Ben-DutkaBobby, Bobby, Bobby. Oh, what have you gone and said now ?
We all know that the digital age presents problems for publishers and retailers in the video game industry, and Activision head honcho Bobby Kotick says Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo will "struggle" to find a solution in an online-dominated future. But hey, Kotick and Co. already have it figured out. At this point, the CEO says his company isn't even competing with "console dependent companies" due to its own "online dominance." In fact, Kotick says their closest competitor is actually Facebook. Here's what he had to say at the recent America Merrill Lynch Media, Communication and Entertainment conference:
"Our competitor online [is] Facebook in some respects. Even though they don't create content, they provide it. There are a lot of new social gaming companies that are emerging and take mindshare – not from our consumer, [because they're] a different demographic. But there's the potential that some of the social games will start appealing to our consumers so we're making a lot of investments in that area.
"But the traditional companies – the Electronic Arts, or Sony or Microsoft or Nintendo or Disney – that make console-based video games, are going to really struggle [in future] to figure out how to get into these online business we're in today."
Kotick added that the merger with Blizzard really helped because there was "so much built-up expertise at Blizzard," and they're now applying that expertise to huge franchises like Call of Duty , Tony Hawk , and Guitar Hero . In the end, he says this puts Activision "in a much better position than many of the very console-dependent companies we used to compete against." So now that Activision has swatted one big threat, what's next for the company?
Why, not merely the "biggest interactive entertainment company" but instead, the "biggest entertainment company." Well, of course.