Activision's CEO of publishing, Eric Hirschberg, has publicly criticized EA for what he calls "mud-slinging tactics" over the rivalry between the Modern Warfare series and Battlefield 3. According to Eurogamer, Hirschberg took some time out of his Gamescom keynote to encourage Activision's competitors to focus on development, rather than making negative comments in the press.
"Competition is of course a good thing. It keeps us all on our toes and ultimately makes the games better. It's healthy," Hirschberg said. "But it's one thing to want your game to succeed and another thing to actively, publicly say you want other games to fail."
Hirschberg pointed out a recent IndustryGamers interview where EA's John Riccitiello said he wanted the Call of Duty franchise to "rot from the core."
"Can you imagine the head of Dreamworks animation coming out with a new movie and going to the press and saying that he wants Toy Story to 'rot from the core'," Hirschberg asked. "It's kind of hard to imagine, right?"
"This isn't politics," he continued. "In order for one to win, the other doesn't have to lose. We all still have a lot to prove in our position in the pop cultural landscape. We still need to stand the test of time. We need to show we can withstand the kind of disruptive change and new competition that we're facing now."
"The only way to do that is to continue to make great games. We shouldn't be tearing each other apart fighting for a bigger piece of the pie – we should all be focused on trying to grow a bigger pie. If we as an industry act like there's a finite number of games in the world, then there will be."
Source: GameIndustry.biz
Comments
Re: Activision: EA Mud-Slinging Bad for Industry
Kotick is a bigger problem for the industry, they should focus on that issue first.
Re: Activision: EA Mud-Slinging Bad for Industry
Giving that he looks at an art form like many would look at cars, I tend to agree.
Re: Activision: EA Mud-Slinging Bad for Industry
Sounds like whining to me. EA, as much I don't really care for the company, did good with their PR campaign. They attacked the big dog in military first person shooters, Call of Duty. By going on the attack they garnered a lot of attention and I think it is going to really pay off in sales for the company.
Nothing they said went overboard in my opinion, I think Hirschberg realizes that by the 9th installment of a series everyone knows you are milking the cow dry and he doesn't like to hear another company say it. He and Activision need to stop whining and step up their game.
Re: Activision: EA Mud-Slinging Bad for Industry
Nothing went overboard? You don't think wanting a competitor to "rot from the core" is part of a healthy rivalry?
Going on the attack is a bit different in my opinion to slagging someone off, a bit like Ballmer's "I'm going to f***ing kill Google" (Granted, that was allegedly said in private).