Bobby Kotick says he is aware of what gamers think of him
Activision's Bobby Kotick has said that he is fully aware of the things folks say about him online, and do to photos of him.
Case in point, when asked about the pictures of him with devil horns and the like, Kotick said that it bothers him a bit, yet his daughters find them funny.
"How can I not be aware [of the things people say about me]. It certainly bothers me personally," he told Kotaku.
He also tried to explain to the site, how his straight from the hip chatter can be taken out of context - something he has mentioned on previous occasions.
"There are four to five things that I've said that can totally be taken out of context," he said. "Like 'Taking the fun out of making video games.' I've used that line for a really long time with the investment community to explain that 'Hey, we're mindful of our responsibility to provide a return to our investors'.
"It was kind of like a joke!
"The world has changed. I never really think to edit what I'm saying because it's going to be taken out of context because somebody's going to hear it in a different way. But you don't build a successful business by overcharging your customers. And you certainly don't build a successful business that requires a tremendous amount of creativity and inspiration and innovation by figuring out how to take the fun and joy out of what people do.
"It's like an obvious thing to me to think if you hear something like that; you're going to think it's funny, it's not meant to be serious.
"I love to poke people to get a reaction but monetization, exploit, those are the words the investment community uses.
"You know what, I look at that and say, exploit is a bad choice of words. I don't mean that to be that way, I was not thinking about it in a way, or using it in a way that it was misconstrued.
"I actually think there's a better choice of words that more accurately describes what I was thinking at the time. It's not a big deal."
The picture and the negative comments on the net, though, are something he has taken to heart though - and it was a dinner with Blizzard that made him realize that people do not know much about him other than as a corporate suit.
"I think [gamers' perspective of me] is totally inaccurate," he said.
"I've been doing this for 25 years, yeah, I'm technical'", he told Blizzard that night. "And he said, 'No one knows that, I mean, people don't know that you're a developer. They don't know that you are technical, they don't know that you are deeply involved with that kind of making products. You know, the perception of you is that you're just like this greedy business guy.'"
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