First reported by WindowsCentral, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick held an all hands on meeting today, and he had James Corden interview him, as they discussed future of ABK, Guitar Hero, AI, and more. Several employees described the call as ‘bizarre’, per sources.
— CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) October 10, 2023
- Sources familiar with the event recently shared with us a glimpse at an internal townhall meeting between Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and Activision-Blizzard employees.
- Hosted by James Corden of Gavin & Stacey fame, Kotick fielded a range of questions and offered some insights into the future of Activision.
- Microsoft is planning to acquire Activision-Blizzard-King in a blockbuster 72 billion dollar deal that has faced intense regulatory scrutiny.
- Both Kotick and Corden were coy about the current status of the deal, which is widely regarded to close as soon as this Friday 13, 2023, pending final UK approval.
- While discussing Microsoft, Kotick lauded the firm's resources, cloud server tech, and technological research arm. He also name checked Guitar Hero, strongly hinting that the game could be on the docket for a revival.
To that end, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick called an all-hands meeting with Activision-Blizzard-King staff today, hosted by none other than James Corden (no relation, I think) of Gavin & Stacey fame. During the meeting, Kotick reminisced about Activision's journey from independent, to being under Vivendi, and then to becoming a publicly traded company. Kotick also discussed future tech, namechecked Guitar Hero, and hinted about what the future of ABK's partnership with Microsoft may look like.
James Corden asked how Kotick and ABK leadership will retain its culture, which Kotick repeatedly described as "magic" and "special" during the discussion. Kotick emphasized his belief that Microsoft wants to acquire the company for that "magic," represented in the 15,000+ staff within Activision, predicting that Microsoft will seek to maintain it moving forward.
Changing gears a bit, Kotick was asked to look ahead to the future of gaming, and what it could mean for Activision and Microsoft as the firms team up. Kotick discussed machine learning and AI, but also emphasized the need to hire more writers, more actors, to meet the growing expectations of gamers. He also surprisingly namechecked Elon Musk's brain interfacing Neuralink as a potential way for interacting with video games, which he described as a "more visceral" medium than movies and other entertainment media.
Kotick also discussed technological innovations, mentioning how mobile devices took gaming from a fairly expensive middle-class pursuit in developed nations in the early days, to a global phenomenon. Xbox lead Phil Spencer often talks about Microsoft's goal to reach all of the world's "2 billion" gamers, and mobile devices will naturally form part of that strategy. However, Kotick was also interested in discussing future tech, such as Elon Musk's Neuralink, as well as VR.
Kotick looked ahead to the "next 10 years of gaming," reminiscing about transformative titles from Activision's back catalog like Pitfall, River Raids, and Kaboom! of decades past. Kotick also namechecked Guitar Hero, hinting that it's currently on the path to a revival: "The re-emergence of Guitar Hero and other things would not be possible without the different types of resources. And so, you know, just the endless possibilities for the future that are just incredibly exciting."
I'm sorry, James Corden?
Lmfao. I...Uh...Please Xbox, for the love of God, keep James Corden AWAY from Xbox.
Kotick is so out of touch, Lmao.
Last edited by Ryuu96 - on 10 October 2023
