Likely the most anticipated, most talked about presentation at DICE 2010 was a keynote speech by Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, a guy who doesn't have a whole lot of fans in video games.
But he came to DICE with the clear goal of imparting his passion for video games. The problem? He doesn't play them. Kotick has previously admitted he doesn't really play video games anymore and tried to explain the reason he doesn't play video games: addiction.
"I'm a single dad and I have three daughters and you could probably tell when I was walking out I don't really have the physique of a marathon runner," said Kotick. "I like to eat. I would pretty much say it's an addiction."
Kotick then tried to explain how he's in charge of the most powerful video game publisher in the world...but he doesn't even play or greenlight the products that make it successful.
"It got me thinking that trying to explain what it was like in the early days, in the 80s, when I used to play video games, [and today it] would have caused me to have the same kind of inability to control my behavior," he said. "I still have callusess from Defender. I play from time to time, but the nature of my personality is such that if I was regularly playing Modern Warfare 2, I would not be able to stop it. It would be at the expense at all my regular responsibilities."
His shareholders certainly don't seem to mind.
Comments
Displaying 1–15 of 15
nahsez
yea forget this guy ive read enuff!
xdr8d
I know two people that get addicted to videogames. My one friend will ignore his kids and wife to play for hours after work at night and go to bed at 1 am to wake at 6 and go to work. 86,000+ achievement points proves it. and the other person is myself. I can't stop playing. lmao
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Completist
He maybe an arrogant jackass, but after reading this, you realize he is human after all.
PS - I miss seeing the Futurama Robot Devil and the other cartoon devil whenever G4 shows Kotick's pic.
Tim_1138
This makes me hate him a little less.
p.s. as a gamer.
DEAThHEART
He just looks like another hypocrite to me... just saying.
Fulldemon0716
The guy makes 15 mill...after benefits,options and incentives. His actual salary is $899,560..(thank you wikipedia) in a world where we are hating on the CEO, and all his other obvious faults... well i just hate him for spider-man 3 game..the rest...ALL of it is just icing on the poop pie
KnuxSonic
Is anyone surprised that he's a single dad? Didn't think so.
RockieOllie
There's the problem. That is like a person who has never eaten (If that's possible) a thing in their life becoming a chef.
P.S he looks like Bobby Flay.
NoWay0ut
What a pile of crap!
kipper420
I am currently a share holder in a few companies (not Activision). I understand the stance that Kotick is taking. He is the corporate face of Activision. He is not the brains behind the success of the games. Yes he says he green lights the games but most likely he signs on the dotted line after months or years of R&D and market research. What Kotick and the members of the board of directors do is steer the company and bow to the share holders. So in short cut him some slack yes he runs a gaming company but he answers to the share holders. Share holders and traders don t care if he plays the games, most likely they are happy he does not. The only thing share holders and traders care about is the ol mighty buck. CEO s work in a different realm then the rest of us little folk, and if gamers want the gaming industry to stay on a up swing then we should all accept corporate CEO s and not gamer CEO s.
Wozman23
A single dad? But he's such an arrogant, belligerent, boorish, callous, combative, deceitful, demonic, domineering, greedy, malicious, repulsive, ruthless, thoughtless, threatening, vengeful, venomous, voracious, wicked, wretched man. It's as if Satan had a 3-way with Hitler and Osama bin Laden, and one of them mysteriously had a son. I would think the ladies would be throwing themselves at that.
mrsnowywaffle
In my opinion, this guy will lead activision into a crater. How can we trust the production of noteworthy games to a company lead by a corporate sleazebag rather than a gamer? Ahem, tony hawk ride, ahem. Gamers know what gamers want.
gaming is hardly an addiction either, online gaming maybe, but gaming itself is just like going to the movies or watching TV: another form of entertainment.
That's just my 2 cents.
ProjektX13
All I read was that he tried to say he doesn't greenlight any products trying to use that as a scape goat so that he wouldnt be associated with Tony Hawks Ride.
topgamer101 ShowHide(2 Replies)
Or gamers in general can try to be less like jack asses and attempt to treat him like a human being...
Who am I kidding, this is gamers we are talking about.
wiggum
Hmmm, colour me a little bit skeptical. Sounds likes he's trying to come up with an explanation that won't make him sound totally lame
Displaying 1–15 of 15
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