Bobby Kotick Reveals Nintendo Lawyer Howard Lincoln Convinced Him To Buy Activision

Former Activision Blizzard King CEO and President made a fascinating revelation about how he entered in the video game industry.

We had to trace some of this story on our own, so instead of quoting Bobby in his words, we will paraphrase him. But you can listen to Bobby tell the story in his own words in the latest episode of Kleiner Perkins’ podcast, which is now free to watch on YouTube here.

One of Bobby’s first acquisitions was a licensing company called Leisure Concepts, Inc, or Leisure Concepts. Leisure Concepts was a specialist in licensing franchises for merchandise, working with Farrah Fawcett, James Bond 007, The Shadow, Charlie Chan, etc.  Leisure Concepts helped develop the idea of ThunderCats, and in 1986, nabbed the deal for Star Wars. In 1987, they got the mother of licensing deals with Nintendo of America. In particular, they were licensing their software.

Some gamers today may have only known of PlayStation’s preeminent position as the top brand in the video game industry, but Nintendo’s first run of success in America was an industry changer. The Nintendo Entertainment System cannibalized the toy industry completely, and that created a lot of interest, not only with kids, but with businessmen like Kotick.

As Leisure Concepts CEO, Kotick went to a meeting with Nintendo of America to discuss their licensing plans. In casual conversation, he told Nintendo’s representative, Howard Lincoln, that what he really wanted to get into was the video game business. So Kotick asked if Leisure Concepts could make games for the NES. Lincoln happened to be the same Nintendo attorney that beat Universal in their King Kong vs. Donkey Kong lawsuit. So Lincoln pointed out that there could be a potential conflict of interest in Leisure Concepts licensing Nintendo’s software, and also making software for Nintendo.

But Lincoln then shared something else. He told Bobby that there was a video game company in California that was struggling to survive, and could use new management. That company was Mediagenic, and in 1991 it reported $ 60 million in debt, but it had some valuable properties that could still make it worth turning around.

Kotick took Lincoln’s advice, and took the effort to acquire the company via hostile takeover, and then develop a bankruptcy restructuring plan to satisfy everyone they were owed money to. In the next year, Kotick reverted Mediagenic back to its original name, Activision. In 1993, he raised $ 40 million the day he took Activision public.

Lincoln was well rewarded for his hard work at Nintendo, including a long tenure as manager of the Seattle Mariners. Kotick retired after successfully completing the deal to sell Activision to Microsoft, and as for Leisure Concepts? That company changed its name to 4Kids Entertainment in 1995, an infamous media giant that didn’t survive its second bankruptcy in 2017. But that’s an entirely different story you can go look for on your own.