Activision CEO: “Call of Duty” As Important As Facebook

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It’s true that tons of people love Call of Duty: Black Ops or else the title wouldn’t have made $1 billion in just a couple of months. But, is it as integral to our lives as Facebook and Twitter? Activision CEO Bobby Kotick seems to think so. In a recent interview with CNN, he said Call of Duty attracts more people than watch the late night shows combined and players outnumber any other entertainment audience. Sixty percent of Xbox Live’s gamers play a Call of Duty title, according to the CEO.

He explained:

“If you look at the 500 million people who are on Facebook and the way that people text each other and instant message and use video chat, there is now an evolution of media,” Kotick said, comparing it to the capabilities of Call of Duty: Black Ops. “Those are the characteristics and attributes that a generation and audiences feel are very important to their media and entertainment experiences. And we expect that.”

Kotick extolled Activision’s Treyarch studio as the primary developer of the game, interesting because of the legal troubles they are currently having with Infinity Ward, the previous developer that worked on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The CEO explained that the split and new choice of lead production company was the result of Activision having to fire two executives from Infinity Ward for doing something “so wrong that you were left with no choice.” Still, he believes that the multiplayer aspects, which are driving the popularity of the game, have always been due to Treyarch’s handywork even back in Modern Warfare 2. “I don’t think Treyarch got their due for how much they contributed in the production and polish to the multiplayer,” Kotick said.

More on TIME.com:

“Call of Duty: Black Ops” Reaches $1 Billion In Sales

“Call of Duty: Black Ops” Releasing First DLC in February

Court of Duty: Activision Sues EA Over Departure of Infinity Ward Studio Heads