Why less is more at Activision

Ooutside of the BFG that Call of Duty represents, Activision actually has a relatively slimmer slate of tentpole titles than in recent years.

But that’s just a reflection of the market, says Activision publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg.

There is a pattern on the market; a concentration of passionate energy around fewer games. The orthodoxy of the games business for years has been: you spread your bets, and let the good payouts fund the failures. But now we’re choosing to pour our resources into the games we can make better than anyone else. What we’re not doing is trying to compete in every category unless we have a unique advantage.

If players have told us anything over the years, it’s that they might not need eight different racers,” he remarks, referencing the failure of Blur and the closure of its studio, Bizarre Creations.

As for new genres, we’re actively engaged in looking at what our next opportunities may be, but my philosophy is that unless we can find something unique, we’ll probably not do it.”