In case you missed it, this month’s issue of Forbes features none other than Activision CEO Bobby Kotick on the cover. It’s a weird, weird feeling to see a guy like Kotick on the cover of such a popular mainstream business mag. On the one hand, it’s a validation of how important the industry is to the entire entertainment landscape. Especially in these times, when you see how healthy it is.
On the other hand, it’s Bobby Kotick. You’d really hope that one of this industry’s brightest stars, like a Miyamoto or Wright, would answer the call for a mainstream, upper crust book like Forbes. It’d even be great to see an up-and-coming developer like Jonathon Blow or the guys from 2D Boy. But Kotick’s the opposite of those veteran auters and bright-eyed talent.
Kotick freely admits that he doesn’t play games, and is very public about not wanting to do so. He demands annual sequels of every one of Activision’s franchises, and as the CEO of the #1 publisher right now, really doesn’t seem too interested in moving the industry forward. He’s an eye-on-the-bottom-line, coffee-is-for-closers guy in an industry that lives and dies by its creative output. And that’s why the Forbes crowd loves him.
The fact is, this big Forbes spread is written for them. Not us. And it’s only natural for it to rub a guy like me the wrong way, especially with lines like: “EA also teamed with MTV to sell Rock Band, a shameless knockoff of Guitar Hero that added drums, bass and a microphone to the world of make-believe rock stars. EA says it is returning to an “auteur model” of designing games, taking bigger chances on fewer ideas.” A shameless knockoff?! Really? So what does that make Guitar Hero World Tour? For his part, author Peter Beller came back with a semi-backpedal a week later.
Around the same time the Forbes piece hit, Ars Technica published *their* Bobby Kotick profile. A decidedly gamer-centric pub (especially copared to Forbes), even I think the their piece might’ve gone a little too far into smear territory, having never met the guy.
If nothing else, it’s really intersting to see two well-respected, well-read outlets put out such opposite profiles about the same man, when the company he oversees is top dog.
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