Infinity Ward: All This Bobby Kotick Hate Is Ill-Founded

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick hasn't exactly endeared himself to gamers this past year, especially after scoffing at complaints that the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Prestige Edition was too expensive (it holds a $150 price tag).

And while he essentially had every right to scoff as you'll be hard pressed to find a GameStop that hasn't already sold out of their allocated Prestige Edition stock via pre-order, Kotick has continued to ruffle feathers. Most simply believe he's all about the money and couldn't possibly care less about those who are buying his products. However, according to a recent Gamasutra interview , Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward says we're all off base. IW lead animator Joel Emslie quite simply said that Kotick is "a great guy" and that he was never pushy or oppressive when it came to the team hitting deadlines. That's obviously not the point of the interview; Emslie talks about graphical engineering, photorealism, and differences between the original and sequel. Perhaps it's ridiculous to only focus on the very last line of the interview, but hey, it's the first time we've ever seen anyone give Kotick any sort of compliment, and maybe it's something gamers needed to hear. After all, we have to assume the guys at Infinity Ward know Kotick a bit better than we do…

It's just that, every time Kotick says something to the press, he seems to make some sort of statement that really gets on everyone's nerves. Maybe if he just stopped putting his foot in his mouth, his approval rating would be higher.