Customer Relationship Management of Activision Blizzard : Activision Blizzard, Inc., formerly Activision, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) is the American holding company for Activision and Blizzard Entertainment. The company is majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA and was created through the merger of Activision and Vivendi Games, announced on December 2, 2007[4], in a deal worth USD$18.8 billion.[5] The deal closed July 9, 2008. The company believed that the merging of the two companies would create "the world’s largest and most profitable pure-play video game publisher".[6] It believes that it is the only publisher that has "leading market positions across all categories" of the video game industry
Activision Blizzard has made, by most accounts, a boatload of money on the Guitar Hero franchise. Now a group is claiming that Activision falsely advertised the games, including DJ Hero, claiming that it had patents pending notation when there weren't patents being applied for, and for listing patents not connected with the products. With a possible fine of up to $500 per product sold, a finding of wrongdoing could be very expensive.
"Essentially, PCG [the group filing the action] is claiming that the scopes of the patents with which Activision's video game products are marked do not cover the methods or systems of the actual products," PatentArcade wrote in its coverage. "In addition, where Activision has marked products with 'patent pending' or 'patent applied for,' PCG's position is that none of Activision's patent application has a potential scope of protection which would cover any aspect of the specified video game products."
With a few billion dollars in the bank and no debt, it's a safe bet that Kotick and Co. have the ability to fight off claims this nebulous. "Activision may avoid liability if it is able to sufficiently prove that it had a reasonable belief that the articles were within the scope of the patents with which the product were marked," Patent Arcade explained. Looking over the patents listed, which include "Turn-table adapter capable of being attached to a game device and portable game device using the same" and "Method and apparatus for simulating a jam session and instructing a user in how to play the drums," that reasonable belief should be easy to show.
Blizzard would consider offering support and expertise to a Bungie MMOG project, World Of Warcraft co-designer Rob Pardo revealed to us during Blizzcon, which took place in Anaheim, California over the weekend.
Speaking with us during the show for an interview recently published on the site, Blizzard¹s executive vice president of game design said, "There are a lot of ifs there. It would have to be a very specific proposal.
"Blizzard are very focussed on our own stuff and I think one of the reasons that we're successful is because we don't get distracted.
"That said," he added, "Activision is in the family and Bungie is doing stuff for Activision. If they called us up and wanted some advice or wanted to have a conversation, absolutely, but I do that with a lot of my game developer friends throughout the industry.
"As far as something specific, like if they were going to do an MMO would we somehow do customer service for them? Wow, that¹s like really far out there. I really have no idea - that's a lot of speculation. It's possible, I guess."
Last month, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick told investors that a significant factor behind Bungie¹s decision to sign a 10-year development deal with the publisher was the customer service expertise that Blizzard offered, sparking speculation that the Halo developer was planning an MMOG of its own.
"Blizzard has 2500 people in customer services just for World Of Warcraft," said Kotick. "How you train them, how you manage them, how you organise them, how you use CRM [customer relationship management] tools to be really effective in satisfying the expectations of your audience is something that no other company had."
Then, at GDC last month, Bungie creative director Joe Staten answered a question regarding the studio's next project saying, "Wouldn't it be great if we could make a world that was always there for you? Wow. That would be great."
Pardo went on to tell us that he'd welcome the competition from Bungie and believes the developer would have a shot at succeeding in the notoriously tough MMOG marketplace.
"When we first started working on an MMO people right away pointed at our pedigree and said there's no way that Blizzard can make an MMO - they¹ve never tried it before. So clearly if we can do it, I'm sure a company like Bungie or Valve or Nintendo or any of those top tier developers are more than capable of doing it.
"As far as whether I'd welcome a Bungie MMO, I certainly would as a gamer. I think that's one of the other reasons we've been so successful at Blizzard - all of us play and love games. We're as big a fans as anybody. I would love to play a Bungie MMO. I think it would be cool."
Activision Blizzard has made, by most accounts, a boatload of money on the Guitar Hero franchise. Now a group is claiming that Activision falsely advertised the games, including DJ Hero, claiming that it had patents pending notation when there weren't patents being applied for, and for listing patents not connected with the products. With a possible fine of up to $500 per product sold, a finding of wrongdoing could be very expensive.
"Essentially, PCG [the group filing the action] is claiming that the scopes of the patents with which Activision's video game products are marked do not cover the methods or systems of the actual products," PatentArcade wrote in its coverage. "In addition, where Activision has marked products with 'patent pending' or 'patent applied for,' PCG's position is that none of Activision's patent application has a potential scope of protection which would cover any aspect of the specified video game products."
With a few billion dollars in the bank and no debt, it's a safe bet that Kotick and Co. have the ability to fight off claims this nebulous. "Activision may avoid liability if it is able to sufficiently prove that it had a reasonable belief that the articles were within the scope of the patents with which the product were marked," Patent Arcade explained. Looking over the patents listed, which include "Turn-table adapter capable of being attached to a game device and portable game device using the same" and "Method and apparatus for simulating a jam session and instructing a user in how to play the drums," that reasonable belief should be easy to show.
Blizzard would consider offering support and expertise to a Bungie MMOG project, World Of Warcraft co-designer Rob Pardo revealed to us during Blizzcon, which took place in Anaheim, California over the weekend.
Speaking with us during the show for an interview recently published on the site, Blizzard¹s executive vice president of game design said, "There are a lot of ifs there. It would have to be a very specific proposal.
"Blizzard are very focussed on our own stuff and I think one of the reasons that we're successful is because we don't get distracted.
"That said," he added, "Activision is in the family and Bungie is doing stuff for Activision. If they called us up and wanted some advice or wanted to have a conversation, absolutely, but I do that with a lot of my game developer friends throughout the industry.
"As far as something specific, like if they were going to do an MMO would we somehow do customer service for them? Wow, that¹s like really far out there. I really have no idea - that's a lot of speculation. It's possible, I guess."
Last month, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick told investors that a significant factor behind Bungie¹s decision to sign a 10-year development deal with the publisher was the customer service expertise that Blizzard offered, sparking speculation that the Halo developer was planning an MMOG of its own.
"Blizzard has 2500 people in customer services just for World Of Warcraft," said Kotick. "How you train them, how you manage them, how you organise them, how you use CRM [customer relationship management] tools to be really effective in satisfying the expectations of your audience is something that no other company had."
Then, at GDC last month, Bungie creative director Joe Staten answered a question regarding the studio's next project saying, "Wouldn't it be great if we could make a world that was always there for you? Wow. That would be great."
Pardo went on to tell us that he'd welcome the competition from Bungie and believes the developer would have a shot at succeeding in the notoriously tough MMOG marketplace.
"When we first started working on an MMO people right away pointed at our pedigree and said there's no way that Blizzard can make an MMO - they¹ve never tried it before. So clearly if we can do it, I'm sure a company like Bungie or Valve or Nintendo or any of those top tier developers are more than capable of doing it.
"As far as whether I'd welcome a Bungie MMO, I certainly would as a gamer. I think that's one of the other reasons we've been so successful at Blizzard - all of us play and love games. We're as big a fans as anybody. I would love to play a Bungie MMO. I think it would be cool."
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