Kotick: Why Activision left ESA

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has gone on record to talk about why his company left the Entertainment Software Association in the US – and he’s put the blame on difficulties caused by the firm’s merger with Vivendi.

Speaking to Variety’s Cut Scene blog, Kotick said that he viewed Activision’s retraction as time off” and said he would consider returning to the body.

However, Kotick pointed out that Activision Blizzard was now a unique proposition in games, and that it needed its own point person” more than a body than represented all publishers.

Kotick said:

"I said don’t view [us leaving the ESA] as anything but time off.

He added:

"With the combined companies [Vivendi/Activision], the dues went up enough that I said for it to make sense [to spend that money], we have to make a strategic plan. We don’t have that because nobody owns it for us right now."

He continued:

"We have our own issues that are not the industry’s issues… Our challenges are sufficiently different from other publishers’ issues that we need our own point person."

"We’ll have someone soon.”

Activision and Vivendi left the ESA together in May.