Activision CEO Claims Video Games Are Treated Unfairly

By Matt Mann / November 23, 2011

You would think that after one of the biggest entertainment releases in the world, and making approximately 775 million dollars in a matter of five days Activision would have nothing to complain about right? Well the company's publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg today lamented the fact that video games (specifically Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3) are treated unfairly compared to movies and believes that video games should be held to the same standards as their Hollywood counterparts. Here is what Hirshberg had to say:

"There's a sense that games are more exploitative in a way that The Hurt Locker €” which also was designed as form of entertainment €” isn't. I think they are an art form, and I think that 'too soon' criteria is not applied to things like Green Zone. Or United 93. There will be a time when we look back and find it quaint that video games were so controversial. I think the active ingredient to changing that attitude is time. The producers didn't create The Hurt Locker as a public service; they did it to tell a story that they thought needed to be told. It was a piece of entertainment that they sold. And, yet, that's not viewed as exploiting current events. It's viewed as somehow artistically interpreting and commenting on current events. The creative process of making that movie and making our games is very similar, but they're received differently. The narrative of Call of Duty has been much more good guys and bad guys, and brotherhood and the journey and the battle. I don't think that's an indictment. It's a choice, one that's maybe a little less literary and a little more action-oriented in terms of its foundation. I don't think that means the narrative structure of Call of Duty is lacking, though. I can name a hundred other movies that are not like Black Hawk Down, but you don't leave questioning about the heroism and the bravery and the action and the sort of extreme experience of battle. We've told the stories that the developers want to tell. I don't think we've made choices based on avoiding or aiming for commentary. The story and the characters have unfolded with great intent from our developers."

He is right because video games are treated unfairly when compared to movie violence, people just think that because you are actually controlling the person shooting the gun you would be more likely to go out and do it in real life. We know this isn't true, but it is the stereotype that is perpetuated by the media and politicians. However, for me as a video game lover, I kind of get tired of being compared to movies, I would like video games to be judged on their own merits. What do you think should video games be compared more to movies or should they be defined as there own thing separate of other forms of entertainment?