Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
Months Later, Bobby Kotick Fires Back At Tim Schafer UPDATE: ...And Schafer Responds
UPDATE: Double Fine's Tim Schafer has fired a return salvo at Bobby Kotick following the Activision's executive bad-mouthing Brütal Legend.
Speaking to Eurogamer, Schafer remarked: "It's sad is that instead of just insulting me personally, he goes after
the product of my hard-working team - a group of people he almost put
out of work a while back...But what's even sadder is that it took him two months to think of a comeback."
Point, Schafer.
ORIGINAL STORY:
Bobby Kotick's a busy guy. When he's not destroying franchises like Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk skateboarding by releasing too many sequels, he's strong-arming his most talented development studio and methodically working to take the fun out of making video games. With so much on his plate, it's easy to understand why it's taken him so long to address the comments Brütal Legend creator Tim Schafer made about him back in July.
In an interview with Eurogamer about Double Fine's messy divorce with Activision, Schafer shared his real feelings about the company's controversial CEO. "His obligation is to his shareholders. Well, he doesn't have to be as much of a d--k about it, does he? I think there is a way he can do it without being a total p---k. It seems like it would be possible. It's not something he's interested in."
Kotick finally addressed the topic in a wide-ranging interview with Edge. "Tim Schafer, the guy comes out and says I'm a p---k. I've never met him in my life – I've never had anything to do with him," he said "I never had any involvement in the Vivendi project that they were doing, Brütal Legend, other than I was in one meeting where the guys looked at it and said, 'He's late, he's missed every milestone, he's overspent the budget and it doesn't seem like a good game. We're going to cancel it. And do you know what? That seemed like a sensible thing to do. And it turns out, he was late, he missed every milestone, the game was not a particularly good game..."
Brütal Legend received a Metacritic rating of 83, which would have made it the fifth best game Activision would have published in 2009 had the company held onto the project. Activision released over 40 games that year.
[Source: CVG]
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
