Activision wants to improve image

As well as asserting its position as the world’s no.1 third party publisher in 2010, Activision has a secondary objective – improving its image amongst the core games market.

The publisher’s reputation has taken a bit of a battering in the last couple of years. Its decision to price Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 at a premium-busting 54.99 wasn’t exactly popular. Boss Bobby Kotick’s subsequent claim that he would have liked to have charged even more didn’t exactly endear him to many MCV readers, either.

And as for its very public spat with developer Infinity Ward – surely that’s the very definition of a PR disaster. But the publisher hopes 2010 will be far more cuddly.

Obviously, we stay connected to what’s going on in the communities so we’re not ignorant that there’s a very vocal minority out there that has some very strong feelings,” COO Thomas Tippl told IGN.

Whenever you become no.1 in any industry, you automatically get a target painted on your back. You’ve got to be able to live with that.

There are many things we can probably do better in the way we communicate with the communities so that we don’t run the risk that certain things get pulled out of context and blown out of proportion.

Now, can we do a better job from a PR and community management perspective? I think we can. We are focused on doing that, but you will always have a vocal minority that no matter what you do they’re not going to be happy.”