EA calling out Activision

[Isphera]

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...VG-General-RSS

You might have seen me post it in the shoutbox, but I thought I'd get a thread started to see what you think.

Basically, EA CEO John Riccitiello said he wanted CoD to "rot from the core" and questioning the validity of CoD Elite. Activision's Eric Hirshberg responded saying that the slag match needed to stop for "the good of the industry". This was followed up by the statement at the top from EA's communications guy Jeff Brown saying "CoD would die out in three years", similar to how Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero died out, as well as Battlefield taking over.

My thoughts? I think EA have a point. CoD is going for the 'mass market, DLC cash cow' model that GH did, and they milked it dry rather than long term stability similar to Rock Band (reasonable DLC prices coming out regularly w/ new games only when there's new mechanics such as the keyboard). That's not to say CoD will die out, because FPS's will always have a mass appeal, but the way they are being developed is becoming less novel and pushing out the same sort of stuff again and again, with games like BF3 pushing the envelope. This is Activision's weakness - they have gone for a very coperate model, which is great in the short term, but long term profits will suffer if their succesful IP's fail and the ones they develop are not as profitable.

As for the war of words is quite a good thing actually, esp. from EA's point of view, as it gets some publicity going for the upcoming release clash, and does raise some points that people have critised Activision for in the past, and it's interesting to watch them take the 'high ground', so to speak.

Admittedly, not my most coherrant post, but I rushed it through - sue me.

[Vicious Horizon]

I think EA are being extremely immature in this matter, actually, to play devil's advocate, Activision have done well for themselves, and well for the gaming industry in general, how many McKenzie kids are now buying games because CoD was a good gateway into gaming for them?

Quite a lot, I think.
EA are just trying to look 'cool' by bashing another publisher's IP, and personally I think it's not very fair.

[Isphera]

McKenzie kids?

[Vicious Horizon]

McKenzie kids?

Uh, what I meant by that was people who didn't play games before it was cool to play CoD, basically.

[Calneon]

Activision have no morality at all. I'm not just talking about CoD. They recently promised that From Dust would not have their draconian 'always online' DRM, yet, when it was released, it had it (making lots of people try to return the game, which is very hard). They constantly delay the PC version of games, for no apparent reason, and when they are released, they are usually awful console ports and have shitty DRM.

Soon, the idiots who still buy CoD games will come to realize that they are just buying the same game over and over for £40 a year and the series will go the way of Guitar Hero and Tony Hawks.

how many McKenzie kids are now buying games because CoD was a good gateway into gaming for them?

Vicious, I don't understand your point here. Are you trying to say we WANT these people to start playing games?