According to Bing Gordon, former CCO of Electronic Arts, during a conversation on the Grit podcast, EA once decided not to purchase several major games from Activision Blizzard, including Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, and World of Warcraft. Gordon stated: “EA saw them all first and passed on all of them.”
Kotick’s Vision and Leadership
In the same discussion with former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, Gordon praised Kotick for having the foresight to acquire these games. He explained: “This is why I have double-high respect for Kotick saying, ‘no, no, this is going to be good to own.’ And then you kept the people around.”
Gordon added that many of the creative leaders at those companies would not have stayed on the same project if it had been with a different company. He acknowledged Kotick’s achievement in keeping them productive for long periods of time.
EA’s Failed Acquisitions and Attempts
The merger between Vivendi Games (the then owner of Blizzard) and Activision in July 2008 created the Activision Blizzard we know today. According to Gordon, EA was among the publishers contacted to buy Blizzard before the merger but decided to turn down the offer.
During the interview, Kotick also revealed that EA repeatedly tried to buy Activision and Blizzard, stating, “They tried to buy us a bunch of times, we had merger conversations a bunch of times.”
Gordon further complimented Kotick for acquiring King (the creators of Candy Crush), while EA decided to buy PopCap (the makers of Plants vs. Zombies), a company that, according to Gordon, achieved less success than King.
