Kotick: "We give people freedom to fail"

By Fred Dutton Published 21 July, 2011

Activision boss on how he rewards staff.

Oft-demonised Activision boss Bobby Kotick has outlined a few of the ways in which the publisher attempts to encourage and reward innovation within its ranks.

Speaking in an interview with Forbes, Kotick explained that one of the company's key strategies was to allow staff to experiment, fail and then learn from their mistakes.

"The most important thing we do to encourage innovation is give people the freedom to fail," he explained.

"And I think you can articulate that and establish that as a value in a lot of different ways. I don't want to say celebrate the failures, but in a lot of respects it's sort of that.

"We have what we call the post mortem process, really evaluating what is it that caused an outcome not to be aligned to the original expectation."

He added that Activision has an internal initiative set up to reward innovation and hard work among its staff.

"So if you create a great game like Modern Warfare 3, which is coming out this fall, or Call of Duty: Black Ops, the entire team will make tens and tens of millions of dollars. And then the head of the studio that made the game gets to determine how to allocate the rewards, there's a big pool that comes to them, and they allocate to the rest of the team members.

"One of the criteria that they're going to use to make those allocation determinations is who came up with a great new idea.

"And I as the CEO have a separate, few million dollar fund that I can use for a spot bonus, to reward a really great idea."

Kotick was coy when pushed for a specific example, though did recount the tale of how he once surprised a few team members with a new TV.

"I was taking a tour of one of the studios, and they had just moved into a new building, and there was a group of five people in a pod. In this case they were doing cinematics, and cinematics is a very visual part of what we do.

"I went into their little cube area, and said, 'What are you guys working on?', and they showed me what they were doing on a little 18-inch monitor.

"And they had their cubes – everybody gets to decorate their environments however they choose – and their cube was set up with a fake fireplace that had a little gas fire, and had a couch and a coffee table," he continued.

"I was sitting there and I said, 'You're really missing the big screen TV, it would go well with the décor, but also to show people cinematics, you really want a big screen TV.' And they were like, 'Yeah, we haven't gotten to that yet.' So the next day I sent over a big 65-inch flat panel TV.

"Even though we can do the spot bonuses for innovation, those kinds of things sometimes have more of an impact on people than a reward for a specific technology."

Elsewhere in the interview he explained how Activision generally tried to "promote from within" to reward loyalty.

"You know, we have really really long tenure, the people who come to Activision generally stay for a really long time. So we have a long history of seeing who’s performed and who’s been successful in developing new innovative ideas, and we would generally try and promote from within."

That said, Kotick also revealed what happens if a team loses focus, citing the example of an unnamed open world action title that it cancelled recently.

"In one case we were doing a game that was more of an open world Grand Theft Auto style game, something that our company had aspired to build just a little bit more audience friendly, not as violent as Grand Theft Auto, but more focused on the driving and the fighting, and less about the profanity. And so it wouldn't have been as controversial content, but really great dynamic in the game play.

"We recognised that after giving it a good college try for three years we didn't have the skills at the company to do that type of game, so we canceled it.

"And I think that it was a demonstration to the organisation that focus is going to get rewarded, and that if you can't after a sustained period of time get to that level of excellence, then we're going to have to make a change."

Might he be referring to United Front's recently euthanased True Crime: Hong Kong?

Of course, United Front isn't the only team to have felt the sharp end of Activision's stick of late. Bizarre Creations, Budcat, 7 Studios, RedOctane and Luxoflux have all been shut by the publisher since January 2010, with significant job cuts reported at Vicarious Visions and Freestyle Games earlier this year.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (44) Latest comment 10 months ago

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  • tezza192 #1 10 months ago

    I admire Bobby Kotick, hes done alot of good in the world of Video Games

  • superfurry #2 10 months ago

    Bobby Kotick is a swell guy!

  • riceNpea #3 10 months ago

    freedom to fail. if you fail we set you free.


    if Kotick were chocolate he'd eat himself.

  • sfp_noodle #4 10 months ago

    Freedom to fail you say? I'd like to know what he thought when all the PS3 Black Ops problems became widespread enough to be have Gamer's Voice involved. Nothing came out of it, but the bad publicity couldn't have been good. I'm sure Kotick gave everyone a big fat bonus of "fired" once he heard about that.

  • OxWearingSocks #5 10 months ago

    Article should have been called 'Kotick Masturbates his Ego'.

  • The-Jack-Burton #6 10 months ago

    Gives studios freedom to fail.

    Basically means, a studio that fails to meet it's projected financial earnings will no longer be supported internally, by improving the quality of staff, or externally, promotional advertising shall cease, followed by employees and studio being made redundant and subsequently dismantled.

  • Pehmu #7 10 months ago

    if Kotick were chocolate he'd eat himself.

    My goodness.

  • darkmorgado #8 10 months ago

    "He added that Activision has an internal initiative set up to reward innovation and hard work among its staff.

    "So if you create a great game like Modern Warfare 3, which is coming out this fall, or Call of Duty: Black Ops, the entire team will make tens and tens of millions of dollars. And then the head of the studio that made the game gets to determine how to allocate the rewards, there's a big pool that comes to them, and they allocate to the rest of the team members. "

    Ahem.

    Claiming to reward innovation and then using COD as an example is pretty fucking rich.

    You might give them the "freedom to fail" but how do you then treat those failures?

    Oh yes, you close down the studio.

    So, not much freedom then.

  • gjgjg #9 10 months ago

    Of all the statements this guy has made, "we give people freedom to fail" is the one that is the most worthy of a kick in the face (when i think about the people that lost their jobs after exploring that 'freedom').
    Edited by gjgjg at 21/07/11 @ 22:56

  • riceNpea #10 10 months ago

    just got to say Kotick's example of a reward is hilarious. he saw a team working on cinematics on an 18" monitor and 'rewarded' them with a 65" tv! so in other words they got what they should've had in the first place considering their role in the company.

    no wonder he 'was coy when pushed for a specific example', he doesn't have one.

  • DDevil #11 10 months ago

    "We give people freedom to fail. I mean, I'll close their fucking failure of a studio afterwards... But at least we let them fail."

  • nemesisND1derboy #12 10 months ago

    Freedom to fail?

    Pity Bizzarre weren't told that.

  • Quixz #13 10 months ago

    I always thought the fed them to his sharks underneath his office via a trapdoor..
    Edited by Quixz at 21/07/11 @ 23:05

  • Gimpy_Wonderland #14 10 months ago

    "One of the criteria that they're going to use to make those allocation determinations is who came up with a great new idea. And I as the CEO have a separate, few million dollar fund that I can use for a spot bonus, to reward a really great idea."

    Activision employees have "great new ideas"? Or maybe they don't, and that's why Kotick is a multi-millionaire; he keeps the pool of money for himself.

  • darkmorgado #15 10 months ago

    The more I read this, the more I equate "freedom to fail" with "I give them enough rope to hang themselves"

  • Desheep #16 10 months ago

    Fuck you, Bobby Kotick!

  • Triggerhappytel #17 10 months ago

    So then, what's the point if Activision close down the developers before lessons learned can be applied elsewhere?!

  • jumpdeveraux #18 10 months ago

    "We have what we call the post mortem process, really evaluating what is it that caused an outcome not to be aligned to the original expectation."

    "We take a look at the bullet holes in the corpses, sometimes my grouping of shots isn't that great but then we work on that, we've changed the ammo and now put down plastic sheeting which is a great way to save the walls and carpet. I remember this really awkward time when we had this dev team who'd missed their target by $5 and my gun jammed. It was so embarassing we all had to laugh but then I remembered how innovative Activision was and went and got my samurai sword..."

  • Rodney #19 10 months ago

    They also set people up to fail with shitty release schedules, lack of promotion and poor distribution.

    Failing is not free if it costs you your employment

  • metalangel #20 10 months ago

    The reward is being bolt-gunned through the head before being thrown into the vats.

  • EvilMonkey70 #21 10 months ago

    That was so touching when he "sent over" that big tv. And all this time I thought he was a total arsehole.

  • a8a #22 10 months ago

    Im surprised this guys Activision's PR department still lets him talk to the media. He seems to get just enough rope to hang himself, but he makes it suffice every time!

  • bemaniac #23 10 months ago

    You know he comes off ok this time. Doesn't seem harsh or anything like usual. Almost as if he is protecting the public from shitty games.

    However Bobby 'Bizzarre' please rectify.
    Edited by bemaniac at 22/07/11 @ 00:50

  • DrStrangelove #24 10 months ago

    "And I as the CEO have a separate, few million dollar fund that I can use for a spot bonus, to reward a really great idea."

    "and the best idea in 2011 so far was... closing down Bizarre Creations. Incidentally, that was my idea, so I can use my few million dollar fund to reward myself. This is magnificent on so many levels that I decided to bestow a medal of excellence upon myself."

    "PS: I love games ;D"

  • Ikaros_O #25 10 months ago

    Ah, that's why Raven Software was gutted after Singularity and Bizzare closed down after Blur. Really does seem like freedom to fail. Good thing CoD constantly innovates then...

  • JadedSoul #26 10 months ago

    Post deleted at 13:34:01 08-05-2012

  • JahB #27 10 months ago

    "And I as the CEO have a separate, few million dollar fund that I can use for a spot bonus, to reward a really great idea."

    Probably the biggest lie that ass ever told. The man who invented nazi zombies for cod got a 10k bonus for DLC that sold millions.

  • dickothe1st #28 10 months ago

    He dares to slam GTA. Basically you just don't have the talent the Housers and their team have for creating cutting edge tech. Activision will forever fail to advance as long as they have this "focus". Ironically it will bleed genres dry with its recycling of solid but uninspired gameplay designs.

  • bluetoothion #29 10 months ago

    There are tens million of dollars for rewards for great ideas that brings us hundreds of millions to begin with....

    any recent rewards???

    i once gave away tvs to couple of people for their good ideas......

    anyone impressed?

  • Rack #30 10 months ago

    What Activision haven't realised is the can't turn their rep around just by talking a good game, they actuall have to do some decent things and stop pulling off crazy shit.

  • Jorendo #31 10 months ago

    "One of the criteria that they're going to use to make those allocation determinations is who came up with a great new idea. And I as the CEO have a separate, few million dollar fund that I can use for a spot bonus, to reward a really great idea."

    These are the millions that should have gone to the founders of Infinity Ward and the employees who got fired/stepped up after the MW2gate right? Where Bobby didn't want to pay them their bonus cause they didn't start with MW3 the day after the launch of MW2. Or are it those millions he earned for lame map packs?

    Who does he think believes him. Both gamers and game developers see him as the devil, read the interview with double fine studios about how Bobby treated them when making Brutal Legend.

    @tezza192 i hope you where sarcastic. What good did Bobby ever done? He milks every succesfull activision game dry. He closes the doors of every gamestudio that doesn't meet the sales numbers he wants to see (so even more ironic this ass says he allows them to fail). He hates games, only joined the game industry cause of the big money in it thats all. He made CoD a terrible milking cow, he is responsible for the death of guitar hero cause he wanted a new one every year so gamers started to hate it.

    Remember the game Blur, it sold reasonable but not great. Bobby wanted it to sell great so was disapointed and closed the doors of Bizzare studios. So what do you mean he leaves you freedom to fail. Or was he talking about himself, allowing himself to be the biggest fail in gaming history?

    Here the article: http://gamerant.com/bizarre-creations-to... So Bobby pathetic little man, if you read this then try to tell us gamers again you allow failing, pathetic feck piss off out of the game business, you are not welcome!

  • Murton #32 10 months ago

    As soon as I read the headline I could predict the comments and it was the exact same thing I was thinking myself. Shutting down everything but CoD and movie tie-ins doesn't suggest these others teams had any freedom to fail at all. If they had then they'd still be in work under the Activision banner.

    Stupid thing is, Activision used to have a nicely rounded portfolio that could challenge EA, but they've become too risk averse in recent years and EA have torn off ahead again, and following a resurgence of popularity in the Tom Clancy franchise and the creation of Assassins Creed Ubisoft are vying for that number 2 spot. I'd suggest you worry less about your personal image and get to thinking about just what Activision's output is going to be in 2012 and 2013 because you don't seem to have much of anything going on at all.

  • Phishfood #33 10 months ago

    Wow isn't that innovation right there, motivating people with their greed.

  • TheEarlOfZinger #34 10 months ago

    And we need to know this because............?

  • jefranklin18 #35 10 months ago

    Blofeld gives all his minions freedom to fail as well.

  • actionfitz #36 10 months ago

    "He added that Activision has an internal initiative set up to reward innovation and hard work among its staff."

    Yeah it's called 'Try to leave us and we'll withold your bonuse / royalties and sue you'.

  • Bravestinsane #37 10 months ago

    freedom to fail = bullshit

    Bizzare makes a great game but fails because activision didn't market it, and there closed as a result....case closed

  • GamesConnoisseur #38 10 months ago

    Seriously, there are times I thought, Bobby just filled the 'Most Hated' slot the recent years, and so would always get hated even if he was saving whales, global warming etc.

    But gobsmacked at his saying giving freedom to fail, knew instantly that in content of studios closures over the time under his stewardship, would be a contender for the most fail statement of his!

  • Alestes #39 10 months ago

    The cancellation of True Crime: Hong Kong sucks. I'm generally not interested in modern sandbox games (besides the Bethesda stuff) nor have I played the previous True Crime games, but playing in Hong Kong would have been a blast :)

  • Gumersindo #40 10 months ago

    "We give people freedom to fail"
    Yes, it's like crying kids in Sparta "we give kids freedom to live" (but we throw them off the cliffs)
    Edited by Gumersindo at 22/07/11 @ 11:11

  • Tryhard #41 10 months ago

    Did Bobby get visited by Jacob Marley overnight?

  • Lord_BeeJee #42 10 months ago

    We give you freedom to fail, than make you redundant!

  • dickothe1st #43 10 months ago

    This is a serious question to everybody on this thread. Do you reckon this guy actually reads his own press? I don't think I could ignore all the hate, I fail to see how one man can be so ignorant. We are after all the core of his audience.

  • sidneyfife #44 10 months ago

    I have no problem with Bobby Kotick's comments. Anyone who whines about companies that are "all about profits" obviously doesn't have a job nor do they understand the economic dynamics in the industry.