Kotick regrets not courting Harmonix

By Tom Bramwell Published 19 February, 2010

Won't play games in case he's hooked.

Activision boss Bobby Kotick told the DICE Summit yesterday that he regrets not paying more attention to Harmonix during the RedOctane acquisition that brought Guitar Hero under the publisher's control.

"We had always known them as sort of somewhat a failed developer of music games. They always had really great ideas but nothing that was really commercially viable until Guitar Hero," Kotick told the DICE Summit.

Kotick believed that if Activision gave Guitar Hero to Neversoft, "they'd knock the ball out of the park with this", and didn't bother to meet with Harmonix and explore other options.

"And, of course, if we had gone up, I think the world of Guitar Hero would have been rewritten. It would be a lot different today. And it would probably be a profitable opportunity for both of us and an opportunity where you'd have even more innovation in the category," he said.

Kotick also said that he personally doesn't play videogames because he knows he'd be hooked. "The nature of my personality is such that if I were to play Modern Warfare 2 I wouldn't be able to stop, and it would be at the expense of my regular responsibilities," he explained.

The speech, which Eurogamer's Rupert Loman, at DICE, described as "very humble and engaging", also saw Kotick clarifying his infamous comment that he wanted to "take all the fun out of making videogames".

"It was mainly because I wanted to come across in a humorous way that we were responsible [people]... that it wasn't a Wild West," he explained.

For more coverage of the DICE Summit, head over to our trade-focused sister site GamesIndustry.biz.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • UncleLou #1 2 years ago

    This "I won't play games because they're too addictive" line is a getting a bit old, and has never been very believable no matter who says it.

  • LazyNinjaUk #2 2 years ago

    What kind of lame excuse is that? The president of a videogame publisher and he doesn't play the things he's publishing? That's like a Baker who doesn't try his own cakes because he thinks he'll eat too many and get fat.

  • BabyJesus #3 2 years ago

    He's still a dick.

    But a very rich dick, so I'm sure he cares very much what people think.

  • munki83 #4 2 years ago

    @UncleLou

    The impression I got was he doesn't play video games because he has an addictive personality. The reason I don't drink much is for the same reasons if I started drinking I'd finid it hard to know when to stop. I know the guy is a bit of a knobhead but I'm starting to think he is being used as a bit of a gaming booger man, watch out kids of Kotick will buy you and use you up till you're a dry boring yearly franchise.

  • X3Entente #5 2 years ago

    he makes it sound like hes a drug baron, that refuses to snort his own cocaine because it could cause some kind of tony montana type downfall

  • M4RV #6 2 years ago

    @LazyNinjaUk:

    Publishing is not synonymous with developing... ;)

  • MyPointIs #7 2 years ago

    "It was mainly because I wanted to come across in a humorous way"

    Well, next time get a fucking red plastic clown nose.

  • cyacomini #8 2 years ago

    This guy is so out of touch - should be running Royal Mail.

  • actionfitz #9 2 years ago

    He doesn't play games because he's Rich as fuck and has better things to do - snorting class A drugs off hookers cleavages, swimming in his money-bin, reaping the souls of small children etc.
    Which to be fair... is probably what most of us would be doing.

    - i do love me some baby-souls in the morning.
    (or maybe i just haven't had enough coffee yet :o )
    /hides

  • s3y3 #10 2 years ago

    It sounds like he is trying to make up for coming across like dick. Won't last he will revert to form soon enough.

  • drxym #11 2 years ago

    Hah I bet he regrets it seeing as Rock Band has stolen Guitar Hero's thunder. Anyway the guy represents all that is wrong with big business gaming. Sometimes a company has to take risks to preserve its creative edge. Just sticking to crappy, safe franchises is ultimately the road to ruin.

  • metalangel #12 2 years ago

    Wow, the epitome of modern business. I'm the boss but I don't know anything about what we do. My old team leader was incapable of doing my job.

  • geeza2020 #13 2 years ago

    Until this guy is sacked or dies of some kind of horrible anal or genital cancer, i know that there is no God.

    Happy Friday!! :D

  • Br0ken_Engli5h #14 2 years ago

    @s3y3.

    What form is that? Bat-like with horns?
    :D

  • Murton #15 2 years ago

    For some reason it doesn't surprise me that this man doesn't play games. I mean look at the state of some of the ones his company has published recently. The same could be said of many industry execs, PR men and some cases even producers, or at least that they only played a single version of the game and not some of the cross platform ports.

    As for games being addictive, I think it's a pretty dumb statement to make, especially for an industry figurehead like Kotick. Some games are indeed quite addictive, but most aren't and we shouldn't paint them all with the same brush.

  • FooAtari #16 2 years ago

    @drxym
    Anyway the guy represents all that is wrong with big business gaming. Sometimes a company has to take risks to preserve its creative edge. Just sticking to crappy, safe franchises is ultimately the road to ruin.

    Got to agree with this.

  • RobotRocker #17 2 years ago

    Ah, Crocodile tears. The last resort. I wonder how carefully rehearsed that speech was too since it kept away from the layoffs last week. Interesting that he mentioned that Zork was one of the reasons he invested in Activision though.

    At the same time, saying "I could have bought Maxis and Harmonix if I wasn't such a moron" and disparaging his own product as "Addictive" wouldn't exactly fill me with confidence as an investor.

  • Redeye #18 2 years ago

    "We had always known them as sort of somewhat a failed developer of music games. They always had really great ideas but nothing that was really commercially viable until Guitar Hero," Kotick told the DICE Summit.

    It's this kind of back-handed bullshit that really makes me want to throttle the arrogant twat; his conceited attitude makes me believe that Harmonix are bloody glad they've got nothing to do with him.

  • dudefella #19 2 years ago

    CEO of the biggest publisher in the world DOESN'T play games, at all? What the dickens?

  • Deepo #20 2 years ago

    I read 'Kotick' and 'court' and immediatly thought 'Again with the lawsuits?'

    Courting is ok though, Bobby should do more of that.

  • Xeopuppy #21 2 years ago

    "Kotick also said that he personally doesn't play videogames because he knows he'd be hooked"

    When your already hooked on power nothing else will do...

  • feistycheese #22 2 years ago

    "very humble and engaging"

    Kotick? Humble? Was your reporter on some sort of mind altering substance at the time? Does he also think that Hitler came across as an introverted and quietly peaceful chap?

  • AphoticCosmos #23 2 years ago

    Oh no, so his poor decisions cost Activision money, and his confidence in his own games is so low that he won't even play them, let alone the games of his competitors.

    Watch the tears fall from my eyes.

    Seriously, what a gargantuan cock

  • Froggit #24 2 years ago

    *Zips up*

    Apologies

  • FladgeMangle #25 2 years ago

    Never have the words "massive wanker" been so appropriate a description of an individual.

  • Shikasama #26 2 years ago

    M4RV - It is when you are responsible for half of the triple A titles that come out and are one of the biggest companies on the planet

  • Bravestinsane #27 2 years ago

    Still a prick and those $ .$ eyes really piss me of with him. Such a prick

  • FenderMaster #28 2 years ago

    if i was in the games industry, as part of a small(ish) independant developer, i would spend an hour each night praying this guy doesn't buy my company... it's not just games he doesn't understand, he also has very litte people skills, and seems incapable of opening his mouth without coming across as hatable

    hopefully he discovers WoW and is never heard of again... the slimy reptile...