Schafer vs. Kotick: The Punches Continue To Fly

It's turning out to be one of the more entertaining feuds of the generation. If you haven't been following along, let's get you caught up.

Back in July, Double Fine boss and game creation guru Tim Schafer called Activision CEO Bobby Kotick "a total prick" in a Eurogamer interview this past summer. This came after Schafer needed to find a new publisher in EA after Activision opted not to produce Double Fine's latest, and then Kotick and Co. tried to stop EA from releasing it due to a rights argument. If you need a refresher, here's Schafer's exact quote:

"His [Kotick's] obligation is to his shareholders. Well, he doesn't have to be as much of a dick about it, does he? I think there is a way he can do it without being a total prick. It seems like it would be possible. It's not something he's interested in."

Now, Kotick has fired back in a new Edge interview :

"The guy comes out and says I'm a prick. I've never met him in my life – I've never had anything to do with him. I never had any involvement in the Vivendi project that they were doing, Brütal Legend, other than I was in one meeting where the guys looked at it and said, 'He's late, he's missed every milestone, he's overspent the budget and it doesn't seem like a good game. We're going to cancel it.'

And do you know what? That seemed like a sensible thing to do. And it turns out, he was late, he missed every milestone, the game was not a particularly good game…"

Then Kotick addressed what he had said about game making, and how he would "take all the fun out of video game development." He insists it was just a joke, and that if there's a small minority out there who actually believes he meant it, he can't combat that. As for not being a gamer and not caring about video games in general, Kotick said:

"This is my dream job. I've been playing games since I was 18 years old. I could have bought any company, but I bought a bankrupt game company, and I've been doing it for 21 years. This idea that I'm not passionate about videogames is ludicrous. But you say something and it gets taken out of context."

Tim? You're up. Stick 'n move.