Bobby Kotick didn't think Blizzard was worth $7 million in '96
by Michael Sacco 
Jan 21st 2010 at 8:00PM
The Escapist clued us in to this little story: back in 1995, Kotick was eating lunch with some folks from Davidson & Associates, and they told him that they had just bought up-and-coming software developer Blizzard Entertainment for the tidy sum of seven million dollars -- a number that a baffled Kotick believed to be ridiculous. At the time, Blizzard's claim to fame was Warcraft: Orcs vs. Humans, and ... that's pretty much it, save for a few one-off games like Blackthorne and The Lost Vikings. Kotick called them nothing more than a "contract developer" and remarked that they weren't worth seven million bucks.
Of course, later that year, Blizzard released Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, which catapulted them into gaming history forever. Thirteen years later, in 2008, Kotick (and Activision) paid seven billion dollars to acquire Blizzard. For those not into mathematics, that's one thousand times more than what Davidson & Associates paid.
Well, he was right about one thing. They definitely weren't worth seven million bucks. He just didn't know how right he was at the time.
Filed under: News items, Interviews
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Mike Jan 21st 2010 8:04PM
When I saw that pic, if somehow reminded me of Norman Osbourne from the Spiderman Movies. Im sorry but they look too alike :(
Falcon6 Jan 21st 2010 8:15PM
They probably act alike, too.
Of course, now we come upon the question: Who is the Spider-Man of the game industry?
Kyle Jan 21st 2010 8:04PM
Why am I not surprised that Kotick was a pompous asshole even in 1996?
Superthrust Jan 21st 2010 8:52PM
i have now fallen in love with you...
ashadowpriest Jan 22nd 2010 10:02AM
Amen. Kotick is a prick.
garth Jan 21st 2010 8:09PM
HAHAHAHA omg that made me lol so hard kinda wanna feel bad for him... but i just dont...
justin.vanantwerp Jan 21st 2010 8:08PM
Lost Vikings alone is worth 7 mil. :)
Adam Holisky Jan 21st 2010 9:47PM
I would not be at all surprised if the original developers of Lost Viking made well over $7mil from the gaming industry, especially considering their concepts made it into some of the most popular games in the world.
Al Jan 21st 2010 11:20PM
I'm feeling old now, since I'm evidently the only one who remembers how well their even earlier games like Battle-Chess and Rock and Roll Racing did at the time.
ROB13 Jan 21st 2010 8:11PM
I 7,000,000 Dollar Company. We can make it better, funner, more exciting. We can do it, we have the Technology.
Rob Jan 21st 2010 8:31PM
Uhmm, maybe they weren't worth 7 million at the time. Given one decent game it's hard to say that Blizzard was going to be...well the next Origin or something. Its not like people could predict the huge success of warcraft 2, and the subsequent reinvestment of those profits into WoW. Did anyone know back then they were destined for all this success? I doubt it.
Molly Jan 21st 2010 11:06PM
Well, duh. Doesn't mean Kotick's not kicking himself regardless.
Karuna Jan 22nd 2010 12:10AM
To be fair, although he might be kicking himself now, given the facts available at the time he probably said what anyone would have said. I myself used to play warcraft 3 and specifically remember having the thought that making a mmo out of warcraft was a stupid idea :P And here i am now, checking wow.com daily for the latest news on my favourite game.
Finnicks Jan 22nd 2010 2:30AM
And let's face facts, if Kotik HAD acquired Blizzard back then, he would have ruined it completely and there would be no World of Warcraft and no 7 billion dollar Blizzard today.
Maymer Jan 22nd 2010 2:38AM
If anyone has a chance to read it, the latest addition of GameInformer actually had a really interesting piece about him. I'm not saying I agree (or really like what he does 99.9% of the time), but it sorta shows WHY the man is an extremely money grubbing CEO.
Guess somebody (though ever so grudgingly) has to SLIGHTLY defend the man....only slightly.
dlar3 Jan 22nd 2010 8:57AM
Davidson and Associates obviously did not agree with your way of thinking. I'd say they made a pretty sound investment. Slightly better than the APR on a typical savings account, anyway. (Yes, I'm being sarcastic. :P)
monkey Jan 23rd 2010 5:13PM
I really, really doubt he's kicking himself, given all the money Blizz brings into the Activision pot every year. Also, while I understand the hate for Kotick I don't necessarily agree with it: he's a CEO, not a gamer, and like Iwata or Stringer, he's employed to make money, not good games.
Hansbo Jan 21st 2010 8:36PM
It reminds me of Ronald Wayne. For those of you who don't know who is is, he is one of the co-founders of Apple Inc.
He owned 10% of Apple in the beginning, but sold those stocks for $800 in an early stage. Stocks which would now be worth $1.5 billion. For those not into mathematics, that's 1 875 000 times more than what he got for them.
I just realized this isn't very related to the topic, but I hope you'll find it interesting anyway :)
Docp Jan 22nd 2010 7:26AM
Another famous blunder is when the head of Decca Records told The Beatles manager, "Guitar groups are on their way out Mr. Epstein."
However it's important to remember that these massive blunders are famous because of their exceptional status. That record leader probably told thousands of bands that they were no good who went on to do exactly nothing. Equally every year millions of businessmen pull out of businesses early that go on to fail miserably.
cyfoeth Jan 21st 2010 8:41PM
I think being the first company to successfully market a real-time strategy game was a good hint that they'd be worth something... kind of like Wolfenstein 3D was a pretty good hint that the Apogee boys would be worth something.