Tue, Sep 01, 2009 | 09:51 BST
Acti’s Kotick – Near-future growth is a “concern”
Herr Bobster Kotick, Activision Blizzard Übermensch, has admitted that tough times lie ahead for the games trade, and that growth “over the next couple of years” will be a problem thanks to high barriers to entry.
“It’s not a trivial investment for people,” Kotick told Barrons, talking of the cost of buying a games console.
“Part of my concern over the next couple of years is when you look at an economy that’s not growing and you look at all the economic challenges we face, not just for videogames but for all businesses.”
Sony and Microsoft have now lowered the price of PS3 the 360 Elite to $299. Clearly it’s not enough for gaming’s biggest big man.
Hit the link. Interesting stuff.
12 
Posted in: Activision Blizzard, Trade
Tags: Bobby Kotick, growth
12 comments
#1
ww3pl
01/09/09, 9:45 am
He looks like a freakin’ devil.
Greedy one. There’s a typo btw – Actvision
Anyway. Here in Poland we have terrible prices on consoles (PS3 FAT costs like freakin’ ~ $400, nobody knows WHY), and still, the ammount of gamers on PS3 is growing quite fast.
I’m sure that $299 is a great price for anybody, who’d like to enter the gaming area.
#2
Gekidami
01/09/09, 9:50 am
I dont think Activision Blizzard will ever know tought times, the man maybe a douche but the company has the rights to some of the best selling games out there.
#3
Patrick Garratt
01/09/09, 9:55 am
Ta. Fixed it
#4
Bulk Slash
01/09/09, 10:12 am
Kotick won’t be happy until the console manufacturers give their systems away for free and he can charge people £250 for Call of Duty 7.
#5
Tonka
01/09/09, 10:29 am
LOL, he sounds like Nintendo did 5 years ago.
#6
BraveArse
01/09/09, 10:31 am
“…growth “over the next couple of years” will be a problem thanks to high barriers to entry.”
Raising the RRP of a game to nearly 50 quid must obviously be an open door to entry then.
#7
Freek
01/09/09, 11:01 am
If only we had the gaming equivalent of “The Daily Show”.
#8
blackdreamhunk
01/09/09, 1:51 pm
this where consoles are going to come crashing down.
high production costs and cost of games.
#9
freedoms_stain
01/09/09, 2:55 pm
Sounds like a man who’ll be pushing cloud gaming once it’s feasible.
#10
blackdreamhunk
01/09/09, 3:06 pm
big companies will push for cloud gaming because they want control over mass market. There would be less pircay too if everything goes to cloud, maybe even no pircay at all. I kind of like cloud gaming because it would using really cutting edge super computers to makes games. That is like a real hardcore pc gamers dream.
#11
freedoms_stain
01/09/09, 3:15 pm
Why do you spell piracy ‘pircay’? I figure there has to be a reason other than typing error because you seem to do it every freakin time.
#12
blackdreamhunk
01/09/09, 3:56 pm
sorry I will enprove, maybe because i don’t notice and never use spell check sometimes never double check.
it’s the internet why do I need too