Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg took a moment from an interview to talk about the recent death threats thrown at Treyarch developer David Vonderhaar, reports OXM.
For those who may not remember, Vonderhaar and his family became the target of some serious death threats after coming up on the Call of Duty blog to explain that Treyarch nerfed some of the guns for multiplayer. Seriously, that was what happened.
Hirshberg offered his own take on the situation, talking about how the game has a player base of 40 million players every months, and how it is statistically inevitable that there would be some people who behave terribly in that number.
He reiterates that he appreciates the passion of COD players, but they clearly crossed the line when they threw threats of physical violence at Vonderhaar. Hirshberg also commends Vonderhaar for his graceful handling of the situation
Hirshberg is not sure exactly how the industry is supposed to take a stand against this kind of behavior. He explains that when you look at all the different avenues of communication available to us now, and how giant online communities have grown around digital ecosystems like gaming consoles, he does not exactly see how it would be implemented. He concludes that he thinks many fans need proper perspective, but also that devs should be ready to deal with this feedback.
Hirshberg’s response is remarkably restrained and protective of the Call of Duty fanbase. Having said that, I wish he could look beyond possible fears from retaliation from said fanbase and draw lines to protect his developers to some degree. I know some would say taking such action would be ultimately futile, but I’m sure most opportunities for abuse would not be picked up if they were not available to begin with.
