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Bobby Kotick wants more cash out of Microsoft 
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Legend

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Activision boss Bobby Kotick is keen on grabbing more cash from Microsoft's Xbox Live Gold subscription revenues - because he claims Call Of Duty is a major reason people sign up to the service.

According to Kotick, Activision enjoys but a "very modest amount of [Microsoft's] subscription fees" but wants more - which he pledges would go to "directly benefiting the Call of Duty players".

According to Activision estimates, Call of Duty games account for around half of the globe's total Xbox Live traffic.

"What we'd like to ideally see is that the investment in the subscription fees going towards the provision of a higher level of customer service [...] to see some portion of the subscription fees go towards game enhancement," he told Joystiq.

When asked directly if an Activision-run subscription service for Call Of Duty may be in the offing, Kotiq was less candid.

"We have an obligation to provide a return for our shareholders," he said, in what Joystiq describes as 'playing the dependable role of businessman'.

"At the same time, I think we've probably done more to try and create innovative ways for people to pay for their games."

Activision will struggle to put in place such a subscription service on Xbox Live, which has been described as a "walled garden" by many industry execs, due to its 'closed' nature to third-party revenue generation.

What's clear, though is that Activision feels it should be earning more from the popularity of CoD Online.

In September, the firm's COO Thomas Tippl stated that some kind of premium online CoD service was "in the pipeline", whilst Kotick himself has admitted that he'd implement a subscription service "tomorrow" if he could.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/ar ... ?id=275447

Keep taking them, Bobby! :lol:

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Sun Nov 14, 2010 2:36 pm
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Legend
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I would imagine that an online service like Xbox live was made up of a sum of its parts. Many people will sign up for the free content and demos. The presence of COD might make no difference for the majority. So in which case they might not be worthy of any increase in a share of revenues.

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Sun Nov 14, 2010 5:48 pm
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I haven't seen my friends in so long
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I joined XBL long before COD:MW/WaW/MW2/BLOPS and continue to subscribe even though I dont currently own any COD games. I dont disagree that there are some who play COD almost exclusively but by god that man gets on my nerves.

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Mon Nov 15, 2010 12:57 pm
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Doesn't have much of a life
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I hardly think a 5 hour long game once a year is a major reason people subscribe to XBox live. Remind me to avoid anything with Activision on the box...

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Mon Nov 15, 2010 2:09 pm
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Legend

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Kotick criticises EA's Project $10

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Bobby Kotick has never really been considered a gamer's best friend. But one of the world's most powerful men has actually come out with words that might make some warm to him, criticising EA's pre-owned pounding Project $10:

"We can do some of these things that EA and others have done, but we actually don't think its in the best interest of the gamer, and so we've chosen not to," he told Joystiq.

"We're not doing anything to suppress used games today.

"What we've tried to do is to really support our audiences and, you know, when you talk to players, they like the idea of having a currency.

"They like the idea of being able to take a game they no longer want to play and use it to get a credit to buy new games."


Words every gamer can relate to from Kotick there in something of a shocker.

The Activision man did point out, however, that retailers were making a profit on games that publishers and developers weren't getting a cut of.

The solution? You already know what the Kotick method is:

"The best way to keep people engaged in your game experience is keep giving them more great content.

"As business models evolve, as the way you distribute content evolves, as the ability to do things online changes in terms of pricing or trial or sample," he said.

"I think we've definitely always been out in front of the rest of our competitors. But I think you always need to be sensitive to that relationship and not crossing the line to a place where the customer feels like they have been taken advantage of."

So what do we say people? Maybe Mr. Kotick ain't so bad afterall?

He does seem to make it hard for himself though. In September Kotick said that ex-Infinity Ward heads West and Zampella might never be successful again. Ouch.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/ar ... ?id=275667

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Mon Nov 15, 2010 3:25 pm
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The industry is too fixated on the pre owned market. They need to accept it as fact. Make good games and the public will buy them.

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Mon Nov 15, 2010 5:00 pm
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Amnesia10 wrote:
The industry is too fixated on the pre owned market. They need to accept it as fact. Make good games and the public will buy them.


Pre-owned is the gaming industry's piracy - a smokescreen to hide greed, ego and business model incompetence.

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Mon Nov 15, 2010 5:09 pm
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pcernie wrote:
Pre-owned is the gaming industry's piracy - a smokescreen to hide greed, ego and business model incompetence.

Totally agree. I buy pre owned rather than wait for them to reduce the game to a sensible level. I also do not resell them so effectively take them out of the chain. My money helps others buy more games.

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Mon Nov 15, 2010 5:26 pm
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