Activision Blizzard CEO drops hint to Grand Theft Auto brothers: come work for us

Dan and Sam Houser are the founders of Rockstar Games, and the brains behind the Grand Theft Auto series. If you were a video game company, you’d want them on your team.

Their contract with Take-Two Interactive will expire in just a few months, and already Activision Blizzard‘s CEO is making a play for them. So, what do you think of the creators of the Grand Theft Auto working for the studios that gave us Guitar Hero and Warcraft?

Dan and Sam Houser are the founders of Rockstar Games, and the brains behind the Grand Theft Auto series. If you were a video game company, you’d want them on your team.

Hell, I’m not developer and I want them on my team.

Anyway, moving on. Their contract with Take-Two Interactive will expire this February. When that happens, a bidding war for the brothers is likely to take place. It seems that Activision Blizzard‘s CEO Bobby Kotick is already dropping some strong hints that he wants the brothers on the payroll.

At an investor conference, Kotick mentioned that he can’t talk about the Houser brothers. That didn’t stop him from making a play for them though, as just a second later he said that:

We (Activision) really embrace the individual studio model. We know how to take studios and talented teams and appropriately incentivize them. WeÂ’ve definitely become the destination location for independently minded entrepreneurial talent.

Smooth, Kotick. As the Silicon Alley Insider remarked, Kotick might as well have said “come work for us.” We don’t know what the brothers think about Kotick’s remark, but it’s still fun to ponder: what would the creators of the Grand Theft Auto come up with, working for the studios that gave us Guitar Hero and Warcraft?

• Michael Pachter: Take-Two might lose Houser siblings
• Electronic Arts ends talks with Take-Two: merger no go
• Rockstar’s Dan Houser doesn’t like casual games
• Rockstar’s Dan Houser explains ‘defining moment’ in GTA IV

Via Alley Insider