Random Black-Ops Thought: Treyarch… Treyarch… Treyarch…
So Bobby Kotick was chatting with CNN during the holiday rush last month, and said this about Treyarch and previous Call of Duty games:
“I don’t think Treyarch got their due for how much they contributed in the production and polish to the multiplayer.”
Well of course you don’t, silly monkey man!
Given the dust-up between Kotick’s Activision and former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella (followed by the exodus of Infinity Ward employees to West and Zampella’s new game studio), Activision wants you to know just who in hell made Call of Duty: Black Ops!
Upon starting the game, you cannot interrupt the introductory bzzzt-bzzzt-waaaah splashscreens until just after the Treyarch logo has been presented. I get it. Treyarch made this. Infinity Ward didn’t. After the 50th time, it gets pretty annoying, not because of the few seconds I have to wait, but because it’s so clearly deliberate.
Whether Treyarch or Activision made this decision, it has a stink of unhealthy rivalries. Given Activision’s internal quarrelling and related lawsuits, one would think its shareholders would be concerned at how this company manages its studios. But when Black Ops makes over a billion dollars in sales only a month after release, short-term gain will always triumph over long-term pain because, clearly, the long term is dumb.