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[dwarfguy2]

i say zat ve do somezeeng about zees! get out your peetchforks, ladies and gentlemen. ve are going to murder every employ zat acteevision has!

[Muz]

It's not shady business practice. It's the exact opposite. He's being very transparent about how he appeals to the less caring gamers and how he pushes his men into hard work.

I don't hate the man. I hate the system. If you fire him, how will you know that someone else equally bad (and less transparent) won't replace him? CEOs like that have been torturing their customers and employees for years now. Just half a decade ago, there were complaints that game devs were sleeping under their desks to meet deadlines.

[dwarfguy2]

preeciselee! zat is vy ve must murder ALL of hees cronies!

[Deadmeat1471]

To be fair, He is doing is job. His job is to make money for the shareholders. He is Succeeding.

If he ups the prices of games and pumps out shitty games it is as much his fault as everyone who buys those games, which make him able to do just that.

I don't like Kotick, but if his plans work, the problem isn't Kotick.

Agreed, the problem are the idiots buying the shitty games making the devs think GEE, WE SHOULD DO THAT AGAIN!

[Zangi]

To be fair, He is doing is job. His job is to make money for the shareholders. He is Succeeding.

If he ups the prices of games and pumps out shitty games it is as much his fault as everyone who buys those games, which make him able to do just that.

I don't like Kotick, but if his plans work, the problem isn't Kotick.

Agreed, the problem are the idiots buying the shitty games making the devs think GEE, WE SHOULD DO THAT AGAIN!

The problem is, some of those games used to be good and manages to shore up enough popularity to lasso in the casual fanbois.  Effective marketing doesn't hurt.

[Virex]

Speaking of running companies into the ground, it's amazing how a lot of great companies in the industry died - Microprose, Interplay, Midway, Bullfrog, that company that made Evil Genius. Game industry has a short lifespan.

That's because making good games doesn't work. The only reason why Nintendo and Attari have outlasted Bullfrog and Westwood is because the former are prepared to make bad games at a low price and sell them high, while the later spend tons of money on making a tripple-A title that doesn't sell well enough to cover it's expenses*.


*Note that this is not exclusive to game developers. Remember the crappy overpriced watches that are made a dime a dozen in china and sold for half the price of a Rolex here? Remember the factory meat sold in most supermarkets made from chickens that have never had more then a square inch of personal space? Cut on quality, cut on production costs, exploit your work force and rip off suppliers, that's how you make a profit.

[Sir Pseudonymous]

Speaking of running companies into the ground, it's amazing how a lot of great companies in the industry died - Microprose, Interplay, Midway, Bullfrog, that company that made Evil Genius. Game industry has a short lifespan.

That's because making good games doesn't work. The only reason why Nintendo and Attari have outlasted Bullfrog and Westwood is because the former are prepared to make bad games at a low price and sell them high, while the later spend tons of money on making a tripple-A title that doesn't sell well enough to cover it's expenses*.

From what I've seen, good games do make money, and the ones that don't are usually awesome concepts, with great implementation, that run out of time and/or money and get pushed out the door in a half-assed "nowhere near ready for release" form, with crippling bugs and an overall unpolished feel.

*Note that this is not exclusive to game developers. Remember the crappy overpriced watches that are made a dime a dozen in china and sold for half the price of a Rolex here?

Never seen one, but I have seen a lot of $10-20 watches made in china, that both look and work great (my last watch being one of them, which lasted three years of wearing every day until the clasp broke and it wouldn't close anymore; kept time to within a few seconds over the span of months, too)

Remember the factory meat sold in most supermarkets made from chickens that have never had more then a square inch of personal space? Cut on quality, cut on production costs, exploit your work force and rip off suppliers, that's how you make a profit.

Chicken's chicken once it's dead and cooked. What should it matter whether it suffered in life or not? Sure as hell doesn't taste worse for it.

[JoshuaFH]

You know, the only real franchise I'm worried about is Final Fantasy. This is because it actually is starting to reach the exaggerated number of sequals you'd find in rants of old.

I mean, seriously, enough is enough.

[Huesoo]

Saying he's just doing his job is the same as the saying the German Soldiers in WW2 where just doing theirs, or following orders. Or saying a Hitman is just doing his. If you do a bad thing it doesnt matter if doing that bad thing is your job, its still a bad thing.

[dogstile]

Yeah, except his job is legal.

[Chutney]

Saying he's just doing his job is the same as the saying the German Soldiers in WW2 where just doing theirs, or following orders.

German soldier != nazi party supporter or villain. A lot of them WERE just following orders. It's the ones that went 'above and beyond' the call of duty that are sick, criminal bastards.

[Huesoo]

So where the soldiers in WW2, the CEO's of BP, loggers and other people.

Some where drafted, others had other military experience yet were no longer in duty.

[Chutney]

There IS a difference between "doing bad things because you will be hella punished if you don't", ie military service and "doing bad things because they maximize profit", you realize?
Soldiers have to follow the command structure. CEO's of BP ARE the command structure. I don't know why you bring loggers here? They are doing their job. Providing lumber for everyone else. Unless lumber is evil?

[dogstile]

Loggers? Is wood a bad thing now?

[Huesoo]

Oh wait nevermind that, I meant illegal loggers. So that one is void for the list.