Activision establishing 'Call of Duty Endowment,' donating $1 million to war veteran aid

by Ben Gilbert on Nov 9th 2009 12:00PM

On the eve of Modern Warfare 2's official release, the game's publisher has announced intentions to donate $1 million to veteran-related charities through a newly created foundation. The "Call of Duty Endowment" (or simply "CODE") is said to "support other groups that assist veterans with their careers," reports the Washington Post.

Though he's mostly known for facepalm-inducing hard business quotes, Activision head Bobby Kotick thoughtfully commented, "How do you expect people to actually join the military if when they leave the military they can't integrate back into the free market they're supposed to be protecting? The joblessness rate that [veterans] should have should be far less than the national average, not more." The foundation's first donation will be for $125,000 to the Paralyzed Veterans of America and will go towards the opening of a vocational rehabilitation center.

Source

Tags: activision, bobby-kotick, call-of-duty, call-of-duty-endowment, call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2, charity, donation, infinity-ward, modern-warfare, modern-warfare-2

Reader Comments (62)

Good Job Activision.

Definetly kudos and this is great publicity. But seriously.. The Map Pack alone made 10mil in ONE day. Shouldn't they be donating more then just $125,000?

Seriously how many wheelborrows can they fill with the MW2 pre-order procedes alone??

It would be cool if instead they added $5 to the cost of MW:2 and donated all that extra cash to Veterans Charities.

But regardless, a very cool move. Surprising, but cool.

No, Aurailious, that wouldn't be cool.

In effect, it would force MW2 consumers to "donate" $5 themselves without incurring any charge on Activision.

If $5 for every game sale went to donations, that $5 should come out of the money Activision is already making by selling the game.

That just made my day. Not because I can buy it now, but because it's helping our brothers and sisters in the military. Now I can buy MW2 in good conscience. I was gonna get a used one to give activision teh finger, but since it's helping vets I might have to give this out for Xmas.

What did Activision do when they were cashing in on the backs of World War 2 veterans? Answer: Nothing.

I applaud the move, but not the motives behind it. If brave soldiers all over the world weren't coming home killed and wounded right now, this wouldn't have happened. Call it spin, damage control, or PR stunt, but it is surely not charitable.

@Hey Apples
You could say that about anything that is remotely related to any historic event. Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan, etc... only told the story of the vets, but I don't remember them giving to charity. In that case they are also cashing in.

Wow, good job Activision. This is a great cause, and I'm suprised the money they spent is that high. Sure it is marketing, but who cares as long as it supports soldiers who risked their lives. How many game companies --especially those who profit from "war porn"-- donate to cause like this?

And Kotick actually said something that made sense, and isn't filled with pure evil? When he isn't talking about taking fun out of games, he seems like someone who is sensible.

Pretty much what I came here to say.
+1

Maybe they're turning a new leaf like EA ... :/

Wha.... I'm stunned frankly.

It's a bit like Bob Kelso from Scrubs (I'm a scrubs addict, shuush), the moment he steps foot out of the hospital he becomes a nice guy as opposed to the profit focused hard ass he usually is.

Maybe...whisper it...kotick has a s-s-s- *gulps*

Soul?

His soul is encased in the guitar slung over his shoulder. Sometimes he picks it up and plays a few songs.

I'd complain about they're supposed publicity but a donation is a donation

their*

Thank jeebus you fixed that their/they're/there. You almost got a downvote from me. :P

Look at it this way - at least they aren't wasting money on pointless ad campaigns, it's a win win situation. Imo, a large donation like this does faaar more for the company profile than wasting even larger amounts of money on forgettable adverts.

Not to mention the good that money does.

I love that Bobby Kotick thinks the purpose of the military is to preserve free-market capitalism.

I mean, it IS, but you're not supposed to SAY that.

Thank you! That's exactly what I thought, too.

Good on you for donation a portion of the money you made making veterans' deaths and suffering entertaining. Kudos to you.

hahaha

Modern Warfare 3: The preservation of free-market capitalism?

If he's donating to a good cause he can say whatever he's got a ticket to say whatever he wants for a few minutes hehe. Maybe they should have made this 1 mill announcement in the same press conference as announcing no dedicated servers, might have saved them some flak :P

You can't fool me Kotick.

I'm in no way a Kotick apologist, but seriously? The man can do no right?

Apart from his gaming exploits, Kotick is actually a pretty nice guy. You won't here any complaints from me on that money. It's going where it's needed.

This is known as the 'invisible hand' of Capitalism. Yes, this is being spent for good PR, but it's going to a good cause, and in the end, they'll make it back.

Um, 1 million dollars is chump change and will run out very, very quickly.

It's better than no chump change. How about Joystiq start a charity?

Sure, it's better than nothing but once you get started on the number crunching, that 1 million really doesn't last too long so the endowment has to pick and choose who gets the money. 125k of 1 million is already one-eighth of the charity.

I personally think that Activision could have done more with this by donating more and using part of it to fund the endowment itself as an actuary. Think 401K plans that are NOT funded by the Wall Street casino but are funded by actual savings.

Jerkoff.

Nice job Activision/Kotick.

It's called "thinking realistically." You'll understand once you work with charity/non-profit organizations.

A million dollars sounds nice, but it's really not enough in terms of what is needed to support our veterans.

Bravo, Activision. I'm a vet, so it's a great thing to hear about. You've come down a notch on the "Evil Empire" ladder.

It's the least they can do when making record profits off a game based off of our troops. Kudos to them for doing the right thing.

"How do you expect people to actually join the military if when they leave the military they can't integrate back into the free market they're supposed to be protecting?"

"the free market they're supposed to be protecting"

Even when doing charity work Bobby Kotick can somehow manage to come off as a greedy, evil bastard. Absolutely incredible.

Will it have annual sequels?!
Or maybe three spin-offs in the same year...

This is one time I hope Activision has multiple sequels. In the same year. Hell, the same month!

And let's hope they improve with every sequel unlike most the time.

I know it's for publicity, but I will not bash them, that's still exactly $1 Million dollars more than what I have given to the war veteran charities. Good job Activision.

I still don't like you, Kotick.

Call me all the names you want and downvote me as much as you want but i would much rather have all the money being spent of this PUBLICITY STUNT being spent on PC Dedicated servers. Flame Away

The cycle is Bobby Kotick raises his game's prices. Gamers complain. With the extra profit made by the price hikes, he donates to a charity. Gamers settle down.

Rinse and repeat.

Your statement would make sense if he did this every year. The only prices that were raised was the PC version that is $10 more than a regular priced PC game. There is no cycle at all.

And according to the Boycott, no one will be buying the more expensive MW2 on PC, so it's coming straight out of their pockets - BOOYAH!

He's only been with the company a little over a year, give it time....

No, he has been with Activision for quite some time, and at top management positions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kotick

Thanks for the clarification.

No problem, he has been with Activision for a while. He just recently started opening his mouth, and spewing bs.

Publicity stunt that benefits a good cause. Touche.

Does this not smell of: "We're about to have news agencies and politicians on our ass about the controversial content of MW2, so we better preemptively get some good will/brownie points?"

Reminds me of a magician waving his right hand to distract the audience while the "trick" is performed in the left.

A good gesture and a great tax deduction to be sure, but considering the source I'm not willing to paint them altruistic company over one act.

Kotick, just so you know, it's going to take more then that to reach the gamer's forgiveness. This is a step forward though, but im just saying.

It's a long way to the top..... and you probably know how the rest goes.

Kotick not being a jerk. Strange...

Oh cmon, this is just marketing for MW2. It would cost about the same to make an advert.

Well played, Kotick...but if you slip up, just once, I'll be there.

(Goes back to work)

Good to see Activision doing this. Our veteran's definitely deserve such support for serving our country.

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Activision establishing 'Call of Duty Endowment,' donating $1 million to war veteran aid

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