According to an article on Kotaku (which I can’t link to…)
In the filing, CtW Investment Group executive director Dieter Waizenegger writes that, thanks to “multiple, overlapping award provisions” in Kotick’s employment agreement with Activision Blizzard, the CEO is allowed “multiple bites at the apple.” Kotick has received over $20 million in stock options every year for the last four years in addition to his base salary, a bonus that eclipses the total pay for many of his fellow CEOs throughout the games industry. The cumulative total of Kotick’s stock awards alone in the last four years is $96.5 million – which, again, doesn’t include his salary. The filing adds that Kotick’s bonuses are “antithetical to pay for performance.”
Activision defended Kotick’s bonuses in a statement to GameSpot, citing increases in the company’s “market capitalisation” and share price performance during his tenure as the impetus behind his hefty compensation. “He has delivered exceptional value for Activision Blizzard’s stockholders,” the rep said.
CtW Investment Group has asked Activision shareholders to vote against an upcoming proposal that would approve Kotick’s compensation for the next fiscal year.”
How much of his salary came from WoW Revenues / profits?
When you know that profits are not being ringfenced and going back into the game and staff are being laid off, whilst rich shareholders and executives are making big bucks, you know this spells bad news for the long term sustainability of the game.
this is applicable to wow economy as well: current system benefit only AH goblins and Multifarmers
new reality is the following: rich get richer, poor get poorer/ laid off
bad, sad, whatever you call it, but its now unstoppable cause of people`s indifference
P.S. special welcome to clowns who try to whitewash this disparity at everything
What’s there to discuss? Bezos is a billionaire and his workers get minimum wage.
Tim Cook is a millionaire and the iPhones are made in China, where people are paid who knows how much.
Elon musk recently threw a fit on social media to reopen the country and get the people back to work in a full pandemic.
Rich people see poor people as anything but “people”. They’re borderline (if not fully) sociopaths. Workers are seen as tools, like machinery, like materials.
Here’s the thing, blizzard and activision aren’t two companies anymore. They’re keeping the brand “blizzard” in the name because it has good brand value.
Well, in which case I may as well wait until all the (remaining) founders leave and hopefully come up with a new studio / mmorpg, because our game isn’t getting back what we are putting in, in my humble view
The other studios are greedier, look at BDO, you can buy the game at 3 levels.
Basic €10
Standard €40
Deluxe €100
The game doesn’t have a sub-fee though and they have an in-game shop with plenty of stuff on sale from cosmetics, QOL’s and character power.
ESO follows a similar formula but less greedy
FFXIV is the same story.
There prolly isn’t a good guy studio out there where their CEO’s aren’t well compensated. Also, I’m not familiar with CEO work and their responsibilities, from what I understand is that it’s not a job that just any person off the street can handle.
Back when WoW was being made their focus was to make the game as good as possible to attract players. After 10 years their focus has shifted from creating a good game and to make as much money off of it as possible, that is player retention. I imagine any new studio’s focus would follow a similar path.
Blizzard was doomed the moment they started doing business with Activision.
A cola peddler as a CEO has no feelings for the gaming industry and can only think in terms of revenue.
The last time a cola peddler meddled in tech business was in the 90’s and it almost killed off Apple when Jobs finally got his company back from those greedy ‘businessmen’.
Call of Duty® Mobile installs exceeded 150 million, with the game reaching the top of the download charts in more than 150 countries and regions, and ending the fourth quarter in the top-15 grossing games in U.S. app stores.2
Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® unit sell-through increased by a double-digit percentage versus Call of Duty®: Black Ops 4 , with growth across both PC and console. PC sell-through on Battle.net grew 50% year-over-year . Modern Warfare saw strong growth in full-game downloads with console digital mix at nearly 50%. In-game net bookingsC grew by a double-digit percentage versus Black Ops 4 .
In 2019, Call of Duty again generated more upfront console sales than any other franchise worldwide, a feat accomplished for 10 of the last 11 years.1
In January, the Call of Duty LeagueTM debuted with 12 city-based teams competing at its launch weekend in Minnesota. The league launched with deeply experienced team owners, high profile sponsors, and streaming distribution through YouTube, Activision Blizzard’s new broadcasting partner for esports leagues and events.
Blizzard
Blizzard had 32 million MAUsD.
World of Warcraft® exited 2019 with an active player community3 more than twice the size of its Q2-ending level.
Hearthstone® launched the Descent of DragonsTM expansion and rolled out the new Battlegrounds game mode in the fourth quarter, which drove sequential growth in engagement. Net bookingsB also grew sequentially for the franchise.
Overwatch® launched on the Nintendo Switch, further expanding a community that has surpassed 50 million players globally since launch.
In February, the Overwatch LeagueTM will return with 20 established teams from around the world competing in a homestand format with matches broadcast live on YouTube.
King
King had 249 million MAUsD.
Candy Crush SagaTM mobile reach grew year-over-year and it was the top-grossing title in the U.S. app stores.4
Candy CrushTM was once again the top-grossing franchise in the U.S. mobile app stores in the fourth quarter and 2019.4
Advertising net bookingsB grew over 80% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, and exceeded $150 million dollars in 2019.
The majority of this worlds multi-millionaires are obscenely wealthy precisely because they don’t give a crap about others.
“Decent people” don’t capitalize on the others misfortune or use people as disposable tools.
But then again, there’s a reason most “decent people” don’t become multi-millionaires too.
Just look at Tesla and Edison. One wanted to bring people free electricity, the other wanted to be rich.
Which one died a rich man and which one died in poverty?
Bobby Kotick might be a corporate slug… But he’s not much different from most CEO’s… The majority of them are disgusting human beings because the capitalistic system doesn’t reward you for being a “good guy”, there’s no bonuses for being “kind” or “decent”.
There’s bonuses for making rich shareholders richer.
it’s not the shareholders he should please, it’s the people that buy the product that matter, i honestly couldn’t care less how much money some guy has as long as the people buying the product are happy…are we happy?
