Kotick dismisses PSN as money generator vs. Xbox Live

Activision boss Bobby Kotick has dismissed the PlayStation Network as a significant money generator in comparison to Xbox Live - calling Microsoft's service "the only significant alternative" to his company's own subscription behemoth, World of WarCraft.

[BeaArthur]

Well obviously, you pay $50 a year for Live and Sony just started a non mandatory subscription service. What did you expect?

[Godmars290]

It Sony trying to give you some value for your money vs MS just taking it.

But what the point of making such a statement when people aren't buying the PS3 or the 360. Nevermind that Kotick had nothing to do with WOW pricing since it was already in place before the merger.

[Dragun619]

So wait, If Kotick says He's frustrated with Xbox Live Policies and complains how it's a "Closed" platform. Dismisses PSN as a money generator Kotick needs to satisfy himself even though PSN is more of a "Open" platform. And he want's to aggressively push PC's to connect to the TV because the PC will offer him a better revenue stream along with more control?

He also hints he might include a Subscription program to play Call of Duty online? Not even an MMO, but just to play Online Multiplayer?

There's something absolutely wrong with this guy. There's nothing wrong with trying to gain more revenue but when your the best selling Publisher and your still seeking more ways to abuse your popularty to get more revenue, your bound to destroy your company's reputation and surely enough your profits will slowly go down. If Activision fails to deliver good games, it'll probably be because of this guy milking his franchises. And he also Ruined Infinty Ward. All I can say is Good Luck, Bungie.

[Conloles]

The truth hurts, there is Steam but of course ol Bobby hates the PC even though he pretends to love it.

[Anon1974]

So Sony selling games on PSN is just a money generator, and XBL charging money for something as basic online play isn't a cash grab?

[edhe]

NB - activision pays sony's bandwidth costs for all DLC from their company - on xbl the cost is passed down to the premium consumers [which, to be fair, is where it should be since they're buying it].

So not only do more people buy stuff on Live, it costs activision less to do it.

[TheBuIIetSponge]

So he's bragging about stealing money from the customers?

[koehler83]

That's pretty much all he does.

[TheBuIIetSponge]

Glad I don't buy from Activision then. Shit, Bungie's new IP, the bastard has me trapped.

[DontShoot-Me-Bro]

He's a greedy Kyle damnit!

[wissam]

So true.LOL.

[moparful99]

Is it just me or does anyone else get the urge to beat kotick's ugly face in every time his name is mentioned? He is ruining the industry from a consumer standpoint. Investors love him because of his ability to garner revenue but he's just stealing it from us the users. I really hate this guy.

[edhe]

*Nobody* is stealing money from you.

If you think they're stealing it from you because you're so weak to keep it then more fool you. The more you hand over to him the worse things get for you.

[Jellzy]

Erm... Steam?!

Ah right I get it. You mean services that go out there way to rip consumers off?

[ChronoJoe]

Ya, like steam don't make a lot of money either.

Is he talking purely off of the subscriptions, though? Cause that would make sense, since PSN only launched there subscription service last week...

[BIGBOSS08]

this guy sounds like a real prick

[skip2mylou]

he is a real prick i just dont know how his mother did not see this guy being so evil when he was a kid

[pustulio]

He probably was raped and abused by his whole family to be such a greedy ass.

Kotick die already, why the reaper is taking so long?!

[P_Bomb]

Of course Kotick would pursue a cut from XBL. The guy's got dollar signs for pupils, and you can't get a cut from "free". What a guy.

[thewhoopimen]

Kotick's got a great teacher: Microsoft. If you've ever read any bios/history on MS, you would know that in the 90s Bill Gates & friends decided that they needed to figure out how to get a piece of the action that utility and insurance companies were getting in terms of monthly fees from consumers. The big problem was how to make it a mandatory "necessity".

Microsoft reasoned that if they could somehow put Office or some online application like email and charge people a monthly fee to use it, they'd make a hellabunch. Their first initiatives like subscriptions for music, for example offered "all music content" for a fixed monthly fee. They
failed in the wake of Apple's ipod which allowed buyers to "keep" their music. Where music failed, it seems movies was the big rental win with Netflix obviously making a killing with their 9.99/month fee.

One of Microsoft's seeds finallymanaged to take root finally which is subscription for games.

The sad thing of course it that Xbox users are obviously paying for something that used to be "free" just to play multiplayer. Personally I think it is a scam because when you a buy a game, you PAY for both single player and multiplayer but you only get 1/2 of your game without a subscription.

[mastiffchild]

AAAH, Bobby Kotick again failing to understand any company doing anything that doesn't rip off it's customers. If there was EVER a bigger tosspot in the gaming world I failed, somehow, to notice them-but I really doubt anyone could compare to this idiot.

Whatever he says you have to take from the POV that he HATES gamers and only cares about wringing as much money as quick as he can from us. Also he'll LOVE us arguing on here as it's exactly the divide and rule tactics that Activision use on a regular basis to ensure offering outdated P2P even on their "premium" games like MW2. It's all about THEM and never about improving services for us, the idiots who pay his , and their, wages.

Anyone taking him and his words seriously should also remember how little he appreciates what gaming is al about, he doesn't play anything himself and has little idea, or concern, about what kind of value he offers us. Idiot, the man's a proper twonk.

[solar]

dear console gamers who pay for Live, DLC which isnt worth the money, and PS+, you are getting ripped off and you like it. which is sad.

[skip2mylou]

ps+ isnt really a rip off when sony is giving you free games, demos, early beta access, qore, avatars, and themes that sounds like a pretty good deal to me when on, xbox live you gotta pay for 50$ a year and MS dont give you anything free, you gotta pay for your own avatar, pay for your own theme, and no early beta access no free games :/ that sounds like a rip off

[Applegate]

They arent giving you free anything, by paying for PS+ you are actually paying for all those stuff. Maybe its cheaper but you are still paying for it.

[solar]

paying for things that are free, is a rip off. see: PC gaming. console gamers live in a proprietary world, where they believe all this cool stuff which they pay for is neato. no, its not. it's a rip off. and the lemmings will continue to justify paying for it.

edit: and paying a monthly fee for "free games" means you are still paying for "games". demos? early beta access? qore? avatars? you want to pay for those things? really?

[inception123]

can you pc gamers really talk? when you spend hundreds of dollars every other month just to be able to play games.

[rumplstilts]

@inception123

you only have to update your rig every 3 years. You could go for even longer if you were content with the visuals you have now.

[wissam]

I smell so much fail here.

[CHARLIEBROWNE]

That can't be good for XBL users.

[Rhythmattic]

Thats what i'm thinking.

As Ms have laid the groundwork for Subscrition online console gaming, Bobby's looking at the Stats and thinking....

Disclaimer - the following is made up by me

Kotick
"Mmmm, seems COD series is the highest ranking MP game on Live, and MS are charging their users to play this, and yet, what do activation get ? Its our game that keeps them coming back, right ?"

whichever camp your in, the fact that MS have chosen in reality , the subscription path (to play online) , Bobby boy wants a Slice of the Pie......

The only questions is, does Activision get a percentage of the now set price, or does MS adjust the Live subscription fee to compensate ?

[bluhefner]

Or does Kotick influence Activision to make a separate online fee to play COD7 or whatever they wanna call it. I wouldn't be surprised this guy is probably already making COD online cards as we speak.

[kevnb]

right...

[Acquiescence]

If you cut him he bleeds coinage.

[yewles1]

Aww, now the spurned lovers are trying to make up after their little spat. Isn't that cute? *barfs*

[BillOreilly]

live is 30 a year on the net cheaper than ps plus and every game has a demo that right there is worth it cool vids previews behind the scenes shit free avatar shit some free games and tons of features ps plus is sony trying to level the playing field still not as good as live but its getting there(seriously dude your dumb saying ps plus is a deal compared to live because you get a quarter of the demos we play and a free avatar just like we get even though live is cheaper and has more features?)

[NYPunkster]

Wait so he doesn't like PSN? What a surprise! haha

[XactGamer]

One thing is for sure PSN+ has a lot of catching up to do before it matches the revenue of Live. Live generates a billion dollars a year and I really don't blame Sony for wanting in on that.

[WeaseL]

Are these the same people MS are giving wedges of money to for timed exclusives.
Goto talk nice about you cash cow now haven't you.

[tenmohican]

has p2p since he thinks xbl is the superior of the alternatives. It really is too bad they havent invented a way to falconpunch ppl through the internet.

[BYE]

What does he want? A cut from Microsoft's subscription income or an added fee from consumers for playing Call of Duty online? Probably both.

Either way, this person is the greediest bastard on the planet.

[DFresh]

Agreed.

[-Gespenst-]

Man, one of the most loathsome hypocrites of all time. Almost worse than Bono.

[r4nger]

Billy Kotick is a FUCKING IDIOT, and should not ever be listened to - how he is incharge of a billion dollar company is beyond me...

[gypsygib]

Although I know PSN is exactly the same as Live for playing multiplayer in terms of lag, matchmaking and connecting speeds - Kotick is right, I'm not paying for something that works virtually perfect and is free.

[Tzuno]

I wish you mister Kotick to make a rock solid TURD biger like your greed and i hope that TURD will Destroy your ass to shreds.

[MysticStrummer]

So he thinks he can make more money getting a share of a paid service as opposed to a share of a free service. The man's a genius.

[tiamat5]

Yes that sounds reasonable (sarcasm)

[FFXI101]

can eat SHIT!! he's one of the biggest dushbags in this industry.

[NarooN]

What a little bitch. They need to stage a coup and get his ass fired. If any company isn't ripping off its consumers, he doesn't "approve" of them. Get the hell outta here with that. Why's that douchebag even holding a GH guitar in the pic? He even admitted he doesn't even play games in an older interview.

[NMC2007]

I love this guy, seriously.

[karlowma]

I think this guy thrives on hate. He's not content with pretty much every gamer hating him; now he's going after the big boys.

[November 9 2004]

i see last place ps3rd kids are mad they have no good games and crap online with forced installs.

[P_Bomb]

@November 9 2004

Or maybe they're not stupid enough to endorse a guy who likes to create an atmosphere of uncertainty for his employees in the midst of a global recession, and barks about price cuts for consoles while wishing you to had to pay $100 for his games instead of $50. Now he also wants a share of XBL's profits.

C'mon guy. You think you're actually sticking up for XBox by endorsing this guy? I guess Infinity Ward employees were PS3rd fanboys too for leaving his company after getting screwed. Wake up!

[loobtube]

Man i'd love to shoot him,but he probably lags aswell!!

[Neko_Mega]

On this company, the way I see it. They only want you for your money and got to be dumb about it.

Didn't MW2 add on sell as well as XBL on the PSN? Less I check it did, so how is this true? To me they both are money generators. Double what you get out of it.

[N4BmpS]

One reason I don't like Kotick he is a biased, money hungry douche.

[CountDracula]

First he disses Xbox Live. Now he pisses on PSN. Hmmmm...

I officially hate the video game industry.