Audiences grow from ”more appealing gameplay” which is why Call of Duty does so well, it’s of ”extraordinarily high quality”. Kotick also snubs ads.
”That’s what people are paying their $60 for,” explained Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, speaking at a conference. ”They get a game that has a lot of replayability.”
”We’ve seen our margins and audiences expand from providing more appealing gameplay. I think why Call of Duty has been so successful is because we’re delivering extraordinarily high quality gameplay, production values and interactivity at great value.”
This is a little at odds with his previous wish of wanting a Call of Duty subscription, knowing it would likely roll in the mega bucks. Kotick took a slight jab at rival EA for them recently championing in-game advertisement campaigns.
”There was a time when we thought sponsorship or advertising was a big opportunity but what we realised is that when our customers are paying $60 on a game or a subscription fee, they don’t really want to be barraged with sponsorship or advertising.”
”So, being very respectful of our audiences, unless it’s something really authentic that enhances the game experience we’re generally not going to include” something like that, he said. It’s like CEO Bobby suddenly ‘gets us’ or something… it’s almost creepy.
