Now that Activision has merged up with Blizzard all under Vivendi it’s time to consider what to do with all the additional overhead, management, internal studios and sheer amount of people working on projects within their organization. In other words, it’s time to trim the fat and get leaned out for the long haul.
This isn’t unexpected news, the only way to grow more effective as a large company is to remove some of the access baggage that can slow you down and let your competitors take control. This is a sad job which nobody takes pride in (most normal people anyway) but it could mean the difference between rising to the top and sinking like a brick.
“We are focused on improving efficiency across the combined organization and are concentrating on businesses where we have leadership positions that are aligned with Activision Publishing’s long-term corporate objectives,” Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith said in a statement. (gamespot)
It’s important to be aggressive as a large company, just like you would be as a startup company. There is a reason startup companies grow into powerful competitors that win, grow and eventually become (or be purcahsed by) larger companies.
As part of this move some staff will be migrated to new projects, persumably reporposed into other divisions or allowed to find new jobs somewhere else. This is called “realignment” by those in the management organization, and currently those up for realignment are:
- Radical Entertainment (Prototype, Crash of the Titans)
- High Moon Studios (The Bourne Conspiracy, Darkwatch).
- Massive Entertainment (World in Conflict, Ground Control)
- Swordfish Studios (50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, Cold Winter)
These realignments along with other organizational changes will effect a few working game titles:
- Brutal Legend
- Ghostbusters
- Wet
- Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
- World at Conflict: Soviet Assault
- 50 Cent Blood on the Sand
- Zombie Wranglers
- Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust
- Several Xbox Live Arcade titles
At this point we’re not sure which, if any, will continue to be developed under Activision and which will be sold off to other companies or retired. Surely, those money making titles will be sold off if Activision has no plans to finish them.
Again, it’s hard to consider this a bad decision. This is a decision of growth over having too many “Cooks in the kitchen” making soup. It’s better to have rock solid titles of epic proportions than a large pool of mediocre titles with minimal sales and bad reputations, and that’s why they spend a lot of time in the office working on this and having a type of office chair for long hours on a computer is really helpful in this area.
It’s not that the titles they’re questioning are necessarily bad, but are not the leading titles in their space and are should be either given a stronger team to work on them or retire them entirely. To build a stronger team with passion and direction it might be best to sell the franchise(s) to other organizations so they can do it right with time and attention to detail.
(Thanks, gamespot)
INFOCOM??!?! You already DID that one a few weeks ago!
http://gamingpodcast.net/2009/03/31/gaming-podcast-116-we-cant-get-to-the-cloud/
INFOCOM??!?! You already DID that one a few weeks ago!
http://gamingpodcast.net/2009/03/31/gaming-podcast-116-we-cant-get-to-the-cloud/
Oh yeah, oops.
Wow, March 31st was a few weeks ago!? Man… I’m living in some alternative universe 🙂
Oh yeah, oops.
Wow, March 31st was a few weeks ago!? Man… I’m living in some alternative universe 🙂
– Natal … well, it’s a chicken vs. eggs dilema: nobody would by Natal because there are no games for it, and game producers won’s make a Natal based game because there are not enough people having Natal.
Making a game for Natal or not is a decision that might turn into a financial error.
– how many PSP versions are there anyway?! Jennifer is right, people will get confused. Heck, I’m confused …
Numbers are not that bad though, they help me with PC parts; having different names for almost-the-same products however is confusing.
(I know the differences between GeForce 7300 GT, GeForce 7300 GS, GeForce 7300 LE, GeForce 7300 SE but it is so damn confusing!)
– Blizzard and consoles? Sounds more like the Activision side trying to make more money by limitting PC piracy.
What’s funny is that Blizzard already has a way arround piracy (WoW anyone?).
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3138816
Oops! >:)
– @Take Two: Derrick, you’ve made a good point there.
– @BlueRay3D: dunno about replaying stuff in 3D. You’d need to send one set of images to just one eye, and another set of images for just the other one.
Without special glasses that will not be possible.
From this being just an attempt to create a market, well, this sounds a lot like Natal …
But who knows, as bad (or good?) as it sounds, the adult movies intustry made VHS tapes a success, maybe they’ll pick up this 3D vision thinggie.
What wow-ed me in 2009? A move made by Epic:
http://udk.com/launch.html
I get it, they’re doing it to gain market share. In worst case they make no money and gain market. Best case scenario they make a truckload of money out of the games using it, without lifting a finger, and they gain market.
Anyway, I didn’t expect that move. Congrats Epic!
– Natal … well, it’s a chicken vs. eggs dilema: nobody would by Natal because there are no games for it, and game producers won’s make a Natal based game because there are not enough people having Natal.
Making a game for Natal or not is a decision that might turn into a financial error.
– how many PSP versions are there anyway?! Jennifer is right, people will get confused. Heck, I’m confused …
Numbers are not that bad though, they help me with PC parts; having different names for almost-the-same products however is confusing.
(I know the differences between GeForce 7300 GT, GeForce 7300 GS, GeForce 7300 LE, GeForce 7300 SE but it is so damn confusing!)
– Blizzard and consoles? Sounds more like the Activision side trying to make more money by limitting PC piracy.
What’s funny is that Blizzard already has a way arround piracy (WoW anyone?).
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3138816
Oops! >:)
– @Take Two: Derrick, you’ve made a good point there.
– @BlueRay3D: dunno about replaying stuff in 3D. You’d need to send one set of images to just one eye, and another set of images for just the other one.
Without special glasses that will not be possible.
From this being just an attempt to create a market, well, this sounds a lot like Natal …
But who knows, as bad (or good?) as it sounds, the adult movies intustry made VHS tapes a success, maybe they’ll pick up this 3D vision thinggie.
What wow-ed me in 2009? A move made by Epic:
http://udk.com/launch.html
I get it, they’re doing it to gain market share. In worst case they make no money and gain market. Best case scenario they make a truckload of money out of the games using it, without lifting a finger, and they gain market.
Anyway, I didn’t expect that move. Congrats Epic!
Well, 30 weeks ago, but that’s still no excuse :p
Well, 30 weeks ago, but that’s still no excuse :p
Things that wow’ed me: being at E3 and playing games well in advance like God of War III, The Beatles: Rock Band, and Dragon Age. The Brink demonstration there wow’ed me the most, as did attending the introduction of Project Natal and the Milo demo.
As for games, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Assassin’s Creed II were big surprises, as was Halo 3: ODST’s co op multiplayer.
Things that wow’ed me: being at E3 and playing games well in advance like God of War III, The Beatles: Rock Band, and Dragon Age. The Brink demonstration there wow’ed me the most, as did attending the introduction of Project Natal and the Milo demo.
As for games, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Assassin’s Creed II were big surprises, as was Halo 3: ODST’s co op multiplayer.
Biggest highlight of 2009 was sony losing the Exclusivity of its exclusive title Final Fantasy XIII =] =[) XD
Biggest highlight of 2009 was sony losing the Exclusivity of its exclusive title Final Fantasy XIII =] =[) XD