Bobby Kotick, de beruchte baas van Activision, heeft openlijk de aanval gezocht richting concurrent Electronic Arts, waarbij Kotick vooral kritiek uitte op de manier waarop EA in-house studio’s zou behandelen. In een gesprek met de mensen van Edge vertelde de baas het volgende:
“The core principle of how we run the company is the exact opposite of EA. EA will buy a developer and then it will become EA Florida, EA Vancouver, EA New Jersey, whatever. We always looked and said, ‘You know what? What we like about the developer is that they have a culture, they have an independent vision and that’s what makes them so successful’.In een grijs verleden werkte Kotick zelf nog eens voor EA en ook daar had hij nog wel wat over te klagen:We don’t have an Activision anything – it’s Treyarch, Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer. That, to me, is one of the unassailable rules of building a publishing company. And in every case except for two, the original founders of the studios are still running the studios today.”
“I’ve been an oppressed EA developer! The thing is, it doesn’t work that way – that doesn’t work. EA’s DNA isn’t orientated towards that model – it doesn’t know how to do it, as a culture or as a company, and it never has. EA has a lot of resources, it’s a big company that’s been in the business for a long time – maybe it’ll figure it out eventually but it’s been struggling for a long time.Uiteraard heeft deze tirade nog wel iets te maken met de niet zo soepele overgang van de voormalige Infinity Ward-bazen Jason West en Vince Zampella naar Electronic Arts. Hun nieuwe studio Respawn Entertainment wordt door vele gamers en critici nauwlettend in de gaten gehouden.“The most difficult challenge it faces today is: great people don’t really want to work there. It’s like, if you have no other options you might consider them. They have some – the team that makes Madden is a really great team, it’s been able to manage, capture and keep some good people. Its stock options have no value, its lost its way. And until it has success and hits, and gets its enthusiasm back for the company, it’s going to have a struggle getting really talented people which is going to translate into less than great games.”