Activision CEO Bobby Kotick subpoenaed, US government now involved in misconduct investigation

chrisrlink · Sep 21, 2021

the_randomizer said:
Karma's a bitch, ain't it

let's see the pig bribe his way out of this (bet he'll try too)

the_randomizer · Sep 21, 2021

chrisrlink said:
let's see the pig bribe his way out of this (bet he'll try too)

Oh I can't wait to see him get bitchslapped by the feds

FAST6191 · Sep 21, 2021

I don't know the full functions of the SEC but I am curious where they come in for this. Normally they are more seen for dodgy accounting schemes and other fraudulent business practices (securities and exchanges commission and all that). Looking at https://www.sec.gov/about/what-we-do and links from there I am still at a loss.
Would have thought there were better choices for agencies if the federal government decides to stick its beak in for the claims we read about in the previous thread, unless it was stock manipulation or something as a result of that (would have thought they would have mentioned stock buybacks or executives selling ahead of news or whatever).

Plazorn said:
Goodbye call of duty, crash bandicoot, and Spyro the dragon, you will all be missed…

Are they not already dead? COD has been a shambling zombie for years now and while the others various had a hand shoved up their corpse and had someone play puppeteer then still dead.
Also if they did somehow end up going pop from this (doubtful from where I sit, even if the case was a better one) then the names tend to then get sold at auction just like any other bankruptcy sale.

DarkCoffe64 · Sep 21, 2021

raxadian said:
Is a blizzard made out of fire.

Or maybe a

at 9:06

Plazorn · Sep 21, 2021

FAST6191 said:
I don't know the full functions of the SEC but I am curious where they come in for this. Normally they are more seen for dodgy accounting schemes and other fraudulent business practices (securities and exchanges commission and all that). Looking at https://www.sec.gov/about/what-we-do and links from there I am still at a loss.
Would have thought there were better choices for agencies if the federal government decides to stick its beak in for the claims we read about in the previous thread, unless it was stock manipulation or something as a result of that (would have thought they would have mentioned stock buybacks or executives selling ahead of news or whatever).

Are they not already dead? COD has been a shambling zombie for years now and while the others various had a hand shoved up their corpse and had someone play puppeteer then still dead.
Also if they did somehow end up going pop from this (doubtful from where I sit, even if the case was a better one) then the names tend to then get sold at auction just like any other bankruptcy sale.

Very true, just I have never seen a loved character like Crash, or Spyro disappear before. This is the beggining…

raxadian · Sep 21, 2021

Crash Bandicot is currently made by Toys for Bob, same for Spyro and while yes Activision owns both, I don't think they will have a hard time keeping the rights for those two.

At worst Sony will buy the rights and make the next Spyro and Crash games PS5 exclusive.

ZeroT21 · Sep 21, 2021

Let's this fratboy ''frat'' his way outta this

mrjelly · Sep 21, 2021

Oh dear! I didn't realise there had been anyone actually found guilty by a court here. That's bad if this has actually happened.

DinohScene · Sep 21, 2021

bye blizzderp.

Tiger21820 · Sep 21, 2021

Activision is a tragedy

Rob_Boates · Sep 21, 2021

It kind of sucks that the government wasn't able to do anything until they found evidence of stock manipulation, oh well guess that's the way the news goes. Also fuck Bobby Kotick.

HalfScoper · Sep 21, 2021

cringe

Jacobh · Sep 21, 2021

FAST6191 said:
I don't know the full functions of the SEC but I am curious where they come in for this. Normally they are more seen for dodgy accounting schemes and other fraudulent business practices (securities and exchanges commission and all that). Looking at https://www.sec.gov/about/what-we-do and links from there I am still at a loss.

From what I can tell, Activision may have been required to disclose some of the issues/investigations to shareholders because they involved executives and could impact the company’s valuation. They did not, which would be a financial reporting issue and what the SEC is investigating.

So the SEC investigation is a result of, but completely separate from the other allegations. It isn’t dealing with the underlying conduct, but whether they reported any required information about the issues.

There is a WSJ article that addresses this, but it’s behind a paywall.

Dr_Faustus · Sep 21, 2021

Im going to need a bigger bucket of popcorn for this.

Jacobh said:

From what I can tell, Activision may have been required to disclose some of the issues/investigations to shareholders because they involved executives and could impact the company’s valuation. They did not, which would be a financial reporting issue and what the SEC is investigating.

So the SEC investigation is a result of, but completely separate from the other allegations. It isn’t dealing with the underlying conduct, but whether they reported any required information about the issues.

Click to expand...

Not reporting your actual earnings or any changes/issues in your business to your shareholders is a huge no-no and will get your arse cooked faster than those at the top of Enron. What they did here was they knew there was an investigation going on by the state for a long while now and intentionally did not tell said shareholders as it could negatively impact shares and value for the company. The shareholders were already pissed off at Kotick last year over him axing several jobs while trying to give himself a huge bonus which the shareholders smacked that shit out of his hand. Now with this they are actively pursuing a lawsuit on him and the company, which could very well cost him his position in the company if things go the way they should legally. The added effect of growth of controversy and official parties getting involved with this, its becoming quite the spectacle which if any existing executives have not fled from the company by now, they will be looking for an exit soon as the only way this could go for them is straight down.

FAST6191 · Sep 21, 2021

Plazorn said:
Very true, just I have never seen a loved character like Crash, or Spyro disappear before. This is the beggining…

I saw plenty of mascots disappear, usually after a disastrous 3d effort (the early PS1/N64 era was not kind and many devs seemingly not prepared) but such things were already on the out come the end of the 16 bit era. That said there is certainly much to ponder about the fates of things there; there were some stale games but no real stinkers that would be responsible for memory holing it for this long.

Jacobh said:
From what I can tell, Activision may have been required to disclose some of the issues/investigations to shareholders because they involved executives and could impact the company’s valuation. They did not, which would be a financial reporting issue and what the SEC is investigating.

So the SEC investigation is a result of, but completely separate from the other allegations. It isn’t dealing with the underlying conduct, but whether they reported any required information about the issues.

There is a WSJ article that addresses this, but it’s behind a paywall.

Thanks. Don't normally see non disclosure to investors like this be the cause of much but would be within their remit I guess.

Plazorn · Sep 21, 2021

FAST6191 said:
I saw plenty of mascots disappear, usually after a disastrous 3d effort (the early PS1/N64 era was not kind and many devs seemingly not prepared) but such things were already on the out come the end of the 16 bit era. That said there is certainly much to ponder about the fates of things there; there were some stale games but no real stinkers that would be responsible for memory holing it for this long.

Thanks. Don't normally see non disclosure to investors like this be the cause of much but would be within their remit I guess.

Crash and Spyro the Dragon have lasted for years, while others did die out during the 3D Era, these have stood strong, not as strong as Sonic, or Mario, but still strong. What I meant is that characters who have lasted two decades usually do not die out, but now that video gaming is close to 50 years old now, this is going to get more common. This is just the first…

MORSHU8KRTXON · Sep 21, 2021

I kinda hate platformer mascots

FAST6191 · Sep 21, 2021

Plazorn said:
Crash and Spyro the Dragon have lasted for years, while others did die out during the 3D Era, these have stood strong, not as strong as Sonic, or Mario, but still strong. What I meant is that characters who have lasted two decades usually do not die out, but now that video gaming is close to 50 years old now, this is going to get more common. This is just the first…

There were several that started life on the NES, or older arcades even, and did not survive into the PS1/N64 era, give or take the occasional rerelease/emulator job, some even were big enough to get cartoons and decent toy lines.

Earthworm Jim
Zool
Much of the Capcom-Disney world, and other Disney things. Disney also own marvel these days and their 8-16 bit era games and arcade efforts, as well as some PS1 stuff, was genuinely noted in its own right.
Ecco the Dolphin
Alexx Kidd.
Streets of Rage
James Pond
Ristar
If I continued with all Sega had and dropped like it was something unpleasant we would be here for a while.
Most of the things Rare had.
Gex and Bubsy are somewhat memes these days when talking of dead franchises but they had something to it to make it that in the beginning.
Legacy of Kain
Dino Crisis (granted I am still not quite ready to forgive 3)

Some of those maybe not making 20 years but still several consoles and games, lots of ports that were not just port spamming, plus the merch and somewhat noted cartoons. Granted if I ignore the kart racers then is Crash really that amazingly popular? Did anybody really care post wrath of cortex? Similarly for Spyro then we can discuss enter the dragonfly as a turning point but other than a few fans of A New Beginning was it really onto much before Skylanders made all the money?

the_randomizer · Sep 21, 2021

Blizzard was a mistake

kevin corms · Sep 21, 2021

Hopefully it doesn't drag on and its just resolved quickly, these things can become a farce.

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raxadian said:
Crash Bandicot is currently made by Toys for Bob, same for Spyro and while yes Activision owns both, I don't think they will have a hard time keeping the rights for those two.

At worst Sony will buy the rights and make the next Spyro and Crash games PS5 exclusive.

Why do you think this? If Activision decides to just sell everything, Microsoft would be in the best position to pick it up.. but that's a huge if.

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