Kotick: Talks commitment to excellence at DICE

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick took the stage at DICE during a panel called “How Creative Talent Drives the Video Game Industry”, and in it he talked a bit out the company’s commitment to excellence.He also said that his famous comment regarding taking the fun out of games was reported out of context a bit.“Sometimes that commitment to excellence, well, you can come across as a dick,” he said. “When I said that you need to take the fun out of video games, that was targeted to investors – I wanted to convey that that we know what we’re doing – it wasn’t just some wild west of creating video games.“I obviously didn’t mean we want to take the fun out of making them.“All the really good development teams know the importance of [the] process and they know the importance of discipline, and they can have fun doing it.”During his talk, Kotick also chatted a bit about where he got his start, his love for old Atari games, and how at one time he worked for EA during the 80s.He also mentioned that in retrospect, he wishes Activison had purchased Harmonix, and that he is proud that the studios its bought or merged with have been able to retain a lot of creative freedom.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, who is not known for his public relations ability, has come out and explained why he wanted Neversoft to take over the Guitar Hero series from Harmonix.
During his DICE Keynote today, Kotick explained that Harmonix, at the time, were "failed music game developers" and that he knew that if he gave the series to Neversoft that they could "hit the franchise out of the park". Kotick did go on to say that he regrets not buying Harmonix along with the Guitar Hero series.
The series, which sold nearly 4 million units during Harmonix's run was handed over to Neversoft after the third installment (Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80's). In 2007, Neversoft developed Guitar Hero III, which went on to make over $1 billion, a video game record.
Since Harmonix left the Guitar Hero series, they have made several billion dollars through the Rock Band series.
This past week, however, Kotick's team at Activision decided to lay-off hundreds of employees, including the vast majority of Neversoft. Neversoft will develop Guitar Hero 6 before ending their run.
Kotick, who is known as the CEO who said he wanted to "take all the fun out of making games", also said during this keynote that he "thrives on seeing someone so inspired that they're up at 4 a.m. creating content at the expense of their family life."

Kotick, who is known as the CEO who said he wanted to "take all the fun out of making games", also said during this keynote that he "thrives on seeing someone so inspired that they're up at 4 a.m. creating content at the expense of their family life."