Red Ronin, on 02 April 2010 - 10:05 AM, said:
As much as we all hate the turmoil of writer's strikes, director's strikes and actor's strikes in Hollywood, this is precisely why those guys have unions. In most modern businesses, the people that run them have figured out that in the end, happy employees produce better products.
But there still remain those assclowns who insist upon grinding their employees into the ground under an iron-heeled boot. They mistakenly believe it was their mistreatment of the employees that yielded good results, as opposed to the talent of those employees showing forth in spite of that treatment.
People who are thoroughly passionate about making videogames will often jump at any opportunity - even a bad one - to produce those games. The same has been happening in the music industries for decades. The 'suits' count on a new crop of hungry, determined and ultimately desperate talents coming in the door right behind the last batch they used up and cast aside like so much trash.
Activision has treated their employees poorly for over a decade. I used to work for eToys in Santa Monica CA. There were guys who worked there who also worked at Activision across the parking lot of that business center. Many of them were game testers who were paid paltry sums - but that was their primary employment. They literally needed the second job at eToys (which paid better) to make ends meet.
There have been attempts to circumvent this Cycle of Evil within the videogame industry. People who were screwed by Activision or others tried to create cooperatives of videogaming talent that would work outside the major players and simply take on contractual work. But eventually it seems each of those companies ends up being absorbed by a larger company anyway.
I've long believed that for most industries, Labor Unions are no longer necessary. Unions should be there to protect good employees from evil employers. The videogame industry obviously needs a proper union. Hopefully a viable one will arise within the next decade.
Take care, happy gaming, enjoy life!
Unta Glebin Gloutin Globin,
Red Ronin, The Cybernetic Samurai
It's funny you bring that exact statement up. I remember seeing a story in the news - maybe it was late last year, or maybe it was early last year . . . or maybe it was late 2008. Either way, apparently the heads at Infinity Ward were expected to get themselves into a bit of hot water, for poking fun at Activision's corporate policy of fear. Apparently in a earnings call a couple weeks before, Bobby Kotick laid it out to investors (and I'm paraphrasing), that part of his pillars of success at Activision, was cultivating an atmosphere of fear among the developers. That devs who were scared for their jobs, performed better. I'm not making this shit up, this is actually corporate policy at Activision, out of the mouth of the company's CEO, at an investor's earnings call.
And what you said above, strikes a chord. Activision, from the highest levels down, seriously believe that by terrorizing their employees, they get better performing product. Maybe they are right. I know since EA has largely changed it's ways, their earnings have been almost in free fall. Even so, I can name off the top of my head, about a dozen recent EA games that have gone into my permanent collection, they were either so good, so unique or so inspired in their creation. Meanwhile, over at Activision, were it not for Infinity Ward's Call of Duty and the occasional one-of titles, like Radical Entertainment's Prototype, there is seriously nothing the company produces that I would ever buy - much less keep in my permanent collection. Even Bizarre Creations, who's Project Gotham Racing games I have loved since Metropolis Street Racer on Dreamcast, don't seem to be outputting their usual quality. I've been in the
Blur beta for a while now, and just stopped playing the thing after the a few days in. Blur is fun in an almost generic manner. It most certainly is not fun on the level that I have come to expect out of Bizarre Creations, over the last decade. Yet at the same time, with Activision's marketing muscle behind it, I have no doubt Blur will easily outsell every PGR title made to date.
So maybe Bobby Kotick is right. Maybe inducing fear in employees is good for business. Even so, as much fear, loathing, pain, suffering and general turmoil and unrest as there is in the world today (or at any given time, for that matter), how can one decide to intentionally add more to that, as a form of standard operating procedure, like changing a light bulb or taking out the trash on Tuesday? Can you imagine the checklist Activision middle management have to go down on a weekly todo list:
- MONDAY - meet with Bob in accounting to discuss the TPS reports
- TUESDAY - lunch with Al, to discuss marketing
- WEDNESDAY - pick up the kids from soccer
- THURSDAY - discussion with department heads concerning our E3 booth
- FRIDAY - remind our devs in the trenches, that their continued employment, along with their health benefits and the overall well being of their families, is highly dependant on them coming in to work over the holiday weekend
- SATURDAY - golf on with CEO
- SUNDAY - celebrate Easter
Part of me has to believe that the gains are only short term - there will be no long term payoff in Activision's future, from their current policies.
EDIT - Found Them
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick Talks Gaming, Hates Happy People
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Kotick's real bombshell of a statement didn't hit until he stopped talking about gaming technology and started discussing his views on corporate culture. According to Gamespot, Kotick "pointed to changes he implemented in the past as being particularly beneficial, such as designing the employee incentive program so it 'really rewards profit and nothing else.'"
According to the CEO, studio heads now regularly argue with CFO's over the allocation of funds, each competing with the others for cash. If this doesn't sound like much fun—and it doesn't—that's Bobby's stated plan. "We have a real culture of thrift," Kotick said. "The goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks into Activision about 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games."
The CEO's long-term vision, in his own words, is to instill the corporate culture with "skepticism, pessimism, and fear...We are very good at keeping people focused on the deep depression." You'd think the man might've learned his lesson when indivuals and press organizations decried his plan to strictly focus on games that "have the potential to be exploited every year on every platform with clear sequel potential and have the potential to become $100 million dollar franchises." Evidently not. In Bobby's world, the best games are produced when every employee is in a constate state of fear, projects are always on the brink of being killed, the ability to generate profit is the only yardstick by which an employee's value is measured, and—let's not forget—making video games is not fun.
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He made clear that he has designed his company to treat employees so that it "really rewards profit and nothing else," which okay, dude's running a business, so that's not surprising. But then Kotick said some somewhat creepy stuff, describing how he maintains a company culture that is grounded in feelings of "skepticism, pessimism and fear."
Kotick thinks that's appropriate considering our current economic condition, but what ever happened to a happy worker is a good worker?
I'm guessing the folks at Inifnity Ward (otherwise known as I-Dub) are happy enough, because they don't seem to be skeptical, pessimistic or fearful, certainly not of Kotick. During a presentation at a Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer press event, community manager Robert Bowling showed off the game's custom class selection menu, which included three classes he possibly created named Skepticism, Pessimism and Fear.
Fear, apparently, carries an M4A1, a rocket launcher, two flash grenades, Tactical Insertion and Perks for increased melee distance, easier Killstreaks and "full resupply from dead enemies."
Do you see this, Bobby Kotick? These people are not afraid. At least until you give them a personal phone call and scare the living bejeezus out of them, they are not afraid.
After reading the second article concerning Infinity Ward's little prank, I cannot help but wonder if even then, the events that were leading up to the current fiasco, were silently brewing in the office of Booby Kotick. When you consider that most people who buy Call of Duty games, have no idea who makes the games, or even the fact of a lack in quality between every other iteration, perhaps this little gag is ultimately what cost those guys their jobs? It's not like anyone outside of the core gaming community is ever going to know Call of Duty is not being made by the series originators. Look at Guitar Hero. The guys who used to make Tony Hawk are making Guitar Hero, while the Harmonix has moved onto making better things with Rock Band. Not that anyone seems to have noticed, as Guitar Hero easily outsells Rock Band.
So I wonder if the thought every crossed Bobby Kotick's mind, even back in September of 2009 - bring in a new team to do Call of Duty, and fire Infinity Ward heads, and anyone else "stupid" enough to side with them.
This post has been edited by core238: 02 April 2010 - 10:47 PM
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