Kotick thought MMOs were silly

Mind-boggling” – that’s the word Activision boss Bobby Kotick used to describe how he felt about the $7m acquisition of Blizzards by Davidson & Associates in 1994.

The exec couldn’t believe the ludicrous amount of money Blizzard had been sold for” at the time. Eight years down the line Kotick directly turned down the chance to buy the developer, and in turn then owners Vivendi’s games business, for $700m.

And the reason? At the time I believed the idea of a subscriptions based MMO was the silliest thing ever”.

And unless you’ve been under a rock for the last few years you’ll know that Activision, under the stewardship of Kotick, bought Blizzard in July 2008.

For $7bn.

To read MCV’s more detailed breakdown of the highlights of Koticks’s speech, click here.