$1 billion
investment needed to take on World of Warcraft on GamesIndustry.biz reports
on comments made by Activision CEO Bobby Kotick at an investor meeting saying
competing with the MMO juggernaut of World of Warcraft will be difficult even
after an investment of a half-billion to a billion dollars. It was this line of
thinking that lead Activision to merge with Vivendi to create Activision
Blizzard, though Kotick takes a break from counting beans at the end to concede
that budget notwithstanding, the game itself may have contributed to its own
success: "They have a model that is very well-developed, they have a very keen
understanding of their audiences, and they're just scratching the surface of
opportunity in a lot of areas... These guys are among the best in the world of
game development."