I am currently drafting a letter to Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick. After many hours of tireless work, I have decided to share it with you, the Sarcastic Gamer Community. Enjoy.
Dear Mr. Kotick,
Your company sucks. Leave “Brutal Legend” alone.
Love,
Havok Saunders
P.S. Play “Psychonauts”
What do you think? It is rather short, but I feel that it carries a clear, powerful message.
Last July, Activision, which had recently merged with Vivendi Games, decided to drop Double Fine’s “Brutal Legend” because the IP couldn’t be exploited by the company’s executives. After many months in limbo, the title was finally picked up by Electronic Arts. The first gameplay trailer premiered during Spike’s 2008 Video Games Awards in December.
However, it appears that “Brutal Legend” still has one hurdle to clear before its fall 2009 release.
According to a Variety report, Activision Blizzard is claiming that EA doesn’t own the rights to publish Tim Schafer’s latest game. The author hypothesizes that the company might be seeking monetary compensation, as Atari apparently coughed up some cash when it saved “Ghostbusters: The Video Game” and “The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena.” The aforementioned titles were also dropped following Activision’s merger with Vivendi. Despite the continued success of the “Guitar Hero” and “Call of Duty” franchises, Activision Blizzard posted a loss during its last financial quarter. The company is apparently willing to take the matter to court, but EA, which is powered by John Riccitiello’s incredible machismo, isn’t backing down.
In October, Destructoid’s Jim Sterling reported that Activision Blizzard was supposedly impeding the game’s appearance at retail. That report, to my knowledge, was neither confirmed nor denied.
When will it end? When will Activision Blizzard’s executives cease being money-grubbing clowns? What will they do next? Are they going to sell their parents into slavery for some McDonald’s coupons?
This kind of crap only hurts the industry, though I doubt the publisher’s executives really care. I truly hope that “Brutal Legend” sells two billion copies and that Schafer subsequently burns a bag of dog crap on Kotick’s porch.
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Please do it. Nothing could be sweeter than that.
I think Schafer should burn a bag of dog crap on Kotick’s porch anyway.
How can they be losing money if they make £103,385,000 a month just from world of warcraft subscribers alone.
@ Chris: Never underestimate the power of an idiot in charge to lose money.
That said, may iD encourage Raven to break it off with Activision, so Wolfenstien is the last game they ever see of an iD franchise. They already lost iD themselves (Rage is going to be published by EA…. and I wouldnt be suprised to see Doom 4 in those ranks too).
May Ghostbuster prove a REAL blockbuster that can GET sequels to boot, so Activision has to eat humble pie, have saved their competion with their stupidity single handedly, and just look like even more of an ass.
And if they win this fight with EA, may Tim cancel the project himself, RETITLE it and sell it to EA anyway.
SCREW YOU ACTIVISION.
SCREW YOU LONG
SCREW YOU HARD.
A well said letter : P