Resulta que la industria de los videojuegos está revuelta porque los creadores y el editor del juego mas vendido del año pasado han roto relaciones. Resumen rápido:
1-"Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" vende mas de 14 millones de copias.
2-Activision despide a los dos máximos responsables del juego, Jason West y Vince Zampella acusandolos de infringir su contrato. No se dan mas detalles acerca de en que consiste dicha ruptura de contrato.
3-Jason West y Vince Zampella contra-demandan a Activision acusandoles, entre otras cosas, de despedirles de forma improcedente para no tener que pagarles bonificaciones de mas de 30 millones de dólares por las ventas de su último juego.
4-Con sus líderes despedidos, el estudio responsable de "Call of Duty", "Call of Duty 2", "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" y "Modern Warfare 2" empieza a perder empleados a un ritmo alarmante y probablemente a descomponerse.
5-Jason West y Vince Zampella crean un nuevo estudio (Respawn Entertainment) y firman un acuerdo de distribución con el rival directo de Activision, Electronic Arts.
Desgraciadamente y pese a la difusión masiva que ha tenido el juego (hasta acaba de salir en Padre de Familia) todo esto no ha llegado a la calle. Digo desgraciadamente porque pone en perspectiva lo poco que se valora aún a los creadores de videojuegos: si esto hubiera sido un follón entre Lady Gaga y Universal hasta mi madre se habría enterado de ello. Lady Gaga, por cierto, que fue la artista musical que más discos vendió el año pasado, no llegó a generar tanto dinero como "Modern Warfare 2".
A cuenta de todo esto, en Eurogamer han publicado una descripción de las relaciones actuales entre grandes editores y grandes estudios de desarrollo que me parece muy acertada:
In so far as publishers are to continue as powerhouses of this industry, with the budgets to attract or acquire top developers and fund the creation of expensive blockbusters, there are two competing philosophies at work here.
One of them states that since the publisher has the money and the IP, the talent is barely relevant except as a PR exercise. It's bad PR to lose your key creative staff, as the IW debacle demonstrates, but, this school of thought believes, you can always recruit more developers, and once the franchise is established any moderately talented team can keep turning out profitable sequels.
That's the school of thought which Activision is apparently embracing at the moment. Interestingly, it's also a school of thought which was largely embraced by Electronic Arts during Larry Probst's tenure as CEO - and which the publisher has since abandoned in favour of the second approach.
This approach says that one of the publisher's key jobs, perhaps as important as finance or marketing, is to keep the talent happy - to ensure that top developers and their key staff are satisfied, motivated and well-rewarded, made to feel that their relationship with the publisher is a partnership rather than that of an indentured servant and his master.
Infinity Ward's gradual reforming under EA's wing as Respawn grants a unique opportunity for those two concepts to go head to head. In the coming years, we will inevitably see a battle for sales and critical acclaim between a title from EA / Respawn, and an Activision title bearing the Modern Warfare brand. The owners of the IP will go head to head with the talent that created that IP.
Que cada uno juzgue cual que postura le parece mas adecuada. Yo, pese a los resultados financieros que seguramente lo decapiten antes de tiempo, me declaro fan de John Riccitiello.
