Activision's CEO Wants You to Pay for Videogame Cut-Scenes
Activision's CEO Wants You to Pay for Videogame Cut-Scenes
Posted 09/16/2010 at 7:30pm
| by Nathan Grayson
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You know, Activison CEO Bobby Kotick, maybe we were wrong about you. You've said some pretty ridiculous things in the past, but now you've gone and mentioned a StarCraft movie. Perhaps its time we learn to forgive and forge... wait. What did you just say? Sorry, what?!
"If we were to take that hour, or hour and a half [of StarCraft II cut-scenes], take it out of the game, and we were to go to our audiences for whom we have their credit card information as well as a direct relationship and ask, 'Would you like to have the StarCraft movie?', my guess is that ... you'd have the biggest opening weekend of any film ever," he said during Bank of America Merrill Lynch's Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference (via Gamasutra).
"Within the next five years, you are likely to see us do that. That may be in partnership with somebody, it may be alone," he added.
Oh, but that's not all. Instead of hitting the big screen, Kotick plans to put these suckers online, where he hopes the other kind of sucker – you know, the kind far richer in wallet than common sense – will spend up to $20 or $30 to watch them. So basically, he wants to charge more for less.
We could fill an entire book with ways this idea could go horribly wrong, but instead, we'll sum it up with one word: Youtube.
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someuid
September 17, 2010 at 7:48am
Kotick, meet Internet_Video_Pirate_9476.
Internet_Video_Pirate_9476, meet Starcraft movie.
Starcraft movie, meet BitTorrent.
RtDK
September 17, 2010 at 5:26am
Activision's getting WAY too big for their breeches. Eventually, they're just going to force out all but their most die-hard fans, and that few number will not be enough to support them.
These guys are headed straight for an iceberg called Arrogance.
someuid
September 17, 2010 at 7:49am
"These guys are headed straight for an iceberg called Arrogance."
That made my day. Thanks!
Morete
September 17, 2010 at 4:38am
We all love Capitalism until it negatively effects us. Activision, as any other corporation or even a small business is just playing by the rules. As long as it's legal to demand more money with no set limits (unregulated Capitalism), this will continue to happen. The "Life isn't fair crowd" is shouting this, day in and day out. It's okay, work two jobs, work longer hours, lower your quality of life and you'll be able to pay for a few extra things that you want (until the price of those items increase). Game publishers are not fair to developers nor the consumer.
Life isn't fair and then we die. The End.
Velcrow
September 17, 2010 at 6:42am
Not quite following you there buddy. What, exactly, does this story have to do with regulations? If Activision chooses to pursue this avenue then where's the issue? If it flops, it hurts them. If it does well, they make a profit and customers can enjoy something they CHOSE to purchase. Game publishers can not be unfair to a consumer because the consumer chooses to enter a relationship with that publisher by purchasing the game. Just because people like to bitch does not make it unfair. It means they were either too lazy/stupid to understand the relationship (contract), or too greedy to go without the product.
Speaking of regulation, the truth is the customer (that would be you and me) have all the power. The power to choose. We send messages with our purchases, but most people are either too lazy or too greedy to do so. Instead we run to Big Brother and cry about how it's not fair that we screwed ourselves.
Zazubovich
September 17, 2010 at 4:46pm
that's why America is heading towards a banana republic with a tiny fraction running things and a huge majority desperately clinging to less and less, because the majority refuse to use their power to even out the disparities. Case in point above: rationalizing information disparities and normalizing institutionalized unfairness.
Not saying Activision can't do whatever it wants, just saying that using Ayn Randian flavored social Darwinism to justify letting people get ripped off is not how this country reached the pinnacle of its greatness in the bad old days, when the top tax rate was 94%, people were in unions, liberals had some power, etc.
Jelson
September 19, 2010 at 2:20pm
Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone. John Maynard Keynes
Cy-Kill
September 17, 2010 at 3:26am
I think everyone would agreee with me, if I say, it's time that the idiot that is Kotick is fired!
Frencho
September 16, 2010 at 10:30pm
I really hate that assclown Bobby Kotick, Activision is the greediest game publisher ever, just boycott their games man. Activision ruined the Call of duty franchise, and in time will ruin Blizzard and Bungie. Damn bloodsuckers are only good at raping the best developpers and stealing their talents. With all the cash they rip from us we should deserve better games.
Fecal Face
September 16, 2010 at 8:31pm
GREAT! Now I get to pay for the cutscenes I've already watched!
HOORAY! I LOVE paying for content I already own!
THANK YOU ACTIVISION!
rseding91
September 16, 2010 at 8:26pm
So, they want to take all the unskipable movie parts from a game and try to sell them to people?
Sounds good to me, I never liked them anyway.
Tenhawk
September 16, 2010 at 10:08pm
Yeah, that was pretty much my though. With some rare exceptions, I don't even LIKE cutscenes.
Red Alert and RA2 had some good ones, but mostly I watch them with my mind going 'come on, come on... are we done yet??'
These guys produce bad dialog, poor effects, and crappy story telling... Basically not even up to Hollywood standards, and that's pretty sad cause a kid with a laptop can beat 80 percent of hollywood's offerings nowadays.
aviaggio
September 16, 2010 at 7:40pm
Sigh... remember the good ole days when developer/studio CEOs spent their time trying to make the best games possible instead of trying to find new ways to screw their customers out of money?
Chief_runningwater
September 16, 2010 at 11:22pm
Actually Valve and most Indie company's are still like that which is why I own almost all Valves games and a bunch of indie games!
SlyfinX
September 17, 2010 at 5:58am
I've been playing PC games since its infancy and it's sad that can I see the end of my gaming in the near future.
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