$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."