Bobby Kotick is one of the most controversial names in the gaming world right now. Activision continued to work even in the shadow of allegations of discrimination and harassment that rocked Blizzard, and despite taking a stand against him, he did not break his stack. Now, with Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, he will be able to quietly step down in the future and pocket hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation.
Kotick came up again after the acquisition, saying he hoped Microsoft would revive Guitar Hero and Skylanders.
Activision doesn’t have the resources to devote to a separate production team, but Microsoft can do that, Kotick said, adding that Microsoft can also turn the Candy Crush series into a multiplayer experience with social integration tools.
“I wanted to make a new Guitar Hero, but I didn’t want to add a team to the production and supply chain. Anyway, the chip shortage problem was bad. We didn’t have the ability to do that. I have a great idea of what the new Guitar Hero might be like, but I realized we don’t have the resources to make it happen.
So is Skylanders. One of the biggest disappointments of my career is that others have gone into this genre and made terrible alternatives. They squandered all those terrible alternatives on the market and destroyed a promising market. If you look at Skylanders, with its hardware, production and supply chain, it’s something we can’t do, but Microsoft can do.”
The Guitar Hero series sold over 25 million times in total, and even Guitar Hero III is the first game to exceed $1 billion. Skylanders similarly sold more than 300 million toys, generating more than $3 billion in revenue.
