Ben-DutkaYou gotta love irony. Minutes after hearing that Infinity Ward has nothing bad to say about Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, we learn the publisher in question is being all generous.
As reported by The Washington Post , Activision plans to lift the lid on a non-profit organization tomorrow – the official launch day of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – that will "help soldiers transition to civilian careers." This endeavor, which will require $1 million of Activision's cash, will be dubbed "CODE" ("Call of Duty Endowment") and the advisory council members include a number of military veterans; Kotick clearly believes that some worldly good should come out of the game's guaranteed immense success. As he told the Post:
"The joblessness rate that [veterans] should have should be far less than the national average, not more. How do you expect people to actually join the military if when they leave the military they can't integrate back into the free market they're supposed to be protecting?"
The percentage of unemployed veterans is indeed too high; 18% of those who left the military in the past three years were unemployed according to a 2008 Department of Veterans Affairs employment survey. We're not entirely sure how they plan to combat this problem but at the very least, it's not a bad idea and charity is something that other big publishers may wish to consider. Heck, they're makin' a ton of cash; how's about tossing a bit of it around for the benefit of others?
Related Game(s): Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
That's a nice gesture… hopefully they can find a way to make this work
Now now, I still hate Bobby Kotick that's for sure but this is a kind deed no matter how you look at it.
A nice gesture, but it's playing politics and I hate it when people do that.
No kidding. BK and Activision have made multi-millions by portraying soldiers and their duties. Now he's throwing them a nickle. What a sweetheart.
C'mon guys at least they're doing SOMETHING. Thats more good than what real politics have done lately…go stimulus package (sarcasm).
@Hezz
My wife is in the Army and her cousin's husband is in the Marines (and lives here in HI) and almost everyone plays COD in the military here. Movies have 'exploited' the military far longer if that is your view.
Thank you Wage
I think its great that they are helping Vets out. I don't care if its less than 1% of how much money this game is going to make. At least it's SOMETHING! Which is alot more than the rest of these multi-million dollar businesses are doing.
This pisses me off as a Veteran. Here's really the problem, 1 million dollars to vets, Activision is attempting to appeal to the kind heartedness and respect that people have towards Veterans.
It leads towards statements such as this
"C'mon guys at least they're doing SOMETHING."
Oh really, how much is it going to do? Is it really going to help a lot of people, or is it a political action so that people can say "well they're TRYING to do something".
No, they are not doing anything, accept attempting to enhance their PR. Screw you Activision for using my civial service as your PR agenda.
O.k it seems activision is trying to 180 just hours before the launch, some sort of damage control maybe. How ever they couldn't have chosen a better way to do it I, had/have family in the military.
Talk about politics…. Hmmmmm….
slight hunch this is to combat controversy, and possibly boost sales. Its not often, especially a company like Activision, do something good without any gain, commercialism isn't like that.
not saying what they're doing is a bad thing, it is a very very good thing, but i just doubt this is without any gain for themselves somehow.
Congratulations, you just pass Political Science 101, you expressed exactly what politics is all about.
It isn't altruism if it makes you feel good.
As good and welcome as this gesture is, I still call it out for what it actually is, a marketing and PR stunt.
i agree or they wouldnt have waited til the last day before the game comes out to announce this
@ frylock
I bet Veteran's/Remembrance Day played some part in the timing (not to mention the release date).
1 million dollars is less than 0.1% of their expected revenue from the game. Sounds like a relatively cheap marketing stunt to me. At least the money's going for something useful and not to Madison Avenue.
Last edited by Fane1024 on 11/9/2009 7:38:01 PM
No good deed should go unnoticed but it seems with Activision, whether a publicity/PR stunt or not, you're damn if you do and you're damned if you don't! I think as long as some good is coming out of what they're doing, and noone's forcing them to hand over any money at all, then look on it as a good deed and not tarnish it with the other crap we've (as consumers) have to put up with.
I guess those that disagree with the idea would rather Activision pocket 1mil and have no foundation at all. Its not like it would have really marketed the game any further. EVERYONE that owns a next gen system know about the game. I guess your right, "damed if you do…"
How many of US can pitch in that 'miniscule' 1mil to match?
Last edited by Wage SLAVES on 11/9/2009 8:13:01 PM
well, with all the money there (undeservedly) making from us, they might as well put it to good use.
Heck, they're makin' a ton of cash; how's about tossing a bit of it around for the benefit of others?
well, my house could use a new roof, eh?
lol in all seriousness, i think it'sa really good thing, however, if you put into perspective how much the first modern warfare made alone, then add the potential profit from the 2nd one, 1 million dollars is pretty small in comparison…
there's the ability to help, and then theres the will to help… if they wanted to do the latter, then they prolly woulda dished out more coin, cuz god knows they have it…
Not only is it small, i doubt it's enough to get 50 soldiers back on their feet where thousands are suffering in the job market.
This is just to sell more copies of MW2. They are milking this game to its best extent.
This guy is a transparent jackass. The $$ donation is nice, but the announcement would have carried more cred if anybody else at Activision had made it.
This is a political rescue package, that will benefit Activision more than the war vets.
Although, I guess $1 million is better than no million. In which case keep spewing the drivel Kotick. See if we can bump that up to $10 mil.
Leave it to Kotick to worry more about numbers and money than health care for the wounded veterans or a roof for the homeless vets. This is just damage control for the backlash against the game. The money will wind up somewhere stupid and Kotick will get a tax break.
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 11/9/2009 4:38:12 PM
Hmmm gooood.
As long as they don't force people to PLAY in 'Veteran'…
Dayyym. I must say I am good at this funny joke stuff.
I agree with frostface. Even if this does have something to do with the sales and veteran's day, at least this is a nice gesture. Most people probably see this as a nice gesture from the devil because of the "perks" involved through the charity offering(publicity, etc.). Although I agree, I still think generosity should be rewarded positively.
I honestly can't believe some of the posts here. I don't care if this is a PR stunt, or politics, or whatever. THIS IS A GOOD CAUSE!
And I'm sorry, but if ONE of you can create a foundation to help ANYONE that is greater than ONE MILLION DOLLARS – then, and only then can you say that this is a cheap amount of money.
I don't hear anyone complaining about the fact that NO OTHER company/game has created a non-profit foundation for anything else, but the second Activision creates one for jobless Vets you all cry foul!
No one is getting mad at the fact that Naughty Dog and Uncharted 2 didn't create a foundation for the Archaelogical Society of America. But when Activision gives $1 Million to unemployed vets – the hell with them!!
Anyway – we should support anything that helps out the less fortunate, especially when it doesnt cost YOU a dime (except for the $59.99 you were going to spend anyway. So grow up – and have fun while it lasts, cause I am so gonna blow your azz up in MW2!!
"I don't care if this is a PR stunt, or politics, or whatever. THIS IS A GOOD CAUSE!"
You mean the cause of giving Activision good PR?
"And I'm sorry, but if ONE of you can create a foundation…"
Well I only served my country in the Army, so of course I should have no say about how companies use my civial service for their PR agenda.
ONE MILLION DOLLARS is nothing to Activision, the money they contributed wasn't even worth holding a press conference over.
Activision should just shut up and make video games.
(Far better than making threats to Sony, trying to jack up the price of games, and pulling this type of stunt that turns my civil service into their PR ploy.)
So you don't want any foundation set up for veterans? or is it just from Activision? Is the NVF the only organization that should be set up for vets?
Should we pull the plug on the robotic arm development at Vanderbilt University originally developed for vets who had lost a limb in war?? Because that must be a PR stunt by Vandy!
My question to you (since no company can help veterans without your approval) – "Well I only served my country in the Army, so of course I should have no say about how companies use my civial service for their PR agenda. – What should be done? What should multi-million dollar companies do to help the unemployment of veterans? What's your grand scheme for this situation, since obviously a million dollars from Activision is the worst thing to ever happen to veterans.
"So you don't want any foundation set up for veterans?"
That is not what I said at all, I said I take offense to transparent PR ploys involving other people's civial service.
So let's look at a million dollars for a foundation. Let's say you get a building in a major city. What's that cost? $300,000? Let's say they hire 10 employees for 1 year. What's that, another $300,000+.
That million, gets chomped away pretty quickly, Activision knows this (I'm assuming they are legit businessmen).
Rather than try and setup a new foundation, they could donate to one of the existing foundations that help vets in this manner. There are organizations already in existance helping vets that do exactly what activision's foundation does, I don't remember what they're called, but I know they're around.
"What's your grand scheme for this situation"
So that's my answer for you. It means less PR for Activision, but it'll actually do more good than trying to start a new foundation.
Kotex just bought millions & millions & millions of dollars worth of publicity with this ploy.
If they really wanted to do something, they should have done what Bridgera above suggested by donating to already existing "Veterans help & support organizations.
Or they could actually go & donate a few hours weekly/monthly of their own time to help out, and that would certainly go much, much further in helping our Veterans than any 1 million dollar publicity stunt will.