Activision doesn't want to be seen as 'the evil empire'

Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg has reiterated his desire to repair gamers' perception of the publishing giant, saying in a new interview that the company's keen to shed its 'bad guy' image.

Asked if he cares about the firm being perceived in a negative light, the exec told Gamasutra: "Of course. Who would wish for that? Who would be wished to be cast as the bad guy in your own industry or as the villain or the evil empire?

"I think that the case is drastically overstated in terms of the reality that I see," he added. "I see a very creative company that gives its developers the tools and the resources they need to do great things, that isn't afraid to [delay] games if that's what it takes to get them right."

Hirshberg said the key to bettering Activision's public image is "putting a human face on the company" and "being transparent and honest and human in our dealings with our community".

He pointed towards the company's positive reaction to May's Modern Warfare 3 mega-leak as an example.

"We got a lot of props and a lot of pleasantly surprised people in our reaction to that," he said. "People assumed that we would go silverback gorilla crazy, and we didn't."

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has also felt the need to defend himself from being painted as the big, bad executive type. In fact, he has joked, he's more Luke Skywalker than Darth Vader.

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