Ex-Activision boss Bobby Kotick wanted a Jurassic Park game so badly

Former Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick revealed he was interested in Jurrasic Park’s video game rights. Kotick said he pitched the idea after hearing that the movie director was a video game fanatic from Spielberg’s lawyer. 

On the Grit Podcast, Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard’s former boss, revealed that he was interested in Jurrasic Park’s video game rights. Kotick narrated how he pitched to Jurassic Park’s director, Spielberg, after he received information that he was a video game enthusiast.

Kotick narrates his pitch to Jurassic Park’s Spielberg 

Kotick narrated that one of his board members was Jurassic Park’s movie director, Stephen Spielberg’s lawyer. The Activision former boss said the lawyer called him and informed him the director wanted to make video games. The lawyer also told Kotick that Spielberg was a video game fan. 

Kotick added the lawyer had promised him that Spielberg’s team would approach him first when the time came. Activision’s founder noted that he later read the manuscript and thought the plot would make a good video game. 

Kotick revealed that he called Michael Crichton, his friend at the time, and asked how he could acquire the game rights. He added that Michael advised him to get the game rights from Spielberg, who owned them.

The Activision founder narrated that he had to make the proposal in the form of a manuscript of the game he intended to make. He added that he put the manuscript in a dinosaur egg and placed it in a crate, emphasizing that rights were all he wanted. 

Kotick added that he also knew Spielberg personally but asked all his friends who were also good friends with him to call him and inform him that the Activision founder wanted to make a video game based on his movie’s plot. 

He added that he also called Spielberg and asked what he thought of his proposal. Kotick admitted the director acknowledged it was a good idea and vision for what he wanted to do with the game. The CEO added that Spielberg commented that he wanted him to make the video game and invited him to pay the most money. 

Kotick expressed his disappointment, adding that Konami ended up giving him a guarantee that swayed the director. He added that Activision did not end up getting the rights, which he thought would have been an incredible game. 

The CEO left Activision Blizzard in 2023 after Microsoft acquired the company for $68.7 billion. Before his departure, Kotick had served as the company’s CEO for thirty-two years.

Kotick comments on the World of Warcraft film, labeling it as terrible 

The former Activision boss also commented on the 2016 World of Warcraft film, saying it was terrible and one of the worst movies he has ever watched. Kotick revealed that Blizzard attempted to make the Warcraft MMO a success. However, he expressed that the project had been a huge distraction that caused delays in the World of Warcraft game updates.

Kotick noted that the contract to make the movie had already been signed before Activision merged with Blizzard in 2008. He added the company had to fulfill its obligations to finality and could not pause the movie’s production. 

The former boss added that the movie took up a lot of the company’s resources. He pointed out that the video game team helped with the casting, distracting the team from their main purpose of expanding the game.

The Activision founder complained that the game’s expansions were late and that the patches were not getting done on time. Kotick noted that developer Chris Metzen was exhausted by the project and only returned to Blizzard after he was convinced to resume his tasks. 

The former boss added that plans were in motion to make the World of Warcraft film a trilogy. However, he added the plans were put away after the movie failed to do well at the US box office.

Cryptopolitan Academy: FREE Web3 Resume Cheat Sheet - Download Now