This week sees the release of three new Call of Duty games across multiple platforms from Activision. This Wednesday is also Veterans Day here in America. To honor both occasions, Activision will be donating $1 million to create a non-profit organization that will assist soldiers with finding jobs and re-integration back into civilian life. The organization will be named Call of Duty Endowment (CODE) and a long list of retired veterans will be heading up the group.
Bobby Kotick talked about the new organization and was quoted by the Washington Post saying "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?"
It's really great to see Activision giving back like this. It goes without saying that it can be a real b*tch coming back to normal life from duty and it doesn't help that the economy is in bad shape either.
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Contest:
5:00 AM on 11.10.2009
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military if when they leave the military they can't integrate back into the free
market they're supposed to be protecting?"
Weren't these wars about exporting freedom and democracy? I'm confused.
Also, I wouldn't spend a penny for these people; support someone who doesn't kill for a living. Yes, I like COD games, but that's all the war I (and the world) really need.
Today we have the least amount of warfare in all of human existance BECAUSE we have fought in all these wars. Look back into our history and you will see that these men and women deserve higher accommodations for protecting what they believe in. Us. From your statement, it leads me to believe that you would never fit into their shoes.
Point is, if we never supported these people that "kill for a living", there's a chance that you wouldn't have an opinion. Because you wouldn't exist.
Also, I can finally say, "Good job Activision"
It's better than no money however. So..... yeah. Thanks activision.
It's nice to see Activision is donating to charity. Doesn't help the fact that they hate video games.
Drop-in-the-ocean.
But if anyone deserves Evil Activision's evil rape dollars, it's Vets.
i hate Activision for hiking the price, but i hate them more for making me buy it.
Damn.
However, it's nice to hear some honesty for once about what 90% of the wars of the past 50 years have been about: protecting the so-called 'free market'. *laugh/barf*
@Anastu: The first thing is possible, the second is way more complex than that but certainly not false. Happy now? Sorry for not being patriotic in these times of (permanent) emergency. I'm not even American, anyway.
This is classic evil corporation. I bet they contemplated giving all vets a free copy of MW2, but decided this would be cheaper (& hey, no point glorifying war to those who already were conned into it). Any move that benefits soldiers gets a blind thumbs up from the masses, activision knows this & spends not even 1% of their advertising budget to secure even more copies of War Simulator 6 in the homes of every potential soldier & their brothers.
It would not shock me to learn that Activision's parent company create the very arms & tanks etc to fight said wars. We are living in truly despicable times.
But in saying that, its not enough. Should be at least 5 mil.
ZING!
Okay, that tears it. This is a good cause to donate to, but I used to work for Activision. I saw people treated like shit, especially QA Testers, who were laid off by this company. They couldn't find jobs anywhere else. And their choice was sometimes to join the military services. So maybe some of this $1 million dollars will go to them. And that is sizable money. On the other hand, how much did it cost for that same company to make Call of Duty Hummers to give out as prizes? Or to organize media events with celebrities and DJs? This is a company that wants your money, first and foremost, so they can do humanitarian efforts... but if its going to be on this scale, and, for god's sake, called the Call of Duty Endowment (aka: have the TITLE OF THE FRANCHISE IN THE CHARITY), then that, like almost all actions they've taken in recent memory, reeks of hypocrisy. It will draw attention to the charity, but also the charity will draw attention to the game, at least that is what I see when I put 2 and 2 together. That is why I sold my old CoD games yesterday, and Activision games, and am donating all of that money to this charity. Goodbye Activision, enjoy your money and success, but don't try to put a gloss on your already inhumane actions.
this is madness!!!
Yes, and I bet the Rothschilds secretly own Activision, and Bobby Kotick was in Skull and Bones, too. Can we remove the tinfoil hats now?
A million dollars may not seem like much money when compared with what Activision will be making off of Modern Warfare 2, but it isn't the amount of money being spent that is the noble gesture here: its the service potentially being provided to returning veterans. If that service finds one vet a job, then it has fulfilled its obligation to returning soldiers.
Do you know why?
Because Activision has no obligation to soldiers; none whatsoever.
This service is not something that they had to create; Activision is not the government. But, if this service finds one veteran a job when he comes back, if it changes one of their lives for the better, then, yes, it was worth it. They could have spent a million dollars on goddamned fireworks to promote this game if they had wanted, but I think that helping veterans find jobs as well as a place in society, using any amount of money (although one million dollars is, again, a significant amount), is a great thing, and Activision should be commended for it.
Also, that's probably the first thing Kotick has said that I can agree with.
@Dr Terror:
I'm pretty sure real soldiers don't regenerate health. I'm also pretty sure soldiers don't use guns shaped even remotely like controllers. "War simulator" is not even close to accurate.
@xenon:
Wow. Just wow. That's one of the most offensive things I've ever heard.
Bottom line is: GO FUCK YOURSELF
Fucky you You deserve to be in your country. Fkn donut
Well, thanks for proving that you're a moronic truther. Don't drop your tinfoil hat on the way out.
So what if it's "only" $1m? It's $1m more than nothing.
So what if Kotick treated his staff badly but wants to help veterans? Veterans went through a little more trauma than QA Testers!