Activision responds to EA Call of Duty trash talk

With Battlefield 3, Electronic Arts wants to take down Activision's Call of Duty franchise, and it hasn't been shy about admitting as much. However, in opening statements at this year's Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg suggested that such rabble-rousing ultimately serves no one.

As reported by Eurogamer, Hirshberg said competition was a good thing. However, he added that public statements hoping for a rival's game to fail crosses a line.

"Recently a competitor of ours was quoted as saying that he wants to see Call of Duty 'rot from the core,'" Hirshberg said. "I've been asked countless times to respond to this comment, and I've generally chosen not to. My job is to help our incredibly talented, passionate teams to make the best games they can, not to throw insults around at others. But I actually feel this kind of rhetoric is bad for our industry."

Hirshberg went on to say that publishers should be supportive of each other, because a great game will always sell because it's great, not because it steals sales from the competition. He said that was the mind-set of politics, which necessitates that one side lose if another side is to win.

"We shouldn't be tearing each other apart fighting for a bigger piece of the pie," Hirshberg said. "We should all be focused on trying to grow a bigger pie. If we as an industry act like there's a finite number of games in the world, then there will be."