Bobby Kotick - Bungie “probably the last remaining high quality independent developer”

Not that I'm a fan of Kotick, but how is this funny? Can you name many other independent developers that consistently produce mainstream big budget AAA titles? All the niche indy games are nice, but he's right - they're mostly either one guy or a couple guys making the game. Not really a "company".

And before you jump on it, Stardock is not an independent developer. They're a publisher that owns a dev team

He's a big moneymaker speaking about big moneymakers. As successful as say, Sins was that was released when Ironclad had 9 people, it's still a tiny fraction of what Bungie can rake in.

With Kotick speaking in such glowing terms about Bungie, I'm worried about him trying to pull some kind of hostile takeover.

"We are the Activision.  We will add your creative and intellectual distinctiveness to our own, and then destroy it.  Resistance is futile.  You will be incorporated."

Depends on how you define "quality".  Churning out shallow first person shooters is not quality to me at all.  There are probably a dozen independent developers out that there are doing more quality than Halo.

For some reason if you are an indy developer you have to develop at least one game that is a puzzle game or one game thats all artsy. Or you can do both!

Bungie is privately held, hostile takeover isn't an option as they'd have to sell their own interest out to Activision.  Hostile takeovers are where you go to the shareholders and wrest control from the current board of directors, something only possible with a public corporation that actually has shareholders to go to.

They could sell themselves out again though.

What does Koklick know about quality? He is the exact opposite. The only news gamers want to hear involving his name is that some large person has their hands around his neck, squeezing hard.

To what degree is Bungie still Independent? They have a 10-year contract with one of the largest and most nefarious publishers out there, one that is known for screwing over anyone with even a loose relationship to them.

Now, I know Bungie is still technically independent, but tying themselves to Activism for a decade, after a long stint with Microsoft, doesn't exactly instill them with "Indy cred," and in my opinion, at least, doesn't make them truly independent. At least not in the same sense as, say, Spiderweb, Basilisk, Stardock, Cryptic Sea, Frictional, etc etc.

By independent Kotick, Bungie, and that ex-bungie guy they all refer to a company that's not a part of a big corporate conglomerate, not in a grass roots way. To them the bunch of guys making games on their garages dont matter.

Good old Bobby Kotick, one of the few people that can consistently bring out the hatred in the average gamer. After all how many people recieve the reverse "Chuck Norris Facts" meme....

Anyway, Bungie may technically be an independent but they definitely are not on my short list for high quality independent developers anymore. I never could get into Halo, beat the first three games but had no desire to ever touch them again, they just were not that interesting (highly subjective I know).

At any rate when I think of Bungie the first thing that comes to mind is still the Myth series and the visceral satisfaction of a well placed dwarven molotov taking out a crowd of thralls .... ah the memories...

regards,

ct

Every time Darth Kotick is in the news I brace myself cause I have a feeling that he's gonna say something that will make me punch my monitor!

In this case, he's possibly right.

One thing though, Darth Kotick measures quality in PROFIT, nothing else!   He has even said that he rewards profit and nothing else.

I can't stand Kotick. Assclowns like him are the reason why gaming has turned into big business where putting out sub-standard shit to rake in fast cash is acceptable. He's actually proud of the fact that he took the "Fun" out of making games. He's a one man version of EA and people like him are killing gaming with their rush to bring in the big bucks. I'd laugh my ass off if the market crashed and he lost everything and had to live in a box on the street eating out of a dumpster behind McDonalds. I don't normally wish bad stuff on people, but from his business practices alone I think he probably deserves it. It's a real shame too because for the most part I like a lot of Activision's games. They're one of the only big name developers that have been around since the old school NES days and are still around today. I've got a lot of old Activision games that still stand up to the test of time even today, like "Star Trek: Armada 2" and some of the old Spider-Man games.

You seriously contradict yourself and highlight the humor.  When you are big, with lots of employees and big budgets, you are no longer independent.  Bungie has a lot of affiliations and associations and deals with publishers, not independent by a long shot.

I lost interest in halo after the third game

halo 2 will always be the best one

An Open Letter From A Former Bungie VP to Bobby Kotick

While perhaps not seen in the full context of his talk at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch conference, Activision head Bobby Kotick's comments about Bungie did create quite a stir last week.

Among those bothered by Kotick's talk was former Bungie executive vice president, and current president of Atomic Games, Peter Tamte. He sent Kotaku this Letter to the Editor which, as we've done sometimes in the past, we're running here in its entirety.

"Mr. Kotick:

You were quoted saying that Bungie is the last remaining high quality independent developer. As a former executive vice president of Bungie, I need to tell you: If this is true, you're screwed.

Activision and every other big publisher have grown by acquiring independent developers. The industry needs a constant supply of new independent developers to buy because they're the ones creating innovative games that become franchises.

Gears of War. Portal. Borderlands. None of these games re-hashes the same old formulas. They innovate. And, they're made by independent developers, of course.

So, we challenge you.

You've called Activision the industry's online leader. If you think the newest Call of Duty online experience is that innovative, let players buy just the online part of Call of Duty Black Ops and charge them a fair price.

In fact, we'll make you a deal. Let consumers buy just the online part of Call of Duty, and we'll give you a starring role in our new online game, Breach. Trust me, starring in your own videogame would give you huge street cred. We've even mocked up a screenshot to show you how cool you'd look in Breach.

As an independent developer, Atomic can't spend its way to big sales, like Activision can. We have to innovate. So, if you're confident Activision can innovate without independent developers, this is your opportunity to prove it.

Sincerely,

Peter Tamte
President
Atomic Games"

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Pwnd?...and LOL @ the picture.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHROFLOMGWTFHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, that was Awesome. I'm buying every Atmoic game I see for sale from now on. Even if it's a game I don't like or want. Those guys need to be huge just for their stance on that. That dude has balls. He just earned some major respect in my book.

Great stuff posting that Tormy

You know, that was the intention of the letter. PR for their new game. Still funny though.

Well I will admit I went over and had a look at their site after seeing this.

Now I am not terribly fond of FPS's, generally I perfer strategy games, but their new game does seem interesting. It wouldbe nice to play more games that rewarded tactical thinking rather than blind aggression. I have mentioned Breach to a few of my friends that love shooters so I guess the letter has had the intended result (love the picture by the way).

regards,

ct

With fairness, Bungie made some of my all time favourite games.

Although, admittedly, Halo wasn't one of them. It was good, quite good even, and it has a fairly manic following. I just liked Oni a lot better.

What partially soured me on Halo was that I was DETERMINED not to buy an Xbox, and it aggravated me to notice how crude Microsoft's manipulations to turn it into a box seller was.