Currently, there are several “big publishers” in the gaming space that have a dominating grasp on several of the industry’s biggest franchises and names. It didn’t use to be that way, but over time, certain companies started to buy up smaller developers and IPs so that all main revenue and creativity could flow through their own banners instead of being able to be sold to their competitors. We all know about the major purchases that companies like Microsoft and Sony have made in recent years, but Electronic Arts apparently once almost bought Call of Duty and other companies/franchises to help bolster its ranks.
During an interview with Grit, former EA Chief Creative Officer Bing Gordon noted that Electronic Arts had a chance to not only acquire the beloved first-person shooter but some other key franchises and a major developer to help improve its own ranks but decided not to pull the trigger:
“Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, and Blizzard, EA saw all those first and passed on all of them.”
One of the ironies of the interview was that Gordon was accompanied by former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, whom Gordon praised after Activision acquired Blizzard and got those other properties:
“You kept the people around. I’m pretty sure that… the creative leaders would not have stuck around in another company. So you did some kind of a miracle of keeping them productive for long periods of time and probably biting your tongue from time to time.”
So, obviously, gamers “dodged a bullet” because EA did not get these franchises and bought Blizzard. After all, EA is one of the most notorious gaming publishers because of its tunnel vision, which focuses on microtransactions and trying to squeeze every dollar possible out of gamers. One doesn’t need to picture how this could’ve affected a certain first-person shooter franchise, as EA has already done that with its own series in the past, including one incident that was so egregious with its “Pay-2-Win” policy that the United States Congress got involved!
However, there is another irony here that can’t be overstated. While Activision was the big “winner” in getting Blizzard and the other franchises, it did come at its own cost. And no, we’re not talking about how Microsoft would eventually buy them all up for nearly $70 billion dollars.
Bobby Kotick was an incredibly controversial figure, including being accused of various things during his run as Activision Blizzard CEO right up until the Microsoft merger. Context is key for stories like these.
