of interfering with its most successful studio, Call of Duty creator Infinity Ward, which prompted the leaders, Jason West and Vince Zampella to quit and start their own studio with EA.
Is Kotick right about EA or is the Activision Blizzard executive just trying to pick a fight with his company's rival?