Call of Duty: Black Ops, the upcoming game from Treyarch, is rapidly approaching the hype level that its predecessor, Modern Warfare 2 enjoyed. Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision, believes that the cost is justified, given the opportunity represented in the installed console base and marketing opportunity present in the release.
"[Call of Duty: Black Ops] is across the board, the biggest investment that we've ever made in a launch of a title. And I think when audiences see the product, they'll see why we're doing it this way," he said to investors on a recent conference call.
"But the market opportunity is bigger than it's ever been. The installed base of hardware is bigger than it's ever been. The product has incredibly broad appeal, but it also has a whole host of functions that are going to be unique to the core consumer. And from that perspective, we feel like it's the most appropriate Activision product to put these kinds of resources behind."
Kotick stated that Activision is inherently aware of the competition present in the first person shooter market, and he believes that it is a major battle to win over consumer’s leisure time.
"I think there's a lot of competition, not just from games but from a whole host of other things that you can do with your leisure times. And this is something that we think has the potential to break through and appeal to a much broader consumer base than ever before."
Thomas Tippl, CFO for Activision, also took the time to note that despite the incredible amounts of bad press and resignations resulting from the firings of former Infinity Ward studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West, Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer studios have had no problem finding talent. “Year-to-date, we have received approximately 5000 applications for positions at our Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Studios alone," Tippl said.
"And out of that incredible pool, we've selected approximately 60 extremely talented individuals to join our teams," he added. "These additions have been important, and we've been very pleased with the game development you've seen from both studios to date."
1 Comments
August 6, 2010
Hmm...I don't suppose that this extra marketing investment could have anything to do with Kotick desperately wanting this version of CoD to outsell Modern Warfare 2, thereby enabling him to downplay the significance of the events at Infinity Ward, earlier this year....