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Activision's Kotick Discounts Downloadable Games

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the someone's-never-been-on-XBLA dept.

kukyfrope writes "In a recent interview with the New York Times, Activision Chief Executive Bobby Kotick claims to be optimistic about the future of gaming and the potential revenue of new gamers as many traditional gamers hit their 30's and 40's and are introducing their kids to the world of gaming. While Kotick has a bright outlook, he sees 'full downloadable games' as being 'so far in the future that it's almost incomprehensible.' This would seem to be contradicted by the success of online avenues such as Valve's Steam system, Xbox Live and Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console."

6 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. Scott Miller chimes in by Jare · · Score: 2, Informative

    He obviously doesn't agree: http://dukenukem.typepad.com/game_matters/2006/06/ activisions_ceo.html He pimps Triton, which is being used for Prey.

  2. Taken out of context by rabiddeity · · Score: 4, Informative

    The original NYT article has the following quote (emphasis mine):

    "The idea of full downloadable games is so far in the future that it's almost incomprehensible as an opportunity," Mr. Kotick said. But he added that there were more immediately plausible revenue opportunities from selling downloads of supplemental game levels or "characters, new weapons, new missions, or auctioning off places" in a virtual world.

    So, as you can see, his words were taken a bit out of context. His opinion is that small downloadable content like expansions will sell, but not an entire 5GB game. Still a bit misguided, considering the success of Steam, but not as bad as the article makes it out to be.

  3. Re:nice summary of a registration required article by Meagermanx · · Score: 2, Informative

    I was thinking about buying Half-Life 2, but then I tried to register a copy of Half-Life that was purchased at a thrift store with Steam, and it had already been registered. So how do I get them to clear up the CD Key? Why, I pay them $10.00, of course. I was kind of bummed, since Half-Life only cost $1.00. Registering new products is fair, but removing functionality from already-purchased old products... that's just low.

  4. Re:HD + connectivity + OS = piracy by Ahnteis · · Score: 3, Informative

    I think most downloads are happening on PCs rather then on the console itself.

  5. Re:How so? by RESPAWN · · Score: 2, Informative

    Stardock's Totalgaming.net offers full games for purchase, including Galactic Civilizations 2. While a number of the games are smaller, indie releases, there are some older titles from large publishers.

    It must also be pointed out that all of the games offered on Totalgaming.net are devoid of DRM.

    --

    If Murphy's Law can go wrong, it will.

  6. Savage 2 by skavj_binsk · · Score: 2, Informative

    Upcoming Savage 2 will be downloads, not retail. Coming out this summer. It's a team-based fps where each team has a commander who's playing a rts; commander researches weapons, starts buildings which the fps-style players build, etc. First one came out maybe 3 years ago, and people are still playing and modding. I can't stop playing because of the melee system, which makes it way different from a bunnyhop orgy like cs, and the team-oriented goals, where it actually pays off to use teamwork.

    -Skavj "sounds like astroturf, but I swear, I'm a real person! with feelings!" Binsk