I call bullshit on all the people claiming they would be free-handed with or refuse 14 million dollars. I'm a greedy motherfucker and I know it. I also have no sympathy for the investors that lost a collective 73 million on that Speed Racer movie last year.
Yes, everyone should be taxed so that it is impossible to make over 1mil a year. If you go over, the rest just goes to the government. Clearly this is not only fair, but also logical.
Luckily I have no dreams of moving beyond my station in life, or of ever achieving anything extraordinary. I prefer to always stay at my middle class level, along with everyone else in a perpetual state of mediocrity. And if that is too hard, oh well the government will provide, am i rite? I mean, why should one person ever achieve more through hard work than another?
This is fantastic. I hope this news becomes general public knowledge. That way people will stop asking me to make a game for them for $500. We are an entertainment industry that hides all the wrong things.
I'm playing devil's advocate here, but how hard you work has never been the metric for pay grade. Ideally, you get compensated according to the value of your contribution.
If you built a house using only one arm, that wouldn't make the house more valuable than one that was (more easily) built using both arms. Difficult jobs generally pay more because there are less people willing or able to work at them, not simply because they are difficult.
That said, I'm pretty damn skeptical that Bobbo's annual work contribution is worth more than five hundred times that of an average developer at one of the Activision studios.
I'm playing devil's advocate here, but how hard you work has never been the metric for pay grade. Ideally, you get compensated according to the value of your contribution.
i'd prefer to think of it as being compensated according to the value of your responsibility
being at the head of a huge company, you're ultimately responsible for unimaginable shitloads of cash, all the assets, all the resources.
the kick in the teeth comes when these same people prove to be incompetent in that responsibility, fuck loads of people up and piss away money, but still walk away from the job with a huge personal payout on top of the fortunes they've amassed. But he's not there yet. Maybe one day. I'll moan then.
Yes, everyone should be taxed so that it is impossible to make over 1mil a year. If you go over, the rest just goes to the government. Clearly this is not only fair, but also logical.
Luckily I have no dreams of moving beyond my station in life, or of ever achieving anything extraordinary. I prefer to always stay at my middle class level, along with everyone else in a perpetual state of mediocrity. And if that is too hard, oh well the government will provide, am i rite? I mean, why should one person ever achieve more through hard work than another?
I was being slightly sarcastic, a lot of people fall into wealth or get wealthy by using people. There's no reason why movies should cost around 100 million to make or why actors need 5 million a movie. There's a lot of people that work their asses off just to get by, and other just coast through life, taking it easy. Its more about opportunity than effort. Hollywood is the biggest pile of mediocrity I've ever seen, along with EA and Activision is getting that way with all the tony hawks and just riding the guitar hero wave.
I'm playing devil's advocate here, but how hard you work has never been the metric for pay grade. Ideally, you get compensated according to the value of your contribution.
If you built a house using only one arm, that wouldn't make the house more valuable than one that was (more easily) built using both arms. Difficult jobs generally pay more because there are less people willing or able to work at them, not simply because they are difficult.
That said, I'm pretty damn skeptical that Bobbo's annual work contribution is worth more than five hundred times that of an average developer at one of the Activision studios.
Even if his contribution isn't the same as a developer, he was the one who took a bunch of boring ass bussiness classes, while most of us had fun drawing shit and making cool animations.
Guess what, we could all go to law school and make 300 bucks an hour. We all know we can do it. Do you see any of us running off to law school? Should we limit the hourly wage of lawyers because we don't think they deserve so much more money than us?
I guess I just don't understand everyone's hatred of rich people that has developed in the last few years. The whole class warrior idea doesn't fit with the American Dream.
Even if his contribution isn't the same as a developer, he was the one who took a bunch of boring ass bussiness classes, while most of us had fun drawing shit and making cool animations.
Guess what, we could all go to law school and make 300 bucks an hour. We all know we can do it. Do you see any of us running off to law school? Should we limit the hourly wage of lawyers because we don't think they deserve so much more money than us?
I guess I just don't understand everyone's hatred of rich people that has developed in the last few years. The whole class warrior idea doesn't fit with the American Dream.
The american dream is entirely contrary to the idea that how much you make depends on your college major
Even if his contribution isn't the same as a developer, he was the one who took a bunch of boring ass bussiness classes, while most of us had fun drawing shit and making cool animations.
Guess what, we could all go to law school and make 300 bucks an hour. We all know we can do it. Do you see any of us running off to law school? Should we limit the hourly wage of lawyers because we don't think they deserve so much more money than us?
I guess I just don't understand everyone's hatred of rich people that has developed in the last few years. The whole class warrior idea doesn't fit with the American Dream.
I have devotion to my art, I'm not ambitious, I don't want to be famous, I do it cause I love it. I don't really care how much I make as long as I continue to love what I do and can afford to live comfortably.
This country is messed up legally, and in the amount things cost.
There's no reason why movies should cost around 100 million to make or why actors need 5 million a movie.
they don't need 5 million. But, dammit - if i was, say, Jim Carrey (shudder) and a godawful shit film grossed $100 million purely down to the simple fact that i was in it, i'd be wanting a fair old cut out of general bloody principle. What would i do with it all? No idea. Probably leave it to the kids to, i dunno, go into space or something
I guess I just don't understand everyone's hatred of rich people that has developed in the last few years. The whole class warrior idea doesn't fit with the American Dream.
Because doctors should totally make less money than CEO's of greedy companies like Nike and Walmart.
While that seems like a nice analogy... if we raise doctor's salaries, then health care must also become more expensive, which makes it harder for poor people to afford good health care, unless of course we have the government pick up some of the tab, which of course comes out of our pockets in taxes. CEOs on the other hand are paid entirely out of their own company's coffers and if they happen to charge too much for their services/product in an effort to raise their own salary, than their company ultimately loses money.
While that seems like a nice analogy... if we raise doctor's salaries, then health care must also become more expensive, which makes it harder for poor people to afford good health care, unless of course we have the government pick up some of the tab, which of course comes out of our pockets in taxes. CEOs on the other hand are paid entirely out of their own company's coffers and if they happen to charge too much for their services/product in an effort to raise their own salary, than their company ultimately loses money.
I wasn't offering a solution, merely pointing out absurdities in our society. And its hard to charge too much if we will pay $1.50 for a soda at a fast food restaurant when we could pick up a 2 liter for $1.09 or a 24 pack for 5 bucks.
Even if his contribution isn't the same as a developer, he was the one who took a bunch of boring ass bussiness classes, while most of us had fun drawing shit and making cool animations.
Guess what, we could all go to law school and make 300 bucks an hour. We all know we can do it. Do you see any of us running off to law school? Should we limit the hourly wage of lawyers because we don't think they deserve so much more money than us?
I guess I just don't understand everyone's hatred of rich people that has developed in the last few years. The whole class warrior idea doesn't fit with the American Dream.
This sounds like venting, not an actual response to what I wrote. I'm no class warrior and I believe it's entirely possible for exceptional people to warrant exceptional salaries. But managing a risk-averse sequel factory does not strike me as the kind of societal contribution warranting particularly exceptional pay. This doesn't mean I have anything against Bobby (although others here certainly seem to) since after all, who would turn down such a paycheck? -- it means I have something against the people I perceive to be overpaying him.
Don't devalue the work us game artists do by saying "hey, it's more fun than business classes." I'm sure you know as well as anyone here that game art is as highly skilled, difficult, stressful, and unstable a profession as it is rewarding. You make it sound like the reason we aren't making the kind of money Bobby does is because we like goofing off, and that is quite far from the truth. Like I said before, how hard you work isn't the sole factor in determining how much you get paid.
This sounds like venting, not an actual response to what I wrote. I'm no class warrior and I believe it's entirely possible for exceptional people to warrant exceptional salaries. But managing a risk-averse sequel factory does not strike me as the kind of societal contribution warranting particularly exceptional pay. This doesn't mean I have anything against Bobby (although others here certainly seem to) since after all, who would turn down such a paycheck? -- it means I have something against the people I perceive to be overpaying him.
Don't devalue the work us game artists do by saying "hey, it's more fun than business classes." I'm sure you know as well as anyone here that game art is as highly skilled, difficult, stressful, and unstable a profession as it is rewarding. You make it sound like the reason we aren't making the kind of money Bobby does is because we like goofing off, and that is quite far from the truth. Like I said before, how hard you work isn't the sole factor in determining how much you get paid.
Sometimes you got to put aside your morals/values/beliefs to get by, I'm sure anyone that works for that companies, including Blizzard employees, all contribute to this pay check, and there isn't much you can do besides quit.
Btw, ZackF, you are a name copier! and I was listening to a song called "Gainesville" when I read over your info, creeped me out a bit, so I had to post it.
I actually expected it to be a lot more, considering he's the CEO of one of the leading game publishers. Hasn't the video game industry surpassed the movie biz in terms of profits? Don't top stars get paid that much to star in a movie they're only involved in for a few months?
was looking at other ceo's and yeah honestly not that much, steve jobs only gets $1 a year salary from apple, but $646 million from stocks..
and he didnt even graduate college
was looking at other ceo's and yeah honestly not that much, steve jobs only gets $1 a year salary from apple, but $646 million from stocks..
and he didnt even graduate college
Guess what, we could all go to law school and make 300 bucks an hour. We all know we can do it. Do you see any of us running off to law school? Should we limit the hourly wage of lawyers because we don't think they deserve so much more money than us?
Actually, we couldn't all afford to go to law school. That's no small detail you forgot.
I guess I just don't understand everyone's hatred of rich people that has developed in the last few years. The whole class warrior idea doesn't fit with the American Dream.
Income inequality is at one of its highest points in US history and the current recession was caused in part by the failure of free market ideals, namely massive deregulation. And if you've followed the news anytime in the last year - business executives collecting performance bonuses and golden parachutes after running companies into the ground. All of that might cause a little class rivalry, yeah.
Edit: To clarify, it doesn't really bother me that he makes millions, but it does bother me that artists are consistently underpaid and that their output is not particularly valued.
really? You think the american dream is that every field/career path should pay the exact same salary?
Actually that's what you believe I believe, what I believe is that you believe that it's easier to attack a belief that I do not hold than to actually consider that my beliefs may be valid
My belief is that it is completely sick for a man who has no actual skill when it comes to creating a game can make fourteen million dollars a year off of them while the people who actually create the product get screwed again and again. That's how the idea of capitalism has played itself out, and not just in the videogame industry. What a miserable "experiment"
Meh not surprising. CEOs and guys like this make shit tons of cash.
Try looking at athletes saleries. Those guys are insanely over paid.
mmm i disagree.
an athlete is infinitely more likely to have his career cut short by any kind of injury, whether it happened at his "place of work", or out on the street.
a CEO of a major company can still perform his duties in a wheelchair.
My belief is that it is completely sick for a man who has no actual skill when it comes to creating a game can make fourteen million dollars a year off of them while the people who actually create the product get screwed again and again.
So much assumption for something most people know little about. It's not easy running even a small <10 employee business, I can't imagine what it's like running a massive multinational entity like Activision.
a CEO of a major company can still perform his duties in a wheelchair.
Actually, I doubt they could manage people, make connections and broker deals in a wheelchair. Sad to say it but no one would take them seriously. Not that a CEO is likely to end up a victim of anything but a big mac of course but really, it's pretty silly to assume they just sit in their office and sign whatever comes across their desk all day.
Anyone who thinks the big-business model is unnecessary for the games industry is welcome to abandon it though. Lack of money should be no issue--after all, "securing funding" and "attracting investors" are just a few of those easy things management does which anyone can do. From a wheelchair. Before lunch ¬_¬
So much assumption for something most people know little about. It's not easy running even a small <10 employee business, I can't imagine what it's like running a massive multinational entity like Activision.
Yeah it's very difficult to delegate all actual work and only make sweeping macro decisions. Tough stuff. Especially when those decisions are "yes, I do believe that call of duty is a marketable franchise. Please, make more. Also charge more for it." I'd imagine running a small business is more difficult in many ways, as you don't have a legion of executives and accountants and analysts doing things for you and feeding you data. The responsibility increases... the difficulty? I dunno.
But again, the kicker is not whether his job is tough or easy, as that's not really relevant. The point is his job is superfluous to the actual product... he's a non-essential cog. Unlike all the artists, programmers, designers, producers that actually touch the game. He's only important because studios need funding. Play with money. That's his job.
Just to stir the pot here a little, there was an interview with this guy in the Economist as I recall and he's quite proud about not liking videogames in the least. I agree that Activision has overtaken EA as premiere evil empire in the industry. Congrats, Activision!
Just to stir the pot here a little, there was an interview with this guy in the Economist as I recall and he's quite proud about not liking videogames in the least. I agree that Activision has overtaken EA as premiere evil empire in the industry. Congrats, Activision!
Just to stir the pot here a little, there was an interview with this guy in the Economist as I recall and he's quite proud about not liking videogames in the least. I agree that Activision has overtaken EA as premiere evil empire in the industry. Congrats, Activision!
LOL
Omg.. Just perfect!
I think Richard had the most valid response.
Also, if he was willing to take less, he could also afford to not have outsourcing, which beyond our personal concerns, would probably lead to even more consistent art styles in games.
Replies
No one person needs 1mil a year.
Yes, everyone should be taxed so that it is impossible to make over 1mil a year. If you go over, the rest just goes to the government. Clearly this is not only fair, but also logical.
Luckily I have no dreams of moving beyond my station in life, or of ever achieving anything extraordinary. I prefer to always stay at my middle class level, along with everyone else in a perpetual state of mediocrity. And if that is too hard, oh well the government will provide, am i rite? I mean, why should one person ever achieve more through hard work than another?
Correction - He works five hundred and thirty one times harder.
I'm sure this is reassuring to people who got the axe during the merger
No but he sure has worked smarter.
I find it helps to think of it like that...
If you built a house using only one arm, that wouldn't make the house more valuable than one that was (more easily) built using both arms. Difficult jobs generally pay more because there are less people willing or able to work at them, not simply because they are difficult.
That said, I'm pretty damn skeptical that Bobbo's annual work contribution is worth more than five hundred times that of an average developer at one of the Activision studios.
i'd prefer to think of it as being compensated according to the value of your responsibility
being at the head of a huge company, you're ultimately responsible for unimaginable shitloads of cash, all the assets, all the resources.
the kick in the teeth comes when these same people prove to be incompetent in that responsibility, fuck loads of people up and piss away money, but still walk away from the job with a huge personal payout on top of the fortunes they've amassed. But he's not there yet. Maybe one day. I'll moan then.
I was being slightly sarcastic, a lot of people fall into wealth or get wealthy by using people. There's no reason why movies should cost around 100 million to make or why actors need 5 million a movie. There's a lot of people that work their asses off just to get by, and other just coast through life, taking it easy. Its more about opportunity than effort. Hollywood is the biggest pile of mediocrity I've ever seen, along with EA and Activision is getting that way with all the tony hawks and just riding the guitar hero wave.
Even if his contribution isn't the same as a developer, he was the one who took a bunch of boring ass bussiness classes, while most of us had fun drawing shit and making cool animations.
Guess what, we could all go to law school and make 300 bucks an hour. We all know we can do it. Do you see any of us running off to law school? Should we limit the hourly wage of lawyers because we don't think they deserve so much more money than us?
I guess I just don't understand everyone's hatred of rich people that has developed in the last few years. The whole class warrior idea doesn't fit with the American Dream.
you're getting your rhetoric mixed up
I have devotion to my art, I'm not ambitious, I don't want to be famous, I do it cause I love it. I don't really care how much I make as long as I continue to love what I do and can afford to live comfortably.
This country is messed up legally, and in the amount things cost.
they don't need 5 million. But, dammit - if i was, say, Jim Carrey (shudder) and a godawful shit film grossed $100 million purely down to the simple fact that i was in it, i'd be wanting a fair old cut out of general bloody principle. What would i do with it all? No idea. Probably leave it to the kids to, i dunno, go into space or something
I wonder why
[ame]
Great video by the way, its one of my favorites.
really? You think the american dream is that every field/career path should pay the exact same salary?
While that seems like a nice analogy... if we raise doctor's salaries, then health care must also become more expensive, which makes it harder for poor people to afford good health care, unless of course we have the government pick up some of the tab, which of course comes out of our pockets in taxes. CEOs on the other hand are paid entirely out of their own company's coffers and if they happen to charge too much for their services/product in an effort to raise their own salary, than their company ultimately loses money.
I wasn't offering a solution, merely pointing out absurdities in our society. And its hard to charge too much if we will pay $1.50 for a soda at a fast food restaurant when we could pick up a 2 liter for $1.09 or a 24 pack for 5 bucks.
Welcome to the 21st century. It's all a mess.
This sounds like venting, not an actual response to what I wrote. I'm no class warrior and I believe it's entirely possible for exceptional people to warrant exceptional salaries. But managing a risk-averse sequel factory does not strike me as the kind of societal contribution warranting particularly exceptional pay. This doesn't mean I have anything against Bobby (although others here certainly seem to) since after all, who would turn down such a paycheck? -- it means I have something against the people I perceive to be overpaying him.
Don't devalue the work us game artists do by saying "hey, it's more fun than business classes." I'm sure you know as well as anyone here that game art is as highly skilled, difficult, stressful, and unstable a profession as it is rewarding. You make it sound like the reason we aren't making the kind of money Bobby does is because we like goofing off, and that is quite far from the truth. Like I said before, how hard you work isn't the sole factor in determining how much you get paid.
Sometimes you got to put aside your morals/values/beliefs to get by, I'm sure anyone that works for that companies, including Blizzard employees, all contribute to this pay check, and there isn't much you can do besides quit.
Btw, ZackF, you are a name copier! and I was listening to a song called "Gainesville" when I read over your info, creeped me out a bit, so I had to post it.
and he didnt even graduate college
646>14
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/05/04/apples_steve_jobs_tops_list_of_highest_paid_ceos.html
And Apple tries to come off as the "we're not a giant CEO headed corporation" compared to Microsoft.
Actually, we couldn't all afford to go to law school. That's no small detail you forgot.
Income inequality is at one of its highest points in US history and the current recession was caused in part by the failure of free market ideals, namely massive deregulation. And if you've followed the news anytime in the last year - business executives collecting performance bonuses and golden parachutes after running companies into the ground. All of that might cause a little class rivalry, yeah.
Edit: To clarify, it doesn't really bother me that he makes millions, but it does bother me that artists are consistently underpaid and that their output is not particularly valued.
My belief is that it is completely sick for a man who has no actual skill when it comes to creating a game can make fourteen million dollars a year off of them while the people who actually create the product get screwed again and again. That's how the idea of capitalism has played itself out, and not just in the videogame industry. What a miserable "experiment"
mmm i disagree.
an athlete is infinitely more likely to have his career cut short by any kind of injury, whether it happened at his "place of work", or out on the street.
a CEO of a major company can still perform his duties in a wheelchair.
So much assumption for something most people know little about. It's not easy running even a small <10 employee business, I can't imagine what it's like running a massive multinational entity like Activision.
Actually, I doubt they could manage people, make connections and broker deals in a wheelchair. Sad to say it but no one would take them seriously. Not that a CEO is likely to end up a victim of anything but a big mac of course but really, it's pretty silly to assume they just sit in their office and sign whatever comes across their desk all day.
Anyone who thinks the big-business model is unnecessary for the games industry is welcome to abandon it though. Lack of money should be no issue--after all, "securing funding" and "attracting investors" are just a few of those easy things management does which anyone can do. From a wheelchair. Before lunch ¬_¬
But again, the kicker is not whether his job is tough or easy, as that's not really relevant. The point is his job is superfluous to the actual product... he's a non-essential cog. Unlike all the artists, programmers, designers, producers that actually touch the game. He's only important because studios need funding. Play with money. That's his job.
http://kotaku.com/5335412/ever-wonder-how-much-ea-honcho-made-last-year
Machiavelli would applaud!
LOL
Omg.. Just perfect!
I think Richard had the most valid response.
Also, if he was willing to take less, he could also afford to not have outsourcing, which beyond our personal concerns, would probably lead to even more consistent art styles in games.