作者：Neil Long

Eric Hirshberg是Activision Publishing的首席执行官，负责销售产业中一些最大型的游戏系列。同时他也是个机智且充满自信的受访者；他能够直接且淡定地回答我们的各种问题，特别是当我们提出有些人将动视会当成一家残忍的产业巨头，以及关于网游对Bobby Kotick的批评等问题时。

Hirshberg是对的；我们不能将动视描写为一家致力于探索如何获取财政收益的电子游戏巨头公司——关于《Destiny》这款游戏，他们便将巨 额资金投向一家充满野心的工作室与全新游戏理念中，而《斯派罗的大冒险》更是动视全新的一大创作。这是一家比我们想像中来得聪明的公司，而 Hirshberg更是一位有着明确目标与果敢决心的出色领导者。

Eric Hirshberg（from edge-online）

如今动视对于独立开发领域的想法是怎样的？你是否意识到这种创造性的复兴，你是否认为它在某种方式上影响着自己？

我认为这对于产业的发展以及媒体的创造性都是非常有帮助的。当你着眼于电影或音乐等艺术形式时会发现，那里仍为震撼巨作和独立创造留有空间。游戏领域中也是如此，但是因为开发和发行过程更加困难，所以通常做到这点都会更加艰难。但是我真正欣赏第一方公司的一点是，他们正在将工具递交给独立开发者们，帮助他们能够更轻松地发行游戏并实现自己的理念。

动视是否想要投资于更小且更新奇的游戏？这是否推动着你们走向基于手机游戏的工作室？

我认为我们已经做了不少的尝试，并也接触过手机游戏，但同时我也认为我们是一家关注力较为集中的公司。我们的策略是尝试一些内容，并将其做得特别好。

我认为人们有时候会误解我们这是在逃避风险，但事实上比起任何人，我们在一些新类型，新业务模式以及新IP上所面对的风险往往更大。所以即使未花太多时间去实践，也不意味着会因此减少风险和复杂性。

《斯派罗的大冒险》是一个18月前并不存在的新品牌——人们忘记了这点是因为它取得了巨大的成功。这不仅是一个新的IP，同时也是一个从未被尝试过的新游戏类型。

你是否认为你们在《Destiny》上的驼子规模也是一次大风险？你能否提供一些相关数值？

是的，我是这么认为的。我们不会透露有关游戏的具体预算，但是你可以感受到这款游戏的不凡的理念以及我们为了将其付出实践而投下巨额成本的决心。

我认为Bungie（游戏邦注：美国著名的电子游戏软件制作商）是一个由创造性人才所组成的特殊组合，他们拥有有关成功游戏的完善记录。作为Activision Blizzard，我们两个最大的授权游戏便是持久的世界游戏《魔兽世界》以及第一人称射击游戏《使命的召唤》。所以我们知晓这两个游戏理念的吸引力，我们也认为Bungie能够利用非常巧妙的方法把它们汇聚在一起。

你们与Bungie之间是怎样的关系？谁才是老板？

我们是合作伙伴的关系——显然他们是家独立公司，独立对他们来说非常重工业，我们也很乐意在达成协议的基础上支持他们的这一选择，为此我们签订了一份十年的合作条款。正是这种合作关系将动视和Bungie带向了新生。

有时候会听到人们说动视是一家无情的大公司，你是否认为有必要改变人们的这种想法？

看，这是一个由渴望制作游戏并热爱制作游戏的人们所组成的公司。我当然知道外界的种种看法，但是我并不认为他们是对的，这是一家不断创造出许多人喜欢且愿意尝试的游戏体验的公司，所有的一切成功都不是偶然发生的。

为什么你认为有些人不能将这些联系起来？

我认为这种情况开始发生改变。有时候针对一些大型公司（不管是动视还是旗下游戏《使命的召唤》）是件有趣的事，这个产业中的许多公司在某些时候都经历过这样的情况。

作为一家收益与成功的起落取决于优秀质量的公司，投入巨大的热情和能量才真正重要。我想要做出符合事实的理解。事实便是，这是一群依靠游戏生活，吃饭与呼吸的人。他们出色地创造了许多人喜欢并欣赏的好游戏。

有段时间Bobby Kotick变成了网上许多批评的攻击对象。你认为这种批评是否公正？

Bobby是将动视从破产危机中拯救出来的人，因为他相信互动娱乐的潜能与威力。他花了很长一段时间创造出非常出色的游戏而将动视变成了这么一家大获成功的公司——我听过有关该故事的其它说法，但这都与我每天接触的这个人不同。没有谁比他更支持创造人们真心喜欢的优秀体验。

不管你怎么描述动视，你都不能忽视我们所坚信的内容，不管是《使命的召唤》，《派斯罗的大冒险》还是《Destiny》，这些都是充满雄心的理念，是真正相信互动娱乐潜能的人所支持的内容。

在合作营销和内容协议签订后，《使命的召唤》和Xbox建立起了紧密的关系。什么情况才会改变这一关系？索尼的出价是否会高于微软？

这并不只是一个投标过程——这里存在一种双赢关系，即带有许多不同的尖叫，就像你所看到的，我们在《Destiny》中与索尼维持了一种类似的交易，所以这是就事论事的问题。

你们是否曾经想过收购Bungie？你认为这要花多少钱？

Bungie更倾向于独立事业。这对于他们来说很重要，我们清楚这一点并愿意尊重他们（游戏邦注：在有关《Destiny》的协议中），我们也找到一种方法去搭建这一协议。这是一份十年的协议，基于长远且充满抱负的视角，因为我们需要较长的协议去证明投资足以能够创造出游戏。并且不管怎样他们都会保持独立。

如果他们在你们准备游戏发行前表示需要多出一年的时间致力于《Destiny》，你会怎么做？你是否会转身说：“不，你必须按时完成”？

我们所做的一切决定都是为了玩家—-任何成功的道路都是包含创造一款出色的游戏，所以既然是合作伙伴，我们便会一起做出最合适的决定。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Activision’s Eric Hirshberg on taking creative risks, investing in Destiny and hitting back at online critics

By Neil Long

Eric Hirshberg is Activision Publishing’s CEO, and is responsible for selling some of the biggest game series in the industry. He’s also a frighteningly smart and confident interviewee; he answers our questions without hesitation and, in particular, bristles when we suggest that Activision might be considered by some to be an uncaring corporate giant, singling out former internet antichrist Bobby Kotick for special praise.

Hirshberg’s right; it’s wrong to portray Activision as a videogame giant wholly dedicated to exploiting its franchises for financial gain – in Destiny it is investing heavily in an ambitious studio and fresh game concept and Skylanders is a new phenomenon entirely of Activision’s creation. It is a smarter company than many credit it for, and in Hirshberg, as you can see below, it has a focused, determined leader.

What’s the feeling inside Activision right now about the indie scene? Are you aware of this kind of creative renaissance that’s going on, and do you think it affects you in any way?

I think it’s great for the industry and I think it’s great for the creativity of the medium. I think if you look at every other art form there’s room for blockbusters and there’s room for an independent scene in films and in music. The same has always been true in games but because the process of developing and publishing is so much more complex, generally it has been hard, but one of the things I really appreciate about both the first parties with this next generation is that they’re handing the tools over to independent developers, making it easier for them to publish and get their ideas out there.

Is Activision thinking about investing in smaller, more offbeat games? Is that where you feel your mobile focused studios come in?

I think that we’ve been a little bit more experimental where it comes to mobile games thus far but I also think that we are who we are as a company – and we’re a very focused company. Our strategy is to do a few things and do them exceptionally well.

I think that sometimes people misperceive that as somehow being risk-averse, and yet we’re taking some of the biggest risks in new genres and new business models and new IPs than anybody. So the fact that we only do it a handful of times doesn’t lessen the fact there’s a lot of risk and complexity baked into anything new you try.

Skylanders is a brand that didn’t exist eighteen months ago – people forget that already because it’s been so successful. It was not only a new IP, but a new genre of play that was totally unproven.

Do you consider the size of the investment you’re making in Destiny as a big risk too? Can you put a figure on that?

Yeah that’s how I would describe it. We don’t talk about the specific budgets of our games but you can see the ambitiousness of the concept and in order to bring that concept to life it’s been a big investment.

I think Bungie is a pretty special group of creative people and they’ve had a very good track record of games that are both critically acclaimed and commercially successful. As Activision Blizzard, our two biggest franchises are a persistent world game with World Of Warcraft and a firstperson shooter with Call Of Duty. So we know the appeal of both of those two concepts and we thought that [Bungie] had a very clever way of bringing the best of both of them together.

What’s the relationship like between you and Bungie? Who’s the boss?

It’s a partnership – obviously they’re an independent company and independence is very important to them and were happy to support that with the way we constructed this agreement, being a ten year deal. It’s a partnership that takes both an Activision and a Bungie to bring to life.

At times Activision is talked about as if it’s this big, heartless corporation – do you feel like you need to get out there and change some of those perceptions?

Look, this is a company of passionate people who make games and love making games. I’m certainly aware of all of the reputational perceptions out there but I think they’re incorrect and this is a company that has consistently made some of the most well liked and most played gaming experiences and that hasn’t happened by accident.

Why do you think some people don’t connect those things?

I think that’s starting to change. The fact is that sometimes it’s fun to root against the biggest – both as Activision and with Call Of Duty – and a lot of companies in this industry have experienced that at one point or another.

As a company whose fortunes and success rises and fall with great quality, it’s something that takes a lot of passion and a lot of energy. I want to make the perception match the reality. The reality is that this is a group of people that lives, eats, breathes games. And it has done a pretty great job of creating franchises that a lot of people seem to love and appreciate.

For a time Bobby Kotick was at the receiving end of a lot of criticism online. Do you feel that’s fair?

Bobby’s the guy who bought Activision out of bankruptcy because he believed in the potential and the power of interactive entertainment. And he’s built it into this incredibly successful company by making great games over a long period of time – I know there’s this other narrative but it doesn’t link up with the reality of the person I work with every day. There’s no greater champion of making great experiences that people really appreciate.

You can say a lot of things about Activision but you can’t say you don’t invest heavily in the ideas we believe in, from Call Of Duty to Skylanders to Destiny – these are big ambitious visions and it takes someone who really believes in the potential of interactive entertainment to champion that.

Call Of Duty and Xbox are pretty tightly aligned now after years of co-marketing and content deals. What would change that? Would Sony have to outbid Microsoft?

Well, it’s not just a bidding process – there’s a mutually beneficial relationship that has a lot of different prongs, and as you saw we announced a very similar kind of deal with Sony on Destiny so it’s a case by case thing.

Have you ever thought about bringing Bungie in-house? How much do you think that’d cost?

Bungie is very intent on being independent. That was important to them and so that was something that we knew going in [to the Destiny agreement], and we figured out a way to structure the deal. It’s ten year deal and it’s got a long and ambitious vision to it and we felt like we needed that length of deal to justify the investment it was gonna take to make the game. But they’re independent.

What happens if they come to you and say they need another year to work on Destiny before you can publish it? Can you turn around and say ‘no, you’ve got to get it done on time’?

We’re going to do the right thing for our players – there’s no road to success that doesn’t included making a superb game so we’re going to make those decisions together as a partnership.(source:edge-online)