The Entire D6 Interview With Activision's Bobby Kotick (1 of 3)
We’re posting all the interviews from the sixth D: All Things Digital conference that took place in late May.
Unfortunately, due to issues too complicated to go into, we have to post all the D6 interviews in several 15-minute parts (I know, I know).
But–as many readers have requested–they will all be available in their entirety in this column.
Here’s an interview I did with Activision Chairman and CEO Bobby Kotick about the state of the gaming business.
The video of the interview is in three parts.
It’s a good week to focus on the gaming industry since Electronic Arts (ERTS) abandoned its hostile acquisition bid for Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) over the weekend.
EA’s effort was motivated, in part, by Activision’s recent merger with Vivendi Games, which includes Blizzard Entertainment’s “World of Warcraft,” one the most popular multi-player games.
The merger has made Activision (AVTI), with its own well-known franchises–especially the hugely popular “Guitar Hero,” which debuted version IV at D6–one of the gaming industry’s largest companies.
In this first video, Kotick talks about the merger with Vivendi–which aims to inject social gaming DNA into Activision–the popularity of Nintendo’s Wii and Microsoft’s Xbox; better graphical, storytelling and character development in games; gaming on social networks; business models in the industry; and the EA attempt to acquire Take-Two.
