Violating the Prime Directive
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick spoke today at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia XVII Conference.If you don't know what "Communacopia" means, don't worry. No one else does, either. They could have called it the "Goldman Sachs Jabberwocky Bollocks XVII Conference" and it would have made more sense.
Here's what Kotick had to say:
We’re outselling [Rock Band] 6:1. When you think about the access we have to 30% of the world’s music at Universal, we have a unique advantage there. I would also say when you look at resources, you know, our next-nearest competitor has a couple of hundred people working on these projects, we have close to 2000 people just dedicated to the Guitar Hero note tracking, introduction of new hardware, introduction of new software, and so we just have a lot more in the way of resources available to us to continue to dominate the category.
Wow, Mr. Kotick, you don't sound like a dick at all. Hey, Reggie Von Dough called--he wants his attitude back.
Let me clear a few things up.
I have no idea how you got to 6:1, but I'm sure it included every copy of every crappy expansion pack you released, plus the unit sales for the DS version. And it didn't include downloadable content. And it wasn't based on total revenue. In other words, in every conceivable way to look at sales except one, you're well below 6:1. On the 360, GH III didn't even outsell Rock Band by 2:1, and if you went on revenue, it would be close to even.
Plus, I'm glad that he apparently has an entire army of people working on Guitar Hero, and Rock Band only has "several hundred," but guess what? Those are several hundred musicians. That army of 2000 still doesn't seem to be enough people to do a proper note chart.
Fear the musicians, Kodick. Fear them!
I know, this wasn't really an interview, so the prime directive ("don't be a dick in interviews") shouldn't technically apply here. But it's possible to make your point without acting like you have to teabag the opposition in every sentence.
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