$200m Kotick bonus

[jazen]

Capitalism-the worst economic system expect for all the other economic theories.

[rhorle]

Done for you maybe. I for one believe that there is still lots of room for the future for SC and WC. Just because you don't play it doesn't mean others wont. Besides there are plenty of ways to monetize than skins.

Future of Warcraft is entirely different then your original statement that specified Warcraft 3. The future of a new Warcraft game is clouded a little by WoW and tying in any new game. There is 100% going to be a new Starcraft game and is likely already in development though not at a stage Blizzard will reveal since they are both slow and secretive early on.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

The most "funny" thing about this is, that Koticks worthless, fat bastard ass does not need that bonus and certainly did not deserve it while it could have saved every single of those jobs.

It actually couldn't have saved any of the jobs. to turn it into actual cash they would have had to sell the stock which would drive the stock price down which would lead to them having to make up for it to please the other stock holders which would likely lead to even more layoff's with the esports people still being first up as they are not needed right now.

[Nynax]

Alas, you're in the wrong section for this topic but I agree with you. Sadly, this is the system people have built up where the top guys reap more than the smaller guys, and being prioritized more than its people.

Why I love Bernie Sanders idea to legalize a ratio of top executive pay vs lowest wage employee pay. It's not government taking extra money to redistribute wealth via welfare, but it is enforcing businesses to reinvest in themselves and their people; "forcing" that "trickle down economics" Republicans are so fond of.

[Gorsameth]

That wealth is just obnoxious. I know he can take it he is in the charge but just simple human feelin should stop him to take it. I know its easy to say from my position but seriously they just fired a lot of ppl.

I don't think anyone here thinks Kotick(or every other major CEO) is making a fair wage. CEO salary's and bonuses are completely out of control.
But that is a Capitalism problem, not an evil Activision problem.

[KrayZ33]

I don't think anyone here thinks Kotick(or every other major CEO) is making a fair wage. CEO salary's and bonuses are completely out of control.
But that is a Capitalism problem, not an evil Activision problem.

Since activision is playing by the rules, I'd say it's both actually
They are part of the problem, basically.

[Niwes]

If money first is all that matters then that businesses doesn't deserve to exists imo. Not every company has to follow that philosophy to be successful.



Done for you maybe. I for one believe that there is still lots of room for the future for SC and WC. Just because you don't play it doesn't mean others wont. Besides there are plenty of ways to monetize than skins.

yep, you have this opinion (your first part), i have exactly the same opinion, but the ppl that are rich as fuck do not share this opinion. thats the reason why they are rich as fuck. brave new world

look: i am a senior sw developer. had my own projects, had my own team. do that shit since 21 years. could create my own company. formed my hobby and my vocation/destiny/talent into my daily work, when i was 20 or so. i do sw development with passion in my free time and at work. i am horrible good in what i do (sorry to sound arrogant here) and i/we have many many satisfied customers. BUT: i am (we are) not rich as fuck.

and here is why:

with love and passion, the wheels are rolling and you can come far. a bit. and all in all you can do fine and mosts days feel good and the money is ok. but in the end of the day, you get not REALLY rich with love and passion. if you do not EVERYTHING, acceppt all the negative sides of whatever crosses your way, not invest A LOT and not acceppting to have no real life (family, friends, drinking beer at bbq...) and your highest priority is NOT money, but your passion.... well then you will never be rich as fuck.

i give you another example: a gaming company not having many IPs, not catering to everyone, not using many smart cash grab systems and foremost doing one product for years, until its well done, is Rockstar Games. yes, they are very successful with the old pattern „invest much and gain much“ by doing a long term high quality investment in a high quality product and the huge success of it makes huge profit in return. this pattern was used many many years in the industry before the early 2000s. today most giant companies dont do this anymore. instead they use good marketing, cost effective development, streamlining, recycling, smart cash grab systems and base all on a focus that targets high quarter numbers. long term investment for long term customers is dead. it is all about quarter numbers. why? because the second way they just make more money. Rockstar Games is successful. rich. are they as rich as ATVI Blizzard? no. not in the slightest. understand?

in short: love and passion in what you do is fine. solid. do you get rich as fuck or rich as Bobby with that? nope.

that said, i hopefully could shed a bit light on why your Blizz/redeem/WC3/Starcraft thing is all nice and fine, but ppl like Bobby not got their 200$ bonuses with such stuff.

[rhorle]

i give you another example: a gaming company not having many IPs, not catering to everyone, not using many smart cash grab systems and foremost doing one product for years, until its well done, is Rockstar Games. yes, they are very successful with the old pattern „invest much and gain much“ by doing a long term high quality investment in a high quality product and the huge success of it makes huge profit in return. this pattern was used many many years in the industry before the early 2000s. today most giant companies dont do this anymore. instead they use good marketing, cost effective development, streamlining, recycling, smart cash grab systems and base all on a focus that targets high quarter numbers.

Rockstar still spends boat loads on marketing, cost effective development, streamlining, recycling, smart cash grabs etc. Its like you've never even heard of their online portion of the games to not even consider them as using smart cash grabs. The difference between what you label Rockstar as and other studios is one has your favor and the others do not.

Sure Rockstar has made sure to consistently make their recent games hits but that isn't because they are some paragon of development or game design. They still do everything else that the major game development studios do. They just have done it better. You can also get rich with love and passion. Look at Hello Games. They got rich. They took a game that was a major disappointment on launch and kept releasing updates to turn it into a really great game.

Mr.Kotick gets his bonuses with releasing things like WC3, Starcraft, etc because those are the things that drive the stock price of game development companies. Otherwise the stock of CDPR wouldn't have dropped so much with a terrible game launch right?

[Xorzor]

Kotick is to Blizzard as cancer is to humans: an infection to be eradicated lest it spread and take everyone with it.

I was thinking about playing WoW again recently, but this news has made my decision extremely easy. He rakes in more ill-gotten money whilst employees are laid off with barely-tangible compensation.

[Auroboros]

So sad that the money men came in and gutted everything, this is why new studios get a foothold so quick these days

[Niwes]

Rockstar still spends boat loads on marketing, cost effective development, streamlining, recycling, smart cash grabs etc. Its like you've never even heard of their online portion of the games to not even consider them as using smart cash grabs. The difference between what you label Rockstar as and other studios is one has your favor and the others do not.

Sure Rockstar has made sure to consistently make their recent games hits but that isn't because they are some paragon of development or game design. They still do everything else that the major game development studios do. They just have done it better. You can also get rich with love and passion. Look at Hello Games. They got rich. They took a game that was a major disappointment on launch and kept releasing updates to turn it into a really great game.

Mr.Kotick gets his bonuses with releasing things like WC3, Starcraft, etc because those are the things that drive the stock price of game development companies. Otherwise the stock of CDPR wouldn't have dropped so much with a terrible game launch right?

no offense here, but: i talked about getting rich as fuck aka a multibillion dollar company. i would strongly consider to google the net worth of hello games.

when it comes down to Rockstar: tbh i not played a Rockstar game the last 3 year or so. played GTA5 when it was released and solely offline. Also took a quick look for 1-3 days into the last RDR when it was released. so it used them just as an example, because that company always felt like that „invest long term in polished product and get high amount of profit in return“ (the old investmemt method before targetting quarter numbers was main focus) to me, the last 20 years. dont take my words too serious about RG, it was just an example for an industry/company behaviour thing and my bad english is hindering me a lot, to just clearly show what i mean or what i wanna say.

[Gaidax]

Capitalism-the worst economic system expect for all the other economic theories.

Capitalism is fine. There is no problem to incentivize innovation, performance and skill with considerable benefits.

That said - there needs to be a balance about it. This is one case where these things should not be happening, tossing $200m USD cash at one guy, while at the same moment planning waves of layoffs is that toxic version of capitalism that should be as frowned upon and canceled as many other issues are. I'm pretty bloody sure a "modest" 10 million bonus or such for exceptional performance would be bloody more than enough, then take the remaining $190m USD and split it as a bonus between all employees.