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[Draugoth]

Seamus Blackley, the co-creator of the original Xbox, has taken to Twitter to mock Activision CEO Bobby Kotick.

Yesterday, after a pilgrimage of roughly 21 months, Microsoft finalized its merger with Activision-Blizzard-King, with Kotick remaining CEO of Activision through the end of this year. Much has been said about this heavily debated megadeal with Microsoft owning plenty of additional franchises, including Call of Duty, Spyro, Diablo, World of Warcraft, and the Guitar Hero franchise (which may be making a comeback). Shortly before Microsoft closed the deal yesterday, UK regulator CMA announced its approval of the merger. Following this decision, the co-creator of the original Xbox took to Twitter to mock Bobby Kotick for now being bought by Xbox, mentioning "karma".

"When we pitched Guitar Hero to Bobby, he told us nobody would ever stock it, and turned it down (only to buy it later!"

Blackley wrote on Twitter.

"I reminded him that he’d literally said that to me about Xbox only a few years before. He laughed."

The 'father' of Xbox added;

"Now he’s being bought by Xbox. Karma is a bitch."

It has to be said that this isn't the first time that Blackley called out Kotick on this matter. After his role at Microsoft, Blackley took a role at the Creative Artists Agency to represent video game creators. In that role, he pitched Guitar Hero to Activision. Back in 2021, Blackley already suggested that the Activision CEO turned down Guitar Hero to later purchase the publisher (RedOctane) who published the game. We've included a follow-up tweet on this matter from 2021 below:

 

[RagnarokIV]

I knew it'd be Seamus hahaha. Fucken gangster

 

[Banjo64]

This guy is coming across as a whiny bitch tbh. Pretty classless.

Man said something daft and then laughed when confronted with his prior daftness? Seems like a normal reaction to me? Did he expect Bobby to throw himself to the ground and beg for mercy?

And karma is a bitch? Man made $400m from this? He’s probably took a fat consultancy fee for his service until November also.

 

[Hudo]

How is "Karma a bitch" when Bobby managed to sell ABK, where only the "K" part is really functioning well, for $69 billion? From where I'm sitting, Bobby is the protagonist of the story, walking away with large sums of bonus money while his investors cheering him on from the side.
Microsoft now have the monumental task of unfucking Blizzard (if that's even possible) and trying to take care that at the least the Call of Duty pipeline keeps working (because that's the only thing that keeps the lights on over at the "A" part) and that the whole CoD IP doesn't vanish into obscurity like Halo is about to.

 

[mansoor1980]

he is bitter because bobby is rich

 

[Windom Earle]

How is "Karma a bitch" when Bobby managed to sell ABK, where only the "K" part is really function well, for $69 billion? From where I'm sitting, Bobby is the protagonist of the story, walking away with large sums of bonus money while his investors cheering him on from the side.
Microsoft now have the monumental task of unfucking Blizzard (if that's even possible) and trying to take care that at the least the Call of Duty pipeline keeps working (because that's the only thing that keeps the lights on over at the "A" part) and that the whole CoD IP doesn't vanish into obscurity like Halo is about to.

Common Bobby W

 

[ReBurn]

lol Seamus

 

[IDKFA]

Bobby is making a few hundred million from this sale. I don't think he really gives a fuck what Seamus says.

 

[analog_future]

Glad MS is booting Kotick out at the end of the year.

Could be a nice turnaround for ActiBlizz.

 

[nush]

I was a key member of the GH team, every publisher turned it down except for Red Octane. When Activision brought Red Octane it was considered one of the most overpaid acquisitions of all time, until GHIII landed and suddenly it was considered one of the most shrewd acquisitions of all time. Funny that.

 

[Freelance Yakuza]

The man is just making fun about shit Bob said, you guys just can't take a joke smh

 

[xBlueStonex]

I was a key member of the GH team, every publisher turned it down except for Red Octane. When Activision brought Red Octane it was considered one of the most overpaid acquisitions of all time, until GHIII landed and suddenly it was considered one of the most shrewd acquisitions of all time. Funny that.

Please bring GH back. I will give you my first born in return.

 

[Katatonic]

Petty af.

 

[kiphalfton]

Was unaware who this guy is... but reading about him on Wikipedia he sounds smart as hell.

Bobbu on the other hand... he just sounds like he caught a lucky break, knew the right people, etc.

 

[hepfom]

The man is just making fun about shit Bob said, you guys just can't take a joke smh

Where's the joke? Kotick just sold ABK for like 15 to 20 billion more than it was worth. There's only one person laughing and it ain't Blackley.

 

[skit_data]

Seamus seems like a very smart and inventive guy so it doesn't surprise me he had some of these ideas. But then again it seems many of his ideas are simply a little too ahead of its time. Case in point: my profile pic

 

[tmlDan]

Bobby is gonna laugh his way to the bank while Seamus is complaining on X/twitter.

Who's actually winning here?

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Seamus seems like a very smart and inventive guy so it doesn't surprise me he had some of these ideas. But then again it seems many of his ideas are simply a little too ahead of its time. Case in point: my profile pic

I always wondered what your pfp is about? Dino Crisis? It's trippy af anyway.

 

[Spitfire098]

He's bragging that Xbox's parent company bought out the competition?

 

[clarky]

Karma's a bitch?

Im sure Bobby's crying into that $400 mil.

 

[Kilau]

I always wondered what your pfp is about? Dino Crisis? It's trippy af anyway.

Boob health meter tattoo should give it away.

 

[nush]

Please bring GH back. I will give you my first born in return.

You got Guitar Hero Live last time. Let it go.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Bobby Kotick's reaction:

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Boob health meter tattoo should give it away.

Oh, it's that other dino game (no, not Turok) that I never got to play.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

 

[skit_data]

I always wondered what your pfp is about? Dino Crisis? It's trippy af anyway.

It's from Jurassic Park: Trespasser, the greatest game in the world!

Jokes aside it was a commercial flop and a huge letdown due to them having to get the game out the door. But some of the stuff Seamus Blackley and his team did and planned to do were way ahead of it's time.


There's also a great AVGN episode on Trespasser featuring Seamus Blackley:


I played it a lot as a kid (it was literally my first PC game experience and I was obsessed with dinosaurs). Back then it felt magical. Actually kinda impressed I even got it working on our computer back then because it was my dads work computer.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

It's from Jurassic Park: Trespasser, the greatest game in the world!

Jokes aside it was a commercial flop and a huge letdown due to them having to get the game out the door. But some of the stuff Seamus Blackley and his team did and planned to do were way ahead of it's time.


There's also a great AVGN episode on Trespasser featuring Seamus Blackley:


I played it a lot as a kid (it was literally my first PC game experience and I was obsessed with dinosaurs). Back then it felt magical. Actually kinda impressed I even got it working on our computer back then because it was my dads work computer.

Some cool stuff there! Thanks for sharing, I'll def give the AVGN video on Trespasser a watch.

 

[midnightAI]

Xbox bought ABK? Pretty sure it's Microsoft who has bought them

 

[cireza]

You just made a shit-ton of money. Karma is a bitch.

 

[Topher]

 

[Mr Moose]

Xbox didn't buy Activision.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

This guy is coming across as a whiny bitch tbh. Pretty classless.

Man said something daft and then laughed when confronted with his prior daftness? Seems like a normal reaction to me? Did he expect Bobby to throw himself to the ground and beg for mercy?

And karma is a bitch? Man made $400m from this? He’s probably took a fat consultancy fee for his service until November also.

Not to mention, Bobby was entirely right. Xbox HAS failed. And them buying AB is a last-ditch desperate attempt to keep Xbox alive through GP.

This clearly isn't the gotcha he thinks it is.

 

[M.W.]

Cry moar you Jonah Hill at age 60 looking mother fucker.

 

[squidilix]

 

[newtypepilot]

"karma's a bitch"
bobby is leaving with big golden parachute

hey I want that karma too.