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	<title>AllThingsD &#187; Blizzard Entertainment</title>
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		  <title>All Things Digital</title>
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		<title>Despite Bumpy Launch, Activision Sells 3.5 Million Copies of Diablo III in 24 Hours</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20120523/despite-bumpy-launch-activision-sells-3-5-million-copies-of-diablo-iii-in-24-hours/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20120523/despite-bumpy-launch-activision-sells-3-5-million-copies-of-diablo-iii-in-24-hours/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 23 May 2012 17:29:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tricia Duryee</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Activision]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blizzard Entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Diablo III]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hacking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mike Morhaime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PC gaming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[virtual world]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World of Warcraft]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://allthingsd.com/?p=211528</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Activision is claiming to have sold 3.5 million copies of Diablo III in its first 24 hours, setting a record for the fastest-selling PC game ever.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Despite reports of hacking and several operational issues after launch, Activision is claiming to have <a href="http://investor.activision.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=676112">sold 3.5 million copies of Diablo III</a> in the first 24 hours of sales, setting a record for the fastest-selling PC game ever.</p>
<p><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-211538" title="diablo_town-portal" src="http://allthingsd.com/files/2012/05/diablo_town-portal-380x241.jpg" alt="" width="380" height="241" />After Activision&#8217;s Blizzard studios launched the highly anticipated PC game on May 15, players had problems logging on and said their accounts were being hacked.</p>
<p>&#8220;Despite very aggressive projections, our preparations for the launch of the game did not go far enough,&#8221; the company said in an apology <a href="http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Blizzard-Apologizes-Diablo-3-Server-Problems-Delays-Real-Money-Auction-House-42607.html">issued last week</a>. Yesterday, <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/05/22/blizzard-responds-to-diablo-iii-security-issues/">the company issued another statement</a>, confirming that some accounts &#8220;may have been compromised.&#8221;</p>
<p>In addition to selling 3.5 million copies on day one, Activision said more than 1.2 million players received Diablo III as part of signing up for the World of Warcraft Annual Pass promotion. Based on that total, internal calculations and reports from distribution partners, Activision believes this makes Diablo III the biggest PC game launch in history. </p>
<p>By the end of the first week, Diablo sales reached 6.3 million. The game costs $60 for either the physical copy or the digital version.</p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-211559" title="diablo_map sanctuary" src="http://allthingsd.com/files/2012/05/diablo_map-sanctuary-380x282.jpg" alt="" width="380" height="282" />&#8220;We&#8217;re definitely thrilled that so many people around the world were excited to pick up their copy of Diablo III and jump in the moment it went live,&#8221; said Blizzard&#8217;s CEO and co-founder Mike Morhaime. &#8220;We also regret that our preparations were not enough to ensure everyone had a seamless experience when they did so. I want to reaffirm our commitment to make sure the millions of Diablo III players out there have a great experience with the game moving forward, and I also want to thank them for their ongoing support.&#8221;</p>
<p>In the game, players take on one of five heroic characters &#8212; barbarian, witch doctor, wizard, monk or demon hunter. As that character, they must save the world of Sanctuary from the forces of the Burning Hells. As they engage in the virtual world, players gain new abilities and acquire artifacts.</p>
<p>For the first time ever, those artifacts can be traded for real-world currency through an auction house.</p>
<p>During the company&#8217;s first-quarter conference call two weeks ago, it confirmed that consumer feedback from the beta test had gone well, especially when it came to the new trading method.</p>
<p>Blizzard does not intend to sell any items in the auction house, in contrast to other game models where companies profit from selling in-game virtual goods. But interestingly, Blizzard will charge players a transaction fee on sales, or roughly 15 percent on most items.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>World of Warcraft Creator Blizzard Caves on Real-Name Plan</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20100709/world-of-warcraft-creator-blizzard-caves-on-real-name-plan/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20100709/world-of-warcraft-creator-blizzard-caves-on-real-name-plan/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Jul 2010 22:23:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Nick Wingfield</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Voices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blizzard Entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[digital]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Digits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[frontpage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mike Morhaime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nick Wingfield]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wall Street Journal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World of Warcraft]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=27024</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[After feeling the wrath of World of Warcraft gamers for days, Blizzard Entertainment says it’s abandoning a plan that would have exposed the real identities of people who play its popular online games on the company’s discussion forums.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>After feeling the wrath of World of Warcraft gamers for days, Blizzard Entertainment says it’s abandoning a plan that would have exposed the real identities of people who play its popular online games on the company’s discussion forums.</p>
<p>In a post on those same discussion forums Friday, Blizzard CEO and co-founder Mike Morhaime said the company has “been constantly monitoring the feedback you’ve given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums.”</p>
<p>“As a result of those discussions, we’ve decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums,” Morhaime wrote.</p>
<p><a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/07/09/blizzard-caves-on-real-name-plan/?mod=rss_WSJBlog&#038;mod=">Read the rest of this post on the original site</a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Real Names Rile Online Warlocks and Wizards</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20100708/real-names-rile-online-warlocks-and-wizards/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20100708/real-names-rile-online-warlocks-and-wizards/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 08 Jul 2010 07:00:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Nick Wingfield</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Voices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blizzard Entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[digital]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Digits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[frontpage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nick Wingfield]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Starcraft II]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wall Street Journal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World of Warcraft]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=26967</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Players of online fantasy games like World of Warcraft love to anonymously inhabit shamans, mages and other characters. But they’d rather not reveal their real identities, as evidenced by an uproar this week over a plan by Blizzard Entertainment, the creator of World of Warcraft.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Players of online fantasy games like World of Warcraft love to anonymously inhabit shamans, mages and other characters. But they’d rather not reveal their real identities, as evidenced by an uproar this week over a plan by Blizzard Entertainment, the creator of World of Warcraft.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, Blizzard announced that it will begin forcing participants in its game discussion forums–where players go to gab about World of Warcraft and other games–to post comments using their real first and last names. The change will go into effect mid-July on forums for Starcraft II, an upcoming online game, and follow after that for World of Warcraft discussion forums.</p>
<p><a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/07/07/real-names-rile-online-warlocks-and-wizards/?mod=rss_WSJBlog&#038;mod=">Read the rest of this post on the original site</a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Booyah CEO Keith Lee Talks About Social Gaming, Moolah and More (With Accel&#039;s Jim Breyer as Sidekick)!</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20100526/booyah-ceo-keith-lee-talks-about-social-gaming-moolah-and-more-with-accels-jim-breyer-as-sidekick/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20100526/booyah-ceo-keith-lee-talks-about-social-gaming-moolah-and-more-with-accels-jim-breyer-as-sidekick/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 May 2010 12:15:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kara Swisher</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mobile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Accel Partners]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Activision Blizzard]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apple]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blizzard Entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BoomTown]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Booyah]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[California]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[check in]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DAG Ventures]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[digital]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Discovery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[financial]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Foursquare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[funding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gaming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gowalla]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HQ]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iFund]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[innovation]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[interview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jim Breyer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kara Swisher]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Keith lee]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Klein Perkins Caufield @ Byers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[location]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MyTown]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palo Alto]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[San Francisco]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Silicon Valley]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Smallbiz Feature]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[virtual good]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=28843</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Earlier this week, BoomTown motored on down to the HQ of Booyah in downtown Palo Alto, Calif., for a chat with its CEO and co-founder, Keith Lee.

Also there: Jim Breyer, the Accel Partners moneybags who recently joined the board of the mobile social gaming start-up, forking over $20 million in new funding for the privilege.

Here's the BoomTown interview about this fast-growing--it's a lot bigger than Foursquare--start-up.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2010/05/lee-275x154.jpg" alt="" title="lee" width="275" height="154" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-28847" /></p>
<p>Earlier this week, BoomTown motored on down to the HQ of Booyah in downtown Palo Alto, Calif., for a chat with its CEO and co-founder, Keith Lee.</p>
<p>Also there: Jim Breyer, the Accel Partners moneybags who recently joined the board of the mobile social gaming start-up, <a href="http://kara.allthingsd.com/20100517/booyah-moolah-social-gaming-company-behind-mytown-gets-20-million-in-funding">forking over $20 million in new funding</a> for the privilege.</p>
<p>Best known for its MyTown iPhone app, now with upward of two million users, Booyah is made up of a team of gaming industry veterans, especially from Blizzard Entertainment, which is now part of Activision Blizzard (ATVI).</p>
<p>Started in 2008, the company had previously raised $9 million in venture funding, mostly from the Kleiner Perkins Caufield &#038; Byers $100 million iFund, as well as from DAG Ventures.</p>
<p><img src="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2010/05/booyah.png" alt="" title="booyah" width="250" height="62" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-28849" /></p>
<p>MyTown, which is about to come out with a new version, is one of the most popular and innovative location-based social games on Apple (AAPL) mobile devices.</p>
<p>That compares with other social check-in services, such as Foursquare (just over one million users) and Gowalla (250,000).</p>
<p>MyTown is slightly different from these services, though, focusing on gaming in its check-ins and virtual goods versus emphasis on a discovery element.</p>
<p>Lee and Breyer talk about all this and more in the video of my interview, which includes a short tour of Booyah&#8217;s Silicon Valley HQ (it is soon moving to San Francisco):</p>
<p><div class="video-wsj"><object width="640" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><param name="flashvars" value="videoGUID=56A039FB-0974-46AA-ABB4-CD7241643765&playerid=4001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://m.wsj.net/video-players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/"name="microflashPlayer"></param><embed src="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoGUID={56A039FB-0974-46AA-ABB4-CD7241643765}&playerid=4001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://m.wsj.net/video-players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/" name="microflashPlayer" width="640" height="360" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed><br />[ See post to watch video ]</div></object></p>
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		<title>The Entire D6 Interview With Activision&#039;s Bobby Kotick (3 of 3)</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20080917/the-entire-d6-interview-with-activisions-bobby-kotick-3-of-3/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20080917/the-entire-d6-interview-with-activisions-bobby-kotick-3-of-3/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:36:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kara Swisher</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[D6]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[American Idol]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blizzard Entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bobby Kotick]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BoomTown]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conference]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[D: All Things Digital]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[digital]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Electronic Arts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gaming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guitar Hero]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[interview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kara Swisher]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Paula Abdul]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[skateboarding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Take-Two Interactive]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tony Hawk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vivendi Games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World of Warcraft]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=3868</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We're posting all the interviews from the sixth D: All Things Digital conference that took place in late May.

Here's an interview I did with Activision Chairman and CEO Bobby Kotick about the state of the gaming business.

It's a good week to focus on the gaming industry since Electronic Arts abandoned its hostile acquisition bid for Take-Two Interactive over the weekend.

The move was--in part--in answer to Activision's recent merger with Vivendi Games, which includes Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft, one the most popular multi-player games. This has made Activision one of the gaming industry's largest companies, due to some of its well-known franchises, especially its hugely popular Guitar Hero, which debuted version IV at D6.

In this third video, Kotick publicly demos "Guitar Hero IV" for the first time, with the help of special guest stars Paula Abdul of "American Idol" and skateboarding star Tony Hawk.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>We&#8217;re posting all the interviews from the sixth <a href="http://d6.allthingsd.com"><strong>D: All Things Digital</strong></a> conference that took place in late May.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, due to issues too complicated to go into, we have to post all the <strong>D6</strong> interviews in several 15-minute parts (I know, I know).</p>
<p>But&#8211;as many readers have requested&#8211;they will all be available in their entirety in this column.</em></p>
<p><a href="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/09/303035978_nvenv-s.jpg"><img src="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/09/303035978_nvenv-s-300x199.jpg" alt="" title="303035978_nvenv-s" width="250" height="150" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-3869" /></a></p>
<p>Here&#8217;s an interview I did with <a href="http://d6.allthingsd.com/20080528/kotick/">Activision Chairman and CEO Bobby Kotick</a> about the state of the gaming business.</p>
<p>The video of the interview is in three parts.</p>
<p>It&#8217;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.</p>
<p>EA&#8217;s effort was motivated, in part, by Activision&#8217;s recent merger with Vivendi Games, which includes Blizzard Entertainment&#8217;s &#8220;World of Warcraft,&#8221; one the most popular multi-player games.</p>
<p>The merger has made Activision (ATVI), with its own well-known franchises&#8211;especially the hugely popular &#8220;Guitar Hero,&#8221; which debuted version IV at <strong>D6</strong>&#8211;one of the gaming industry&#8217;s largest companies.</p>
<p>In this third video, Kotick publicly demos &#8220;Guitar Hero IV&#8221; for the first time, with the help of special guest stars Paula Abdul of &#8220;American Idol&#8221; and skateboarding star Tony Hawk.</p>
<p><div class="video-wsj"><embed src="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoGUID={1789009352}&playerid=4001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://m.wsj.net/video-players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/" name="microflashPlayer" width="320" height="240" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed><br />[ See post to watch video ]</div></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>The Entire D6 Interview With Activision&#039;s Bobby Kotick (2 of 3)</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20080916/the-entire-d6-interview-with-activisions-bobby-kotick-2-of-3/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20080916/the-entire-d6-interview-with-activisions-bobby-kotick-2-of-3/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Sep 2008 07:01:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kara Swisher</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[D6]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[D: All Things Digital]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Grand Theft Auto]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=3848</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We're posting all the interviews from the sixth D: All Things Digital conference that took place in late May.

Here's an interview I did with Activision Chairman and CEO Bobby Kotick about the state of the gaming business.

It's a good week to focus on the gaming industry since Electronic Arts abandoned its hostile acquisition bid for Take-Two Interactive over the weekend.

The move was--in part--in answer to Activision's recent merger with Vivendi Games, which includes Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft, one the most popular multi-player games. This has made Activision one of the gaming industry's largest companies, due to some of its well-known franchises, especially its hugely popular Guitar Hero, which debuted version IV at D6.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>We&#8217;re posting all the interviews from the sixth <a href="http://d6.allthingsd.com"><strong>D: All Things Digital</strong></a> conference that took place in late May.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, due to issues too complicated to go into, we have to post all the <strong>D6</strong> interviews in several 15-minute parts (I know, I know).</p>
<p>But&#8211;as many readers have requested&#8211;they will all be available in their entirety in this column.</em></p>
<p><a href="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/09/303035993_cypm2-s-0.jpg"><img src="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/09/303035993_cypm2-s-0-300x199.jpg" alt="" title="303035993_cypm2-s-0" width="250" height="150" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-3850" /></a></p>
<p>Here&#8217;s an interview I did with <a href="http://d6.allthingsd.com/20080528/kotick/">Activision Chairman and CEO Bobby Kotick</a> about the state of the gaming business.</p>
<p>The video of the interview is in three parts.</p>
<p>It&#8217;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.</p>
<p>EA&#8217;s effort was motivated, in part, by Activision&#8217;s recent merger with Vivendi Games, which includes Blizzard Entertainment&#8217;s &#8220;World of Warcraft,&#8221; one the most popular multi-player games.</p>
<p>The merger has made Activision (AVTI), with its own well-known franchises&#8211;especially the hugely popular &#8220;Guitar Hero,&#8221; which debuted version IV at <strong>D6</strong>&#8211;one of the gaming industry&#8217;s largest companies.</p>
<p>In this second video, Kotick talks about virtual goods and in-game advertising, the international market, set-top boxes, violence and &#8220;Grand Theft Auto,&#8221; the competitiveness of the gaming business, the situation at Yahoo (he was, until recently, a board member), and takes a question from the audience about social gaming.</p>
<p><div class="video-wsj"><embed src="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoGUID={1790966988}&playerid=4001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://m.wsj.net/video-players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/" name="microflashPlayer" width="320" height="240" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed><br />[ See post to watch video ]</div></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>The Entire D6 Interview With Activision&#039;s Bobby Kotick (1 of 3)</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20080915/the-entire-d6-interview-with-activisions-bobby-kotick/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20080915/the-entire-d6-interview-with-activisions-bobby-kotick/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 15 Sep 2008 08:56:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kara Swisher</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[D6]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Activision]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blizzard Entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bobby Kotick]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BoomTown]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conference]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[D: All Things Digital]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[digital]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Electronic Arts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gaming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guitar Hero]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[interview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kara Swisher]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Microsoft]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[multi-player]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nintendo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Take-Two Interactive]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vivendi Games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wii]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World of Warcraft]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[XBox]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=3763</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We're posting all the interviews from the sixth D: All Things Digital conference that took place in late May.

Here's an interview I did with Activision Chairman and CEO Bobby Kotick about the state of the gaming business.

It's a good week to focus on the gaming industry since Electronic Arts abandoned its hostile acquisition bid for Take-Two Interactive over the weekend.

The move was--in part--in answer to Activision's recent merger with Vivendi Games, which includes Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft, one the most popular multi-player games. This has made Activision one of the gaming industry's largest companies, due to some of its well-known franchises, especially its hugely popular Guitar Hero, which debuted version IV at D6.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>We&#8217;re posting all the interviews from the sixth <a href="http://d6.allthingsd.com"><strong>D: All Things Digital</strong></a> conference that took place in late May.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, due to issues too complicated to go into, we have to post all the <strong>D6</strong> interviews in several 15-minute parts (I know, I know).</p>
<p>But&#8211;as many readers have requested&#8211;they will all be available in their entirety in this column.</em></p>
<p><a href="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/09/302988592_5aref-s-1.jpg"><img src="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/09/302988592_5aref-s-1-300x199.jpg" alt="" title="302988592_5aref-s-1" width="250" height="150" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-3765" /></a></p>
<p>Here&#8217;s an interview I did with <a href="http://d6.allthingsd.com/20080528/kotick/">Activision Chairman and CEO Bobby Kotick</a> about the state of the gaming business.</p>
<p>The video of the interview is in three parts.</p>
<p>It&#8217;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.</p>
<p>EA&#8217;s effort was motivated, in part, by Activision&#8217;s recent merger with Vivendi Games, which includes Blizzard Entertainment&#8217;s &#8220;World of Warcraft,&#8221; one the most popular multi-player games.</p>
<p>The merger has made Activision (AVTI), with its own well-known franchises&#8211;especially the hugely popular &#8220;Guitar Hero,&#8221; which debuted version IV at <strong>D6</strong>&#8211;one of the gaming industry&#8217;s largest companies.</p>
<p>In this first video, Kotick talks about the merger with Vivendi&#8211;which aims to inject social gaming DNA into Activision&#8211;the popularity of Nintendo&#8217;s Wii and Microsoft&#8217;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.</p>
<p><div class="video-wsj"><embed src="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoGUID={1789009334}&playerid=4001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://m.wsj.net/video-players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/" name="microflashPlayer" width="320" height="240" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed><br />[ See post to watch video ]</div></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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