EA's Vice President of Communications, Jeff Brown succinctly and deftly countered Kotick's comments, placing Activision's biggest franchises in the firing line and making reference to the Infinity Ward debacle and legal wranglings with Tim Schafer and Double Fine over Brütal Legend.
 
"Kotick's relationship with studio talent is well documented in litigation," Brown said. "His company is based on three game franchises – one is a fantastic persistent world he had nothing to do with; one is in steep decline; and the third is in the process of being destroyed by Kotick's own hubris."
 
Brown has a point. World of Warcraft was acquired when Activision swallowed up Blizzard after merging with parent company, Vivendi Games in 2007 and Activision has confirmed that it'll be scaling back the Guitar Hero franchise ahead of a declining market.
 
On the other hand, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 continues to sell by the boat-load with 20 million units shipped to date. The CoD franchise shows no signs of slowing down either, with Black Ops potentially being one of the year's biggest games when it launches in November.

So, is this the last we've heard of Activision and EA bad-mouthing one another? Don't be silly.

 

[Via IGN]