Despite all the legal wrangling and public airing of dirty laundry, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick still wants Jason West and Vince Zampella to know that he loves them. The former Infinity Ward bosses were fired under a bitter cloud and have been engaged in a high profile slapfight with Activision ever since, but Kotick has attempted to demonstrate that there’s a heart under all the decayed and brittle anti-flesh.
“Since we terminated the two executives at Infinity Ward, approximately 35 others have resigned and it is likely that few more people will leave as well,” stated Kotick during a financial call. “Many of these people have been recruited by other studios because of how talented they are. We are obviously disappointed about this, and we wish we could have convinced some of these incredibly talented people to stay.
“We felt we had no choice but to terminate the two Infinity Ward executives. We did this to protect the company’s assets and the interest of our shareholders. I currently consider the two of them friends and their conduct was a compromise of our friendship, which is equally disappointing. Once we began to understand what had occurred, there was no grey area. There was nothing that would have allowed us to retain their services, as talented as they might have been.”
Once again, it is maintained that Activision has been the victim in all this. However, the publisher’s recent grandstanding, not to mention its history of being a huge dick to everybody, has failed to endear itself in public eyes. Even if Zampella and West are the true villains of the piece, it’ll be hard for anybody to sympathize with a company that has so often demonstrated its willingness to screw its customers without mercy.
Activision Blizzard Q1 2010 Earnings Call Transcript [Seeking Alpha]
