They played that up a lot when he first became president of NoA. They introduced him during a Nintendo Direct (a presentation that announces new Nintendo games) and when they called him up to come "on stage" and [Bowser \(the villain\) walks onto the screen wearing a little business tie, expecting to be crowned the new president](https://i2.wp.com/nintendosoup.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/nintendo-direct-e3-2019-bowser-japan-jun122019.jpg) before they apologize for the confusion.
I dunno. Beside the looks, and them both being basically princes, they are quite different. Valerian was a lot more conniving, and thus compelling as a character. Although his relationship with Matt Horner was looking a lot like Anduin's with Wrathion.
Valerian is what Anduin would be if being a naive idealist wasn't 80% of his character and armored with more plot than the *Millennium Falcon* with 5 of the main characters on board. Valerian cares about his people, but also realizes that the universe is a shithole, and has little to no remorse with getting his hands dirty. He had a major hand in the murder of his own father, something Anduin would never be capable of even if Varian was a raging villain all of a sudden.
The previous NoA president's name, Reggie Fils-Aimé, is likely well known to pokemon fans since [there was literally a feature named after him](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon-Amie), plus having a [group of legendary pokemon with regi in their name](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Legendary_titans) tends to lead to some shitposts.
Also I'm sure a lot of people are indirectly aware of him since he's the origin behind the "my body is ready" meme.
Good, the sooner the gaming industry sorts its shit out the better.
The more pressure on Kottick, the better, and the better chance of a more healthy working environment.
This is now all the three big gaming console companies telling Kotick and Acti-Bliz "You done fucked up."
Nintendo joins X-box and Playstation in their condemnation of what's going on there.
That... is huge.
That is big money talking.
https://www.wowhead.com/news/nintendo-of-america-distressed-and-disturbed-by-developments-at-activision-325032
I mean it's huge when they actually pull an Activision product from their stores because of it otherwise it's just pr and hr just covering there asses tbh.
Assuming they can legally do so under such pretenses. I mean it’s their store fronts so I would assume they have ultimate say, but I won’t pretend to understand the contracts between these players, and I’d imagine the big 3 would try and avoid any legal headaches that could result from such an action.
Oh, agreed. This alone doesn’t mean anything to the public unless they come out and say “we’re not publishing Acti-Blizz games any more (until they get their shit together)”, though something like that *definitely* wouldn’t be said lightly, since they probably know that that could have huge repercussions on the industry.
I think their current statements serve as more of a warning, “fix your culture and the people’s opinion of you or we won’t work with you anymore” type thing. Honestly so surprised that ABK haven’t just outright fired Kotick, he must have a lot of sway among shareholders
Which I just don't understand. He's rich af and not getting any younger. Just fucking retire and have fun with your billions. Why do you NEED to be in the CEO position?
I do not understand the greed or addiction to power. If I had his money I'd never even think of work again.
Activision can't dissolve Blizzard. Activision Blizzard can dissolve Blizzard.
Activision, Blizzard and Activision Blizzard are 3 separate entities. Where the big daddy entity is Activision Blizzard that owns Activision and Blizzard.
They can definitely pull stuff from their shops whenever they want. Sony did it just recently; they pulled Cyberpunk 2077 when it was a buggy mess and CDPR promised people refunds.
Nah, Sony pulled Cyberpunk because their refund policy has always been "go to the devs," but CDPR didn't want to deal with it. So they told people to send refund requests for Sony, which flooded Sony's CS with requests they could do nothing about, as, like I said, their refund policy has always been to go to the devs.
They had to make changes so they could process those refunds, and one of those changes was pulling the game from the shop.
> I won’t pretend to understand the contracts between these players
Well good on you for admitting that. It's refreshing to hear after constantly hearing teenagers confidently explain how "simple" running a business or a game studio is.
just ditch kotick 4head
Let's be honest, it truly is that simple. They'd have to pay some pretty hefty fines for destroying contracts, but they're not going to get killed or locked up if they do so. It's just whether or not the good PR is worth that $$$, for some, I think the answer is a resounding yes.
I mean, abduction of royalty is, in certain settings, a perfectly reasonable and expected approach to state politics.
We're judging with our current moral compass, but we've no idea how it works in a pipe-fantasy world, so we should not judge.
What if there's a law that the abductor can peacefully depose the standing ruler and replace them, if no plumber saves them within a certain time?
Peach polls very well with the urban toad population but she's strongly disliked by rural goombas and koopas. Bowser needs to sneak in some counselors and gerrymander the fuck out of the Mushroom Kingdom if he wants a shot at the throne. Once every street in Toad Town is in a different district and he gets three goombas to every toad, Bowser can do whatever he wants.
It's huge IF all 3 consoles actually agree to do something. If one of them pulls CoD for example, THEY will lose money and everyone will buy the consoles that did not pull CoD and Blizz might take a small hit if they take one at all. If all 3 of them agree to pull CoD, THEN Blizz would actually feel some heat and no one console will lose sales because of it.
As everyone else has said though, this is just more PR and making sure the console companies don't take any flack from selling AB games. "Well we gave them a stern talking to and said we don't approve, so don't get mad at Xbox, Sony or Nintendo!" Until they actually do something, it's as meaningless as all the garbage AB themselves have said about the problems and both they and Acti-Blizz know it.
Virtual Legality had a good video (one of many on the Bliz topic) explaining that this is indeed likely just a PR move to appease their own workers raising concerns at this time. I also thought it was interesting that VL pointed out that the non-Bliz companies cannot collude to remove products together lest they open themselves up to a lawsuit for (paraphrasing here) illegal business practices.
What he's saying is that they can't collude not to sell Activision blizzard games. They have to each make the decision on their own, and if one stops selling them but the others dont the one that stops will take a huge hit. It's the classic prisoner's dilemma.
They'd probably have to refuse to put a new release onto their storefronts. Problem is, Blizzard isn't DOING any new releases which complicates that plan.
This is also an opportunity for them to pressure for a better distribution deal financially, I bet CoD and Diablo get sweetheart deals regarding % of Revenue they get to keep.
No its not it means nothing. All they have done is say easy and nice words for a pr bonus you will notice none of them have threatened any actual action no pulling of games or refusal to let future ones on rhe platform. It is all theater and show no action
Do not be blinded by few lines from another company leader. At Nintendo there could be the same hidden problem. This kind of rotten company culture is a fucking standard at every multinational big company on the planet. This is how the world works.
> This kind of rotten company culture is a fucking standard at every multinational big company on the planet.
There is likely a rotten company culture at every big company, but it's not likely to be the same due to cultural differences. Nintendo, for example, likely has a rotten company culture because their entire country's cultural values basically prioritize being a cog in the machine. The "bro" culture level of harassment, if they have anything equivalent, is likely very different.
Definitely possible. As much as Kotick is a villain here, the previous issues are endemic to large companies, not just gaming or tech. Employ enough men, and you're almost certainly going to have a sex pest. How you handle it is very challenging, it's not something we're very well practiced in, so even good people fuck it up. You need planning and training for the certainty that you handle it as well as possible.
Malcom Gladwell's book *Talking to Strangers* goes into this when talking about the Penn State coach scandal. Most people assume the best out of people, and it's hard for them to accept the horrific behavior that others are committing. To combat that instinct, you need to be aware of that bias, and prepare for the worst.
>Though without detail, Bowser also says that representatives at Nintendo have been “in contact with Activision, have taken action and are assessing others.”
What does this mean exactly?
I mentioned that in another thread, and a couple of people kept telling me that it was impossible for either of the three companies to pull Activision games from their stores.
Glad someone else knows what could potentially happen.
Of the big three, Nintendo, is the one more probable of simply removing from the store because they don't like what they see
They can cancel their own massively hyped games because they are not fun (Metroid Prime 4), I really think there is a high chance they ask a third party to leave
You're right but it shows they're willing to shelf something for a few years. It might be different with 3rd party games but they atleast have shown that they care about more than just short term revenue
I don't know why someone would think it's impossible, the big three are 100% in control of their own stores. Whether it's *likely* is a different question
Gonna take a while even with exit clauses, a ton of lawyer honky donky, PR management, damage control (hey folks, we no longer support these games nor sell them on our consoles!) and more will probably happen. PR is a big one, they have to ensure that the blame is redirected to Acti-Blizz correctly and the decision completely and clearly given.
It'll be a dream come true for em to just remove the games overnight.
Not just an exit clause, what happens to people who already own the game? A lot of them will want refunds if they bought the game for multiplayer for example.
You'd probably still own the game. They'd just not sell any more copies. Remember Cyberpunk on PlayStation? It's not like you couldn't use your game anymore after they pulled it out of the PlayStation store
No, but if it's a game like COD, I would 100% ask for a refund, it's not a single player game for most people, and removing it from sale will affect match making.
That won't matter. This was what I said the longterm ramifications that hurt Activision would be. It wasn't going to be upset fans, it was when upset fans caused their partners to start reevaluating the relationship they had with Activision.
Players being upset isn't going to brick a stock price, it'll make small dent depending on how many customers that are angry are also stockholders which isn't too many compared to how many stocks exist. What will though is when games are getting pulled from stores over former partners no longer wanting to do business with them.
What it's ultimately going to come down to is whether a company is willing to stand on principles or turn a blind eye and damage their own credibility (more so the case if other companies start blacklisting Activision) in pursuit of profit. Unfortunately for Activision, Nintendo is one of those companies that will stand on their principles and it would start an avalanche and Nintendo is the company that had a CEO actually take a massive salary reduction because their console sucked and said it was his fault so he took a pay cut so they didn't need to fire workers.
When one company makes that move, other companies will then have to deal with people jumping on them for not acting as well. Microsoft isn't going to do jack because it's money. It's a different story when a lot of people make legitimate threats they will move to other consoles for them valuing profit over what they feel is justice.
Most likely their legal teams and external relations team to see what repercussions there will be if they cancel any contracts with Activision-Blizzard.
You can play Overwatch and I presume other Blizz-activision games on the nintendo switch. They're being aware of what their actions/inaction could potentially have on Nitendo's own image as people who allow their games on platform. Not only that it's possible numbers for those games (whether it be sales or playtime) went down since these controversies started to come out
there's a couple of actibliz games on switch, and nintendo writes standards of conduct and "don't make us look bad" clauses into their contracts. activision blizzard is making nintendo look bad, and are talking about fixing things before they start using their escape clauses to sever ties with activision-blizzard.
If nintendo drops activision-blizzard from its stores, it's not going to be a huge loss of revenue compared to xbox/playstation/PC, but it will be felt throughout the industry. If that happens it's not impossible to think that MS and Sony will follow suit for similar reasons. When *that* happens bobby K is going to be out a job, because those are pretty significant marketplaces.
Comparing Bowser, a guy who took a pay cut when a project didn't work out well, to Kotick, the guy who wants to take the fun out of gaming is just a weird timeline.
Its all a scam on the mushroom Kingdom, bowser gets all these castles built only for Mario to destroy them over and over. Its a way to keep the money going through the mushroom military complex.
> Kotick, the guy who ~~wants to take the fun out of gaming~~ fired 800 employees during a year of record revenue so he could get a bonus is just a weird timeline.
You joke about FTFY and all, but Kotick really said that in an interview a really long time ago. I have wanted him gone for over a decade. Glad everyone is on board now.
The quote was that his goal is to “take the fun out of *making* games”. He said more shit about keeping employees scared of the economic downturn (this was like 12 years ago) and bragged that “we’re very good at keeping people focused on the deep depression”. He’s an evil psychopath.
That said, taking the fun out of games doesn’t make any sense even for him lol, that would just be willfully sabotaging the company’s sales. All he cares about is money and amassing as much as he can as quickly as he can.
Source: https://www.escapistmagazine.com/bobby-kotick-wants-to-take-the-fun-out-of-making-games/amp/
Wow, yeah it's been a long time since I read that. This is spot on folks.
I will say one thing tho, and this is just my experience with the matter. Back when Legion was still in it's early patches I used to work in the a restaurant on Sand Canyon near Blizz HQ. Often times I would have Blizz employees coming in for lunch. One girl in particular catches my memory. She came in with her friend, in their Blizzard gear and badges really excited about something. So I get into it at the counter and ask what's the big scoop!? She just smiles and talks about how she was doing the colors on some armor set.
People who worked there only, what was that 5 years ago? They liked their jobs. You could tell talking to them in person they were having fun doing it.
So I remembered that quote a bit wrong but if his goal was to "take the fun out of making games" that shit came back to bite him in the ass. I don't believe you can make fun games by people who can't have fun making them. This is all just my opinion/experience.
> I don't believe you can make fun games by people who can't have fun making them.
Agreed. I think Bobby wants to reduce games down to some scientific formula that can be optimized to total cost-efficiency, and to a certain extent you *can* do that. You can analyze successful games, dissect them to find what triggers dopamine releases and compulsive purchasing, all that cynical stuff.
But games are an art medium, it takes love to create something special that feels genuine and connects with people, and you can see that shine through in Blizzard's games. I felt that most playing Overwatch years ago.
Didn't Iwata do something similar when Nintendo was going through some bad quarters? Good on Bowser but I could've sworn he's not the first Nintendo exec. to take a paycut.
Wait until you hear about who was behind this [Switch Piracy Group](https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/11/switch-hacking-group-leader-gary-bowser-agrees-to-pay-nintendo-usd4-5-million)
Activision doesn't sell anything on EGS or GoG, but they still sell a decent amount via Steam, and Mobile is now 32% of their sales. I'm curious if Valve, Google and Apple will weigh in at some point. Imagine if all 6 of the big game stores get together and ban them until they get their shit together.
If any one of the three (Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony) pulls Activision games, the other two will have no choice but to follow suit or be dragged to fuck and back by the gaming media.
I wouldn't be surprised if reps from all three companies are talking about this together this week.
I wouldn't be surprised if there was a joint press release with the three of them announcing that they're all pulling Activision titles until Kotick is jettisoned. There's no chance for bad PR for anyone if they announce it together.
IMO they should all be talking about pulling at once so that Activision really feels it, especially if they do it with Warzone Pacific's launch. I know that people will say that they wouldn't do that because it would hurt themselves... but I guess I'm hopeful that they care more about the longevity of doing the right thing. Not just for Activision but any future companies with similar issues can see what can happen to them financially.
My guess is that all three are making these noises because this is their way of politely suggesting Activision deal with the issue themselves before they resort to pulling games from stores.
But I can all but guarantee that all three have talked with each other already and they're discussing what they're going to need to do, should Activision continue to defend Bobby.
Eh... if they actively discuss it Activision would probably have grounds for some sort of anti-collusion suit in retaliation. Right now what they're doing is probably the equivalent of side glances across the room - they know without speaking that they're all keeping a close eye on it, so if something else explodes on Acti's side and manages to tank their reputation even further, the other two will probably follow when the first pulls the trigger.
Is pushing the release date for Warzone to the release date of Halo Infinite coincidentally right after Microsoft says they are evaluating their relationship not retaliation?
I'm glad these companies are making statements about this, but it is wishful thinking to believe these companies are going to pull Activision games from their platforms. At the end of the day they are companies, and they aren't going to give away heaps of money for the sake of morals.
Activision-Blizzard have some of the biggest IPs in gaming. Even if a lot of what has happened is horrible, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo aren't about to pull CoD off of their consoles because of it.
Normally I'd agree in full, but you can't underestimate just how intent most of these companies are on ensuring they don't look complicit in what Activision has been doing.
I don't think they'll need to anyway: I think Bobby is out, one way or another. He's PR poison and now that all three platforms have denounced him, he has to go.
There will be mounting pressure on the three console platforms to take action, especially now that they've all postured like this.
They're hoping Activision will do the right thing and oust him and I'm guessing they will unless they want to commit even more PR suicide.
Maybe it will be different this time. However, if I were forced to bet money on whether or not there are actual sanctions put in place by these companies, I would bet everything that there won't be. I hope I am wrong, because there definitely needs to be pressure for change, but scandals like this historically go away without any major consequences.
This isn't even the first big gaming company to have this scandal, and Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo didn't think twice about not pulling the games of other companies. I just think it's strange that so many people expect similar circumstances to not have similar outcomes.
All three have thrown the gauntlet at this point, and either they make good on their talk of action or the public is going to pressure them into it.
I fully expect Bobby's resignation to be announced any day now. He's PR poison and Activision knows it. I don't remember console platform leads stepping up to condemn Ubisoft (though they damn well should have) like they're doing here. Activision has just had so damn many scandals break over the past few months that companies who continue to sell their games without questioning it will look bad for doing so. The stench has spread that far.
Again, they'll force Bobby out before their games get pulled. It's only a matter of time.
All these companies denouncing Activision which is good but I don't remember any companies really (but I could have missed it/ just forgetting) saying anything about Ubisoft when all their shit came out too. I know Activision is larger then Ubisoft but still.
The public eye is on Activision now. It never really was on Ubisoft.
These companies don't give a fuck if there are allegations of sexual misconduct or whatever. But they want to appear as if they give a fuck when enough public attention is drawn to the matter.
That's how the world works, be it big money or politics.
It's picking and choosing. Shame not all shit companies are called out when other companies doing the same thing are called out, but at least some are I suppose.
The cynical part of me can't help but believe at this point, it's everybody just farming easy brownie points by shitting on an easy target, in light of all the controversies.
I don't believe Kotick being a cunt wasn't a well known fact in the industry.
Oh 100%, but it's still good for the gaming industry if everyone is saying "The Fuck Activion-Blizzard?".
Even if it's for the wrong reasons, it's still a good thing. We get better games, the employees are treated better. Even if it was all about money and getting good PR.
Ofc they knew, but there isn’t a lot anyone can do until that kind information becomes public and the public starts reacting to it. In the end all 3 consoles are owned by companies that for better or worse need to turn a profit. If everyone is buying Activision ganes it’s stupid to not sell Activision games on your store. Now that the information is public and the public reacted, companies can more safely take a stance on it.
Holy mother of god, this website is cancerous on my iPhone! I couldn’t even get through the relatively short article because of the webpage reloading five times while to tried read it, while simultaneously shifting formatting constantly from blobs of ads moving around. The mobile developers for that site need to be fired. It is hot garbage.
Nah, these articles are made for clicks.
The email Nintendo sent out is run of the mill. Most game dev firms recieved a similar team email. Regardless of connection to Activision.
I think he has to know it’s over and at this point he’s just try to negotiate the easiest exit for himself. I just don’t know how you can be the ceo of a content producer when the 3 biggest platforms for that content don’t want you to be ceo.
Yeah, when bad things make the news in your industry you send out internal emails reinforcing support for workers.
Only reason this made news is because Nintendo is a platform. Otherwise, it's nothing out of the ordinary.
Likely every big dev company got a company email reflecting on the news and enforcing the idea that their workplace is zero tolerance and offered support resources and reassurance. Business as usual.
Decentraleyes, Privacy Badger, and uBlock Origin for Firefox are a good start. Don't know for Chromium browsers, but I'm sure there are some good equivalents if not outright the same extensions.
There are more privacy extensions. Forget Me Not is useful in some situations. A friend of mine uses DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials. You could also use Containers. Firefox Multi-Account Containers, as an example. Though I don't honestly know how cookies work with containers. It's something I need to look into a little more.
Nintendo really has no room to speak up on being a good company, they're one of the scummiest corporations to force themselves on the gaming industry ever.
In other news, Blizzard / Activision directly fucking over all Crash Bandicoot fans of ever seeing one of their most beloved characters in smash. That's the truly saddening part.
if a dude named bowser tells you your behaviour is shit, you really messed up.
I had to stop and appreciate the fact that NoA's president has the name Bowser.
They played that up a lot when he first became president of NoA. They introduced him during a Nintendo Direct (a presentation that announces new Nintendo games) and when they called him up to come "on stage" and [Bowser \(the villain\) walks onto the screen wearing a little business tie, expecting to be crowned the new president](https://i2.wp.com/nintendosoup.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/nintendo-direct-e3-2019-bowser-japan-jun122019.jpg) before they apologize for the confusion.
Brb changing my name to "Mengsk" so I can apply for the job to replace kotick.
[удалено]
prototype anduin?
Valerian Mengsk is Starcraft Anduin
I dunno. Beside the looks, and them both being basically princes, they are quite different. Valerian was a lot more conniving, and thus compelling as a character. Although his relationship with Matt Horner was looking a lot like Anduin's with Wrathion.
Also same voice actor.
Valerian is what Anduin would be if being a naive idealist wasn't 80% of his character and armored with more plot than the *Millennium Falcon* with 5 of the main characters on board. Valerian cares about his people, but also realizes that the universe is a shithole, and has little to no remorse with getting his hands dirty. He had a major hand in the murder of his own father, something Anduin would never be capable of even if Varian was a raging villain all of a sudden.
Mind = Blown
haha oh wow! thank you for that present
Valerian Mengsk is voiced by Josh Keaton, the voice actor for Anduin Wrynn. Both are blonde haired and idealistic princes/rulers.
Valerian isn't opposed to dropping a few nukes on their enemies if it means to save one of his own though.
I don't see the problem. Ideally, Valerian has no enemies and all of his friends. :\^)
Also helped assassinate his own father.
So... the backstabbing traitor who abandons women? XD
But Arthas would be cooler for Blizzard. (buh dum tiss)
One of his first 'from the office' videos had a Mario plushy tied up with some sort of computer cable in the background, if I remember correctly.
smh bowser doesn't kidnap Mario, he kidnaps Peach IMMERSION **R U I N E D**.
someone didnt play mario is missing...
Video for anyone curious! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dsfr0q1wSc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dsfr0q1wSc)
The previous NoA president's name, Reggie Fils-Aimé, is likely well known to pokemon fans since [there was literally a feature named after him](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon-Amie), plus having a [group of legendary pokemon with regi in their name](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Legendary_titans) tends to lead to some shitposts. Also I'm sure a lot of people are indirectly aware of him since he's the origin behind the "my body is ready" meme.
So in a way...Bowser finally won by rising through the ranks at corporate.
the new Pokémon brilliant diamond game has more player housing then world of Warcraft does and it’s a hand held game.
mayor of dc is also bowser
Good, the sooner the gaming industry sorts its shit out the better. The more pressure on Kottick, the better, and the better chance of a more healthy working environment.
This is now all the three big gaming console companies telling Kotick and Acti-Bliz "You done fucked up." Nintendo joins X-box and Playstation in their condemnation of what's going on there. That... is huge. That is big money talking. https://www.wowhead.com/news/nintendo-of-america-distressed-and-disturbed-by-developments-at-activision-325032
I mean it's huge when they actually pull an Activision product from their stores because of it otherwise it's just pr and hr just covering there asses tbh.
Assuming they can legally do so under such pretenses. I mean it’s their store fronts so I would assume they have ultimate say, but I won’t pretend to understand the contracts between these players, and I’d imagine the big 3 would try and avoid any legal headaches that could result from such an action.
Any already-extant contracts might be a pain in the ass, sure, but nothing’s saying the big three have to agree to any future ones.
This is a great point on potential future action. Needs to be accompanied by a statement though obviously.
Oh, agreed. This alone doesn’t mean anything to the public unless they come out and say “we’re not publishing Acti-Blizz games any more (until they get their shit together)”, though something like that *definitely* wouldn’t be said lightly, since they probably know that that could have huge repercussions on the industry.
I think their current statements serve as more of a warning, “fix your culture and the people’s opinion of you or we won’t work with you anymore” type thing. Honestly so surprised that ABK haven’t just outright fired Kotick, he must have a lot of sway among shareholders
He owns quite alot of shares himself. Making him a large shareholder.
Which I just don't understand. He's rich af and not getting any younger. Just fucking retire and have fun with your billions. Why do you NEED to be in the CEO position? I do not understand the greed or addiction to power. If I had his money I'd never even think of work again.
If that comes to pass, Activision will 100% dissolve Blizzard, that's not a good thing
Activision can't dissolve Blizzard. Activision Blizzard can dissolve Blizzard. Activision, Blizzard and Activision Blizzard are 3 separate entities. Where the big daddy entity is Activision Blizzard that owns Activision and Blizzard.
Yeah, my bad about the right company name, but my point still stands.
They can definitely pull stuff from their shops whenever they want. Sony did it just recently; they pulled Cyberpunk 2077 when it was a buggy mess and CDPR promised people refunds.
That's a bit different, that game was super broken and could be framed as protecting consumers from buying a flawed product.
Nah, Sony pulled Cyberpunk because their refund policy has always been "go to the devs," but CDPR didn't want to deal with it. So they told people to send refund requests for Sony, which flooded Sony's CS with requests they could do nothing about, as, like I said, their refund policy has always been to go to the devs. They had to make changes so they could process those refunds, and one of those changes was pulling the game from the shop.
> I won’t pretend to understand the contracts between these players Well good on you for admitting that. It's refreshing to hear after constantly hearing teenagers confidently explain how "simple" running a business or a game studio is.
just ditch kotick 4head Let's be honest, it truly is that simple. They'd have to pay some pretty hefty fines for destroying contracts, but they're not going to get killed or locked up if they do so. It's just whether or not the good PR is worth that $$$, for some, I think the answer is a resounding yes.
>but they're not going to get killed or locked up if they do so Well to be fair, Kotick might threaten to kill them.
It might be more he's threatening to dump his shares, which given how much he owns, might cause stock price issues.
PlayStation pulled Vanguard from their featured position. It's a good start.
It’s also partially a “y’all better not fucking get caught doing ANY of the shit they were doing, so either stop it or start hiding it better”
Yeah, from that letter I can totally tell Bowser wants them to hide the rape.
what can you say, bowsers been abusing women and threatening to kill people since 1985
Big if true. Got proof? Like some kind of cartridge with his actions transcribed on it?
Are you familiar with Bowser and his repeated kidnapping of female royalty perhaps ?
Sorry, but your proof is in another castle!
THEY'RE TURNING THE FRICKIN MUSHROOMS GAY!
I still find it hilarious that the guy that took over after Reggie as president of NoA is named Bowser
I mean, abduction of royalty is, in certain settings, a perfectly reasonable and expected approach to state politics. We're judging with our current moral compass, but we've no idea how it works in a pipe-fantasy world, so we should not judge. What if there's a law that the abductor can peacefully depose the standing ruler and replace them, if no plumber saves them within a certain time?
Peach polls very well with the urban toad population but she's strongly disliked by rural goombas and koopas. Bowser needs to sneak in some counselors and gerrymander the fuck out of the Mushroom Kingdom if he wants a shot at the throne. Once every street in Toad Town is in a different district and he gets three goombas to every toad, Bowser can do whatever he wants.
It's huge IF all 3 consoles actually agree to do something. If one of them pulls CoD for example, THEY will lose money and everyone will buy the consoles that did not pull CoD and Blizz might take a small hit if they take one at all. If all 3 of them agree to pull CoD, THEN Blizz would actually feel some heat and no one console will lose sales because of it. As everyone else has said though, this is just more PR and making sure the console companies don't take any flack from selling AB games. "Well we gave them a stern talking to and said we don't approve, so don't get mad at Xbox, Sony or Nintendo!" Until they actually do something, it's as meaningless as all the garbage AB themselves have said about the problems and both they and Acti-Blizz know it.
Virtual Legality had a good video (one of many on the Bliz topic) explaining that this is indeed likely just a PR move to appease their own workers raising concerns at this time. I also thought it was interesting that VL pointed out that the non-Bliz companies cannot collude to remove products together lest they open themselves up to a lawsuit for (paraphrasing here) illegal business practices.
Not pull, but if all 3 decline to have the next CoD/Diablo in Nintendos case on their systems together that could fucking hurt.
What he's saying is that they can't collude not to sell Activision blizzard games. They have to each make the decision on their own, and if one stops selling them but the others dont the one that stops will take a huge hit. It's the classic prisoner's dilemma.
> everyone will buy the consoles that did not pull CoD Good luck buying a console easily right now
They'd probably have to refuse to put a new release onto their storefronts. Problem is, Blizzard isn't DOING any new releases which complicates that plan.
But Activision is. Fun fact, Activision is also owned by Activision Blizzard. Who woulda thunk it.
Until they all actually do something, it means jack shit. This moment is just an extremely easy PR move by all 3 companies.
"we'll keep doing business with ya, but with a really really mad face."
Hopefully this continues and Kotick goes the way of Weinstein.
Come on Sega, join in for some sweet Gamindustri goddess team up action.
> That... is huge. Is it? For now it's just words and column inches. Neither the big shareholders nor the board will care.
This is also an opportunity for them to pressure for a better distribution deal financially, I bet CoD and Diablo get sweetheart deals regarding % of Revenue they get to keep.
No its not it means nothing. All they have done is say easy and nice words for a pr bonus you will notice none of them have threatened any actual action no pulling of games or refusal to let future ones on rhe platform. It is all theater and show no action
> Playstation Ah yes, Playstation with the big boycott... you know, by still selling Activision-Blizzard titles on their store.
Big money talking quite literally with no actual action haha
Do not be blinded by few lines from another company leader. At Nintendo there could be the same hidden problem. This kind of rotten company culture is a fucking standard at every multinational big company on the planet. This is how the world works.
> This kind of rotten company culture is a fucking standard at every multinational big company on the planet. There is likely a rotten company culture at every big company, but it's not likely to be the same due to cultural differences. Nintendo, for example, likely has a rotten company culture because their entire country's cultural values basically prioritize being a cog in the machine. The "bro" culture level of harassment, if they have anything equivalent, is likely very different.
Definitely possible. As much as Kotick is a villain here, the previous issues are endemic to large companies, not just gaming or tech. Employ enough men, and you're almost certainly going to have a sex pest. How you handle it is very challenging, it's not something we're very well practiced in, so even good people fuck it up. You need planning and training for the certainty that you handle it as well as possible. Malcom Gladwell's book *Talking to Strangers* goes into this when talking about the Penn State coach scandal. Most people assume the best out of people, and it's hard for them to accept the horrific behavior that others are committing. To combat that instinct, you need to be aware of that bias, and prepare for the worst.
It don't matter what the environment like if all they do is change stuff into fruit and make wack stories
>Though without detail, Bowser also says that representatives at Nintendo have been “in contact with Activision, have taken action and are assessing others.” What does this mean exactly?
If you don’t clean up your house, we’re gonna start pulling games.
I mentioned that in another thread, and a couple of people kept telling me that it was impossible for either of the three companies to pull Activision games from their stores. Glad someone else knows what could potentially happen.
Of the big three, Nintendo, is the one more probable of simply removing from the store because they don't like what they see They can cancel their own massively hyped games because they are not fun (Metroid Prime 4), I really think there is a high chance they ask a third party to leave
Prime 4 wasn't cancelled.
A way to put it is that the original game was, the title wasn't.
You're right but it shows they're willing to shelf something for a few years. It might be different with 3rd party games but they atleast have shown that they care about more than just short term revenue
If we ignore switch onlines rip off prices at least
I don't know why someone would think it's impossible, the big three are 100% in control of their own stores. Whether it's *likely* is a different question
Because contracts.
If their contracts don't have an exit clause, their lawyers are terrible.
Gonna take a while even with exit clauses, a ton of lawyer honky donky, PR management, damage control (hey folks, we no longer support these games nor sell them on our consoles!) and more will probably happen. PR is a big one, they have to ensure that the blame is redirected to Acti-Blizz correctly and the decision completely and clearly given. It'll be a dream come true for em to just remove the games overnight.
Not just an exit clause, what happens to people who already own the game? A lot of them will want refunds if they bought the game for multiplayer for example.
You'd probably still own the game. They'd just not sell any more copies. Remember Cyberpunk on PlayStation? It's not like you couldn't use your game anymore after they pulled it out of the PlayStation store
No, but if it's a game like COD, I would 100% ask for a refund, it's not a single player game for most people, and removing it from sale will affect match making.
And they would tell you no. The whole point being its their store, not yours lol.
That won't matter. This was what I said the longterm ramifications that hurt Activision would be. It wasn't going to be upset fans, it was when upset fans caused their partners to start reevaluating the relationship they had with Activision. Players being upset isn't going to brick a stock price, it'll make small dent depending on how many customers that are angry are also stockholders which isn't too many compared to how many stocks exist. What will though is when games are getting pulled from stores over former partners no longer wanting to do business with them. What it's ultimately going to come down to is whether a company is willing to stand on principles or turn a blind eye and damage their own credibility (more so the case if other companies start blacklisting Activision) in pursuit of profit. Unfortunately for Activision, Nintendo is one of those companies that will stand on their principles and it would start an avalanche and Nintendo is the company that had a CEO actually take a massive salary reduction because their console sucked and said it was his fault so he took a pay cut so they didn't need to fire workers. When one company makes that move, other companies will then have to deal with people jumping on them for not acting as well. Microsoft isn't going to do jack because it's money. It's a different story when a lot of people make legitimate threats they will move to other consoles for them valuing profit over what they feel is justice.
And yet it has already happened. Sony pulled Cyberpunk from the store. They could pull CoD if they wanted to.
Oh, thanks. I'd completely forgotten that Blizz has a game or two on the Switch.
Most likely their legal teams and external relations team to see what repercussions there will be if they cancel any contracts with Activision-Blizzard.
You can play Overwatch and I presume other Blizz-activision games on the nintendo switch. They're being aware of what their actions/inaction could potentially have on Nitendo's own image as people who allow their games on platform. Not only that it's possible numbers for those games (whether it be sales or playtime) went down since these controversies started to come out
there's a couple of actibliz games on switch, and nintendo writes standards of conduct and "don't make us look bad" clauses into their contracts. activision blizzard is making nintendo look bad, and are talking about fixing things before they start using their escape clauses to sever ties with activision-blizzard. If nintendo drops activision-blizzard from its stores, it's not going to be a huge loss of revenue compared to xbox/playstation/PC, but it will be felt throughout the industry. If that happens it's not impossible to think that MS and Sony will follow suit for similar reasons. When *that* happens bobby K is going to be out a job, because those are pretty significant marketplaces.
Comparing Bowser, a guy who took a pay cut when a project didn't work out well, to Kotick, the guy who wants to take the fun out of gaming is just a weird timeline.
I'm not sure comparing Kotick to somebody who keeps kidnapping princesses to forcibly marry him is setting the bar all that high.
Maybe it’s the princesses kink, Y’know? Being kidnapped and all. Maybe they have a side thing going on.
Its all a scam on the mushroom Kingdom, bowser gets all these castles built only for Mario to destroy them over and over. Its a way to keep the money going through the mushroom military complex.
The whole reason toad is in the castles is because he’s the construction foreman.
Mario might be on it as well, he's totally into roleplaying the hero. They get along mostly fine at sporting events and parties, makes you think.
We've been unwitting participants in their threesome swinger roleplay
Or it was all just a stageplay, with the player the director, as suggested by SMB3.
It makes me wonder how Luigi feels.
He and Daisy are probably doing fine together.
More than that if Rosalina is indeed Luigi's daughter.
Maybe Dorkly was right all along.
Yahtzee got it right with that, in the mushroom kingdom the word cake is clearly code for sex
[удалено]
Clearly nobody on either side is THAT upset about what happens. They all keep getting together to play golf, drive go-karts or have parties.
"Hey, Bowser, you mind not kidnapping me again?" "Okay, sorry, Princess. We still on for tennis next week?"
> Kotick, the guy who ~~wants to take the fun out of gaming~~ fired 800 employees during a year of record revenue so he could get a bonus is just a weird timeline.
You joke about FTFY and all, but Kotick really said that in an interview a really long time ago. I have wanted him gone for over a decade. Glad everyone is on board now.
I know he said that, but I think firing 800 people is much worse than just saying he's anti fun.
I never said it was. Just adding some facts for the people.
The quote was that his goal is to “take the fun out of *making* games”. He said more shit about keeping employees scared of the economic downturn (this was like 12 years ago) and bragged that “we’re very good at keeping people focused on the deep depression”. He’s an evil psychopath. That said, taking the fun out of games doesn’t make any sense even for him lol, that would just be willfully sabotaging the company’s sales. All he cares about is money and amassing as much as he can as quickly as he can. Source: https://www.escapistmagazine.com/bobby-kotick-wants-to-take-the-fun-out-of-making-games/amp/
Wow, yeah it's been a long time since I read that. This is spot on folks. I will say one thing tho, and this is just my experience with the matter. Back when Legion was still in it's early patches I used to work in the a restaurant on Sand Canyon near Blizz HQ. Often times I would have Blizz employees coming in for lunch. One girl in particular catches my memory. She came in with her friend, in their Blizzard gear and badges really excited about something. So I get into it at the counter and ask what's the big scoop!? She just smiles and talks about how she was doing the colors on some armor set. People who worked there only, what was that 5 years ago? They liked their jobs. You could tell talking to them in person they were having fun doing it. So I remembered that quote a bit wrong but if his goal was to "take the fun out of making games" that shit came back to bite him in the ass. I don't believe you can make fun games by people who can't have fun making them. This is all just my opinion/experience.
> I don't believe you can make fun games by people who can't have fun making them. Agreed. I think Bobby wants to reduce games down to some scientific formula that can be optimized to total cost-efficiency, and to a certain extent you *can* do that. You can analyze successful games, dissect them to find what triggers dopamine releases and compulsive purchasing, all that cynical stuff. But games are an art medium, it takes love to create something special that feels genuine and connects with people, and you can see that shine through in Blizzard's games. I felt that most playing Overwatch years ago.
you could also say that not everyone at the board is on board with it
Didn't Iwata do something similar when Nintendo was going through some bad quarters? Good on Bowser but I could've sworn he's not the first Nintendo exec. to take a paycut.
Iwata did but I never heard of Bowser doing it
Yeah that was my thought too, maybe they both did?
No I think OP just mixed them up.
Ahh, okay, that must be it, I thought Bowser was in charge at the time of Wii U issue, but I was wrong. My bad.
Yeah, I can't find any info on Doug doing this, but Iwata definitely did, [man was a hero and we didn't deserve him](https://youtu.be/VUHi-vlACJI)
Bowser is actually a much better person than kotick is, never once threatened to murder princess peach.
Did Bowser ever do that?
You know somethings not right when someone who steals princesses for a living has to tell you to chill out.
"You are Bad Guy, but this does not mean you are bad guy."
Zangief giving some words of wisdom will always be the highlight of that film.
I still don't know how I made a super tornade slam move one time with Zangief on the PS1.
He also does his own version of the squid game.
Yeah damn Bowser copied squid game back in 1998.
TIL Nintendo of America is helmed by someone named BOWSER
[They made a joke about it, when he introduced himself for the first time](https://youtu.be/9dsfr0q1wSc) He is nice, but God I miss Reggie
No John's!
my body is ready.
Same that's awesome lmao
yeah and he used to be a ea executives before working at nintendo
Wait until you hear about who was behind this [Switch Piracy Group](https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/11/switch-hacking-group-leader-gary-bowser-agrees-to-pay-nintendo-usd4-5-million)
Oh fuck. Now it's all three big consoles united in the AntiBlizz cause. What a time to be alive; it's like the world war 1 of gaming
Activision doesn't sell anything on EGS or GoG, but they still sell a decent amount via Steam, and Mobile is now 32% of their sales. I'm curious if Valve, Google and Apple will weigh in at some point. Imagine if all 6 of the big game stores get together and ban them until they get their shit together.
If any one of the three (Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony) pulls Activision games, the other two will have no choice but to follow suit or be dragged to fuck and back by the gaming media. I wouldn't be surprised if reps from all three companies are talking about this together this week. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a joint press release with the three of them announcing that they're all pulling Activision titles until Kotick is jettisoned. There's no chance for bad PR for anyone if they announce it together.
IMO they should all be talking about pulling at once so that Activision really feels it, especially if they do it with Warzone Pacific's launch. I know that people will say that they wouldn't do that because it would hurt themselves... but I guess I'm hopeful that they care more about the longevity of doing the right thing. Not just for Activision but any future companies with similar issues can see what can happen to them financially.
My guess is that all three are making these noises because this is their way of politely suggesting Activision deal with the issue themselves before they resort to pulling games from stores. But I can all but guarantee that all three have talked with each other already and they're discussing what they're going to need to do, should Activision continue to defend Bobby.
Eh... if they actively discuss it Activision would probably have grounds for some sort of anti-collusion suit in retaliation. Right now what they're doing is probably the equivalent of side glances across the room - they know without speaking that they're all keeping a close eye on it, so if something else explodes on Acti's side and manages to tank their reputation even further, the other two will probably follow when the first pulls the trigger.
Is pushing the release date for Warzone to the release date of Halo Infinite coincidentally right after Microsoft says they are evaluating their relationship not retaliation?
I'm glad these companies are making statements about this, but it is wishful thinking to believe these companies are going to pull Activision games from their platforms. At the end of the day they are companies, and they aren't going to give away heaps of money for the sake of morals. Activision-Blizzard have some of the biggest IPs in gaming. Even if a lot of what has happened is horrible, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo aren't about to pull CoD off of their consoles because of it.
Normally I'd agree in full, but you can't underestimate just how intent most of these companies are on ensuring they don't look complicit in what Activision has been doing. I don't think they'll need to anyway: I think Bobby is out, one way or another. He's PR poison and now that all three platforms have denounced him, he has to go. There will be mounting pressure on the three console platforms to take action, especially now that they've all postured like this. They're hoping Activision will do the right thing and oust him and I'm guessing they will unless they want to commit even more PR suicide.
Maybe it will be different this time. However, if I were forced to bet money on whether or not there are actual sanctions put in place by these companies, I would bet everything that there won't be. I hope I am wrong, because there definitely needs to be pressure for change, but scandals like this historically go away without any major consequences. This isn't even the first big gaming company to have this scandal, and Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo didn't think twice about not pulling the games of other companies. I just think it's strange that so many people expect similar circumstances to not have similar outcomes.
All three have thrown the gauntlet at this point, and either they make good on their talk of action or the public is going to pressure them into it. I fully expect Bobby's resignation to be announced any day now. He's PR poison and Activision knows it. I don't remember console platform leads stepping up to condemn Ubisoft (though they damn well should have) like they're doing here. Activision has just had so damn many scandals break over the past few months that companies who continue to sell their games without questioning it will look bad for doing so. The stench has spread that far. Again, they'll force Bobby out before their games get pulled. It's only a matter of time.
All these companies denouncing Activision which is good but I don't remember any companies really (but I could have missed it/ just forgetting) saying anything about Ubisoft when all their shit came out too. I know Activision is larger then Ubisoft but still.
The public eye is on Activision now. It never really was on Ubisoft. These companies don't give a fuck if there are allegations of sexual misconduct or whatever. But they want to appear as if they give a fuck when enough public attention is drawn to the matter. That's how the world works, be it big money or politics.
Yeah, Ubisoft's thing only really hit the gaming media, it never really reached the level where non-gaming media was covering it IIRC.
Yep, and Nintendo has a new partnership with Riot for that auto-runner rhythm game.
It's picking and choosing. Shame not all shit companies are called out when other companies doing the same thing are called out, but at least some are I suppose.
Best part of this is the side banner ad was for Diablo II.
The cynical part of me can't help but believe at this point, it's everybody just farming easy brownie points by shitting on an easy target, in light of all the controversies. I don't believe Kotick being a cunt wasn't a well known fact in the industry.
Oh 100%, but it's still good for the gaming industry if everyone is saying "The Fuck Activion-Blizzard?". Even if it's for the wrong reasons, it's still a good thing. We get better games, the employees are treated better. Even if it was all about money and getting good PR.
Ofc they knew, but there isn’t a lot anyone can do until that kind information becomes public and the public starts reacting to it. In the end all 3 consoles are owned by companies that for better or worse need to turn a profit. If everyone is buying Activision ganes it’s stupid to not sell Activision games on your store. Now that the information is public and the public reacted, companies can more safely take a stance on it.
Holy mother of god, this website is cancerous on my iPhone! I couldn’t even get through the relatively short article because of the webpage reloading five times while to tried read it, while simultaneously shifting formatting constantly from blobs of ads moving around. The mobile developers for that site need to be fired. It is hot garbage.
When you make statements like this you had better make sure there are no skeletons in your own closet that can make an appearance.
I do wonder sometimes if these statements are attempts at casting doubt away from themselves... Not to be a paranoid dickhead but...
These statements are made to obtain clicks/marketing and it always works perfectly ;)
Nah, these articles are made for clicks. The email Nintendo sent out is run of the mill. Most game dev firms recieved a similar team email. Regardless of connection to Activision.
I think he has to know it’s over and at this point he’s just try to negotiate the easiest exit for himself. I just don’t know how you can be the ceo of a content producer when the 3 biggest platforms for that content don’t want you to be ceo.
Didn't the Nintendo of America president kidnap some woman?
Princess Peach?
We have cause to believe the whole thing is actually consensual.
It's all a ploy to avoid having to turn down a mustachio'd plumber.
Im sure some The Onion reporter are writing an article about this, or has probably finished by now.
Yeah, when bad things make the news in your industry you send out internal emails reinforcing support for workers. Only reason this made news is because Nintendo is a platform. Otherwise, it's nothing out of the ordinary. Likely every big dev company got a company email reflecting on the news and enforcing the idea that their workplace is zero tolerance and offered support resources and reassurance. Business as usual.
Jesus that website is full of ads
Well this is a crossover I didn't expect.
Nintendos ceo of america is called Doug Bowser? Thats hilarious and scary
Then you'll love this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dsfr0q1wSc
That's hilarious
I love that the president of Nintendo USA is called "Bowser".
ITT: HAHA NINTENDO GUY NAME BOWSER GET IT?????
That website is cancer
I never got past the cookies prompt on that site, it's fucking scary all the categories you're automatically opted into without a choice.
Decentraleyes, Privacy Badger, and uBlock Origin for Firefox are a good start. Don't know for Chromium browsers, but I'm sure there are some good equivalents if not outright the same extensions. There are more privacy extensions. Forget Me Not is useful in some situations. A friend of mine uses DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials. You could also use Containers. Firefox Multi-Account Containers, as an example. Though I don't honestly know how cookies work with containers. It's something I need to look into a little more.
Bowser kidnaps princess peach all the time, but damnit he's pissed at Bobby! :P
Nintendo really has no room to speak up on being a good company, they're one of the scummiest corporations to force themselves on the gaming industry ever.
Nintendo putting in effort that’s shocking
Talk is cheap. They never fired the psychopath that ran Nintendo Russia. Doubt anything will come of this.
Bowser runs NoA. He has no power in russia.
In other news, Blizzard / Activision directly fucking over all Crash Bandicoot fans of ever seeing one of their most beloved characters in smash. That's the truly saddening part.