Photo: Cavalheiro / Flickr

So when StarCraft II shipped, Blizzard packed in editing tools that the mod community went mad with. This is, of course, why someone would make modding tools, yes? Well, kind of. Activision Blizzard has sent out copyright claims over the creation of a user-made StarCraft MMO that Rock Paper Shotgun beautifully dubbed ‘World of StarCraft’.

Shame on you

We get why Activision Blizzard would want to reclaim the ‘World of StarCraft’ name, since it means that, if they intended to make a StarCraft MMO, they couldn’t name it that. But to send out cease and desist letters to a person who painstakingly recreated a game using the StarCraft mod tools is disappointing.

Seriously, why’d you give us these tools?

The mod’s lead modder, Ryan, has since put out a very well articulated argument [via Techland] about his position regarding Activision Blizzard taking this stance.

He says it best: ‘You created a tool that allowed us to do anything with your assets. You encouraged us to use your assets and were eager to see what we might come up with. You had to have seen this coming?

‘I know it’s hard to trust someone you’ve never met to piggyback on your own legacy. The brilliance of StarCraft combined with the multiplayer focus of World of Warcraft. You might be a little worried about your lore being butchered… or even more-so worried about a guy with no supervision tainting the name of your company with poor product.

‘Let me assure you that I am in no way shape or form going to deliver anything less than complete perfection. I’ve been following your work since Warcraft. I’ve worked with every editor you’ve put out since I was 13 years old.’

This is how you treat fans?

While we can’t speak to the quality of the product he will deliver, he does make a good point about Activision Blizzard providing these StarCraft mod tools.

He ends it off with style, saying: ‘If you have a problem with what I am doing… or would like to talk about it. I’m all ears. But please don’t send me some messenger with a cease and desist letter.’ Them’s fighting words right there.

This terrible episode aside, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is a brilliant video game you have no excuse for not owning if you care for PC games, and especially RTS titles.

Photo: Activision

In an industry where big players are notorious for chasing dollar bills, it seems strange to see Activision Blizzard, the biggest publisher of them all, ignoring what might be the hottest space of them all right now – social gaming and mobile gaming. Well, ignoring those spaces is exactly what Activision is doing, with the company being of the belief that it will be better served to tend to its current portfolio of games.

Focus on what we have

Speaking at the Reuters Global Media Summit this past Tuesday, Activision Blizzard CEO Booby Kotick said with the industry-wide customer base in video gaming still growing, he believes that even mega franchises like World of WarCraft and Call of Duty will be able to attract new customers.

Showcasing the type of business focus that has made this publisher the force it has become, Kotick said that ‘The place where you have the opportunity for growth is within the communities of franchises we control.’

Thereafter, while he acknowledged the promise of the app store, tablet computers and social gaming, being the prudent numbers man he is, Kotick admitted that he didn’t think these avenues made economic sense for a company of his scale. The Activision Blizzard CEO said that his company didn’t ‘view the App Store as a really big opportunity for dedicated games,’ nor does he see social gaming as economically intelligent. While he was certainly impressed by the massive user base, he felt that it was a ‘different question assessing it [social gaming] as a business opportunity.’

How strategies differ

What’s fascinating about the stance Bobby Kotick held was how conflicting it is with that of his company’s biggest rival, Electronic Arts, who are dead keen on proliferating their licenses and products to as many viable platforms as possible. However, while Activision is souring off the continued success of Call of Duty, World of WarCraft (which has an ongoing Christmas promo) and the triumphant return of StarCraft II, Electronic Arts continues to struggle, even with Fifa 11 being the fastest selling sports game in history.

So, without making many inferences into the mobile gaming and social gaming discussion, who is to say Mr. Kotick has it all wrong?

Photo: Electronic Arts

Laggard publishing giant Electronic Arts is finding itself with its back against the wall, if CEO John Riccitiellio’s recent interview with Bloomberg is anything to go by. The discussion, which ranged from the decline of the peripheral-based music games business to the rise of social gaming and its threat to EA’s business and even the company’s acquisitions shines an interesting magnifying glass on a publisher that was once untouchable but now finds itself licking its wounds.

What’s worse, it seems like CEO John Riccitiellio fears investors aren’t too chuffed with him.

What’s next John?

Electronic Arts, whose games are everywhere, from PC to Facebook to iPhone and all the major consoles for years was on the cutting edge of both technology and franchise sales, but now finds annual starts Fifa and Madden aren’t enough to sustain the business.

Speaking of the company’s acquisition strategies, Riccitiello told Bloomberg that ‘There are probably 25 companies on our radar that would make sense for us at somewhere between 5 and 10 percent of the asking price.’ A light-hearted comment from the CEO but also very telling of the perilous position Electronic Arts finds itself in. Simply put, its happy days of acquiring Bioware and Pandemic Studios for $800 million, as well as Playfish, the second largest social games developer for an estimated $275 million are long behind the struggling company.

The wrong outlook

While his acquisition objectives – of adding ‘intellectual property, technology and capability’ – are spot on, the company’s ability to integrate units and acquire at an agreeable rate aren’t quite on pace. In a revealing comment on social gaming, The EA CEO said that ‘Zynga has a chance that “Farmville” will stand the test of time successfully, but it’s far from clear to me that that’s a certainty’ as justification for purchasing Playfish instead.

But, as we’ve been writing here with frequency lately, the longer traditional publishers ignore the rise of social games and publishers of that ilk, the slower they will be to react when their whole world’s completely flipped upside down. EA’s world, in many respects, is in this very position.

Investors have spoken

EA’s stock priced has hemorrhaged value in recent times, shedding nearly three quarters (74 per cent) in the last three year on the Nasdaq. And this bloodbath has happened almost entirely under Riciotellio’s watch, since he joined a then soaring Electronic Arts back in 2007. The man, running a company of this scale, no doubt has recourse in pointing out recessionary pressures but investors who look on at the likes of Zynga and Activision Blizzard’s relentless success will no doubt blame the EA CEO, John Ricciotiello, himself.

It’s not done, yet

EA does, however, have a significant advantage over most other publishers, and that is a library with strong titles that have been annualised and serve as a financial cash cow for the company, most notably Madden and Fifa. Furthermore the EA CEO was quick to point out the strong IPs the company has beyond the two sports title mentioned above, coupled with the resources to proliferate these titles to a number of platforms, ranging from consoles to smartphones to televisions and tablets.

It’s one of the few companies with the intellectual property and engineering resources to create strong franchises that span game consoles, televisions, mobile phones and tablet computers, but even with these inherent advantages, Electronic Arts continues to struggle.

How do you think the EA CEO will be able to turn things around at the struggling publisher?

Photo: dfarber / Flickr

Activision Blizzard CEO and video gaming bad guy Bobby Kotick has said that he sees the value in listening to customers and that he cares what you, the gamer, think about Activision products. This is what he told a room full of tech luminaries and media at the Web 2.0 Summit, at least.

Incredibly passionate customers

Mr Kotick said he thinks paying attention to customers needs is more critical now than its ever been before ‘…because you have incredibly passionate and vocal consumers, and they are really thoughtful and articulate about what they would like to see in a game, how you can enhance the experience.’ All true, yes, gamers? He continued, saying: ‘So if you take the time and actually listen to what your customers have to say, you are going to create much better experiences.’

While his intuition about listening to what gamers say being valuable is undeniable, it’s hard to take that seriously from a man who once said he wanted ‘to take all the fun out of making video games’.

WoW support is really good, though

Even though you’re likely treating this sentiment with the pinch of salt it deserves, one has to admit that World of Warcraft support really is unmatched in video gaming. So, when Kotick cited the 2,000-strong customer support team assembled for WoW – the service’s single biggest expense – you can’t turn your nose up at Mr Kotick and dismiss him.

In addition to discussing the value of paying careful attention to customers’ demands, The Activision Blizzard head honcho also spoke on the value of patience in building titles and the huge leg up that’s given the company. Speaking specifically to Blizzard – who take forever to release games due to the amount of polish they add – Kotick pointed out the direct relationship between time and product quality.

StarCraft II fans, who waited for a decade before getting the title this year, will attest to the truth in that statement. Diablo III fans don’t even want to discuss how much it sucks being in the dark about the release schedule of that title, while WoW fans merrily keep plugging the hours away at their title while they wait for the release of WoW Cataclysm next month.

Activision Blizzard is on a roll right now, and maybe Bobby Kotick deserves the benefit of the doubt. Just maybe.

Photo: Stock.Xchng

As PC gamers around the world showed up at a myriad of midnight launches, and independent performance tracker VGChartz packed US pre-orders at an almighty 800,000, StarCraft II has finally launched to an unsuspecting world!

A quick refresher

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the first of the three part sequel to one of the most beloved PC games of all time, StarCraft (the other incoming expansions are Heart of the Swarm as well as Legacy of the Void). Released twelve long years ago, now, PC gamers worldwide are still in a state of relative shock that the sequel has finally seen the light of day.

No reviews

In the build up to the release the folks at Blizzard declined the usual practice of sending gaming publications early review copies of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. The company felt it only fair to review the game after extensive and real-world use of Battlenet 2.0, the online protocol the game, has built up.

In addition, Activision Blizzard has neither confirmed nor denied VG Chartz’ estimation of the number of pre-orders, but the company is set to release its own official sales numbers in the coming days. Reports coming in indicate the title could move 7 million units in this fiscal year, with StarCraft’s spiritual home South Korea gobbling up a huge chunk of those units.

Early impressions

Speaking to a handful of friends and gamers alike, who either played the game extensively during the multiplayer beta, or showed up to work with stinging red eyes because they put in an all-nighter, Blizzard has done well not to disappoint. We expect review scores of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (as well as eventual review scores of Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void) to be sky-high when they start trickling in over the coming weeks.

PC gaming lives

The biggest task StarCraft II has is in reaffirming that PC gaming is, in fact, not dead. Many analysts, critics, and gamers alike have proclaimed the economics of PC gaming – where one needs particularly expensive kit just to have the intended experience – just doesn’t make sense. Add to that the rise of the comparatively inexpensive and hassle-free consoles, you’ve had many people proclaim PC gaming is dead.

But between World of WarCraft, Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty (and likely the inevitable expansions Heart of the Swarm as well as Legacy of the Void) and Steam’s ongoing success, it’s proving rather challenging to claim that PC gaming is dead!

I’ve spent all night with the title and momentarily ripped myself away to write about it. Though this isn’t an official review, my feelings for this game are already evident – buy StarCraft II right away!

Have you played it yet, and was it worth the twelve-year wait?

Photo: Stock.Xchng

We’re getting really excited about StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. With each passing the day, the painful twelve-year wait to the sequel to one of the greatest PC games of all time will sooner be over. And according to the Wall Street Journal Activision Blizzard has spared no expense developing the title, with reports indicating it has cost over $100 million to develop. Yes, to develop only – this excludes marketing and promotions costs.

A fairly safe bet

Given that the first StarCraft, now released over 12 years ago, has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide, making it one of the highest selling PC games of all time, it is a safe bet that Activision Blizzard will recoup this money. South Korea, the spiritual home of StarCraft, alone is likely to take the company a long way towards turning a profit with Wings of Liberty.

The title has been in development since 2003, but was officially announced only in 2007.

A second reason StarCraft II, as a whole, is likely to make heaps of money is because Activision Blizzard has split the sequel into three parts. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, followed by quasi-sequel/expansion packs Heart of Swarm and Legacy of the Void. Long story short, Activision Blizzard has cleverly split a very expensive to develop product into three manageable chunks, while charging their customers three times. Good business.

Seven pillars of opportunity

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick described StarCraft II as one of the company’s seven pillars of opportunity, meaning it has the potential to bring in operating profit of between $500 million and $1 billion. The other six pillars of opportunity for Activision Blizzard are Guitar Hero, World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Diablo, a new MMO Blizzard are working on, and the new IP by famed Halo developer Bungie. For those keeping score, Blizzard, who are developing Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty, have four titles out of the seven. Crown jewel, huh?

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty releases 27 July for Mac and PC and we strongly advise you to pre-order your copy now.

Photo: Infinity Ward

Infamous Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has taken the time to come off his money pile to speak to journalists and commoners amongst us about, oh, the business of making money, of course. What else? In short, Kotick again hinted at the possibility of a Call of Duty MMO as well as discussing why he wants some of that Microsoft money.

60 per cent just for COD

Bobby Kotick told the Financial Times that Activision Blizzard ‘heard that 60 per cent of [Microsoft's] subscribers are principally on Live because of Call of Duty’. Whether that figure is accurate is unclear, but it sure is great validation for the game. What is not great is that Activision sees none of that money. Kotick continues, saying, ‘We don’t really participate financially in that income stream,’ before espousing how much more value the company would add if the lucrative network did not belong to Microsoft exclusively.

And how lucrative a network it is, considering Microsoft charges £30.00 plus for an annual subscription to the service. Multiply that by a few million paying subscribers and you get a good understanding as to why the Activision Blizzard head honcho is not altogether happy about being cut out.

Call of Duty MMO

Photo: Blizzard

In addressing this issue, many immediately recalled an interview with Bobby Kotick where he claimed fans of the franchise were clamouring for a Call of Duty MMO, saying if he could, he would absolutely see it happen. And why not? World of Warcraft, which happens to be part of Activision Blizzard and is the most successful MMO of all time, has 11 million subscribers who pay $20 every month to play the game. Doing the maths on that indicates why Kotick would want to see it happen with COD, though at this stage the company will continue to retail the game as a packaged goods product with downloadable content for additional revenue streams.

License to print money

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is on store shelves right now, and is one of the best selling video games of all time already, having been released in November 2009. The title continues to do well, even though there was some unrest at developer Infinity Ward recently. The incoming Call of Duty: Black Ops by another Activision Studio, Treyarch, is widely expected to outsell everything else this year when it releases on 9 November 2010, for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Would you subscribe to a Call of Duty MMO and how would you expect it to work, exactly?