Activision says EA ‘took the soul out of a lot of the studios it acquired’

More cutting criticisms from the corporate circle today – Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has been promoting his firm’s corporate ethos for games development, saying it compares much more favourably to EA’s.

When asked what the key to Activision’s growth going forward, Kotick told Portfolio: "It’s about really being considerate of the culture in the game studios that Activision buys. That’s the biggest difference between us and any of our competitors. We built a model that celebrates entrepreneurial, opportunistic, independent values."

He added: "It’s almost the opposite of Electronic Arts, which has commoditized development. It did a very good job of taking the soul out of a lot of the studios it acquired."

Of course, EA CEO John Riccitiello has been saying the opposite, recently promoting a new ‘city-state’-style structure for EA’s internal studios and acknowledging past mistakes made by Electronic Arts when it came to acquiring studios.