The Pocket Moleskine

A random smattering of thoughts.
Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard, Inc. - President and CEO:
“…the goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks that we brought in to Activision 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games. I think we definitely have been able to instill the culture, the skepticism and pessimism and fear that you should have in an economy like we are in today. And so, while generally people talk about the recession, we are pretty good at keeping people focused on the deep depression.
Activision games to bypass consoles, CEO wants to take the fun out of making video games
I’d say the core business model of video games is a burning platform. Absolutely. We all recognize that, and we’ll recognize it 10 years from now when we tell our grand kids,” he said. “We’ll tell them we used to drive to the store to get shiny discs that have bits and bites on them and we’d place them in this thing called a ‘disc tray,’ and it’d whirl around…and they’ll go ‘What?’ Peter Moore: Core Business Model a ‘Burning Platform’

For Batman: Arkham Asylum, how hard was it to resist the temptation of throwing in Batmobile driving segments? I thought it was interesting what you guys did with the Batmobile, but Batman has these great vehicles like that and the Batwing. Was there some debate whether or not to include those in the game? It would seem like obvious to have a driving or a flying segment.

SH: We didn’t have a flying or driving section in the game, that’s true. There was a lot of discussion about that. Obviously, the vehicles are a part of Batman. We decided that we would make vehicles a part of the story, so rescuing the Batmobile plays a significant part, and the Batwing delivers the Line Launcher.

What we don’t want to do is take on too much. Some of the things that we really wanted to achieve were for Batman himself, so we didn’t want to overstretch with a driving section with its own mechanic and requirements, and take that development time away from the things that were important for Batman himself.

That was what really drove that decision. We had a lot of discussions about it, but at the end of the day, anything that is going to compromise the quality of what we were doing was something that we wouldn’t take on if it was going to compromise the quality of the other components. We wanted to make sure that what we deliver and what you play is of the highest possible quality.

Rocksteady’s Sefton Hill Unmasks Batman: Arkham Asylum