October 1st 2024.
People often referred to Bobby Kotick as the 'unreasonable man'. Recently, journalist Jason Schreier has been sharing new insights about Kotick's time as CEO at Activision Blizzard and his obsession with constantly releasing new Guitar Hero content.
In his upcoming book, Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment, Schreier has revealed a wealth of information about the company. Last week, he confirmed that a StarCraft shooter was in development under the leadership of Far Cry veteran Dan Hay.
In a recent round of interviews, Schreier shared details about the ambitious goals of former CEO Bobby Kotick. These included wanting to release a new Guitar Hero every month and hiring hundreds of additional developers to handle the success of Overwatch.
According to Schreier, Kotick was known for making outlandish statements and it was the job of his executives to translate them into actual plans. When asked how serious Kotick was about his desire for a new Guitar Hero every month, Schreier replied, "I think he truly believed that players had an insatiable demand for new content and would continue to buy it. If they stopped buying, he would just move on to the next franchise. That was his mindset."
Schreier also noted that Kotick often hired executives from consumer product goods rather than the video game industry. This reflected his view of games as simply products to be marketed and sold, rather than a form of art or experience.
Despite his unpopularity among gamers and even his own staff, there was never any doubt about Kotick's competence. In fact, Schreier reveals that Kotick may have been right about his suggestions for handling Overwatch 2, compared to what actually happened.
In a Reddit AMA, Schreier shared that Kotick wanted to hire hundreds of additional developers to handle the increasing workload after the success of Overwatch 1. However, game director Jeff Kaplan opposed this idea. Schreier explained, "Kaplan and Chacko Sonny were resistant to this, as they strongly believed in the culture they had built. This led to numerous problems in the following years."
Despite being the CEO of Activision Blizzard for over 30 years, Kotick was deeply unpopular, especially after laying off almost 800 employees in 2019 while earning a salary of $30 million per year. He was also criticized for downplaying the toxic work environment at the company and making a statement about wanting to have one of his assistants killed, which he later dismissed as "hyperbolic and inappropriate."
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