Activision's publishing boss Eric Hirshberg took the moral high ground in his Gamescom keynote when he asked EA to stop mudslinging Call of Duty and to concentrate on making better games to the benefit of the whole industry, but it seems that EA won't go along.
"Welcome to the big leagues, Eric," EA's VP of communications, Jeff Brown addressed the publishing boss in his response. "I know you're new in the job, but someone should have told you this is a competitive industry."
Hirshberg has spent 13 years of his career at advertising agency Deutsch, before he was hired by Activision last July.
"You've got every reason to be nervous," Brown continued. "Last year Activision had a 90 share in the shooter category. This year, Battlefield 3 is going to take you down to 60 or 70. At that rate, you'll be out of the category in 2-3 years. If you don't believe me, go to the store and try to buy a copy of Guitar Hero or Tony Hawk."
We don't need to remind our readers of hardcore gamers that Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero have forgone their usual places in the top selling lists for a few years now.
The most recent Call of Duty title, Black Ops, has sold 25 million copies to date, which is more than its Modern Warfare 2 predecessor by 3 million units.