INTERVIEW: Ben Graetz from Activision Blizzard

MCV recently had the opportunity to ask a few questions of Activision Blizzard's Senior VP and MD for Asia-Pacific: Ben Graetz. Graetz joined the team in Sydney in December of last year.

What are the biggest changes the Australian / New Zealand market is undergoing right now?

This market has a very strong appetite for games and consumers who are passionate about the category, which makes it an exciting space to work in.   As an industry, we have both challenges and opportunities – including the economic and retail climate, our diverse geography, and our proximity to the emerging economies in Asia.  

At Activision, we want to focus on providing the best experience for our customers, be a great business partner and develop a great place to work for our staff.   We’ve put increased emphasis on each of these areas this past 12 months, and we will continue to focus and invest – it’s something I’m passionate about and something I believe I can contribute to our team and our business here in APAC.

What are some of the bigger and more exciting innovations we will see from Activision Blizzard in the next year?

Activision aims to provide a captivating entertainment experience with products that appeal to gamers of every age. Innovation is key to our industry and we are constantly aiming to raise the bar.  

In the next few weeks we have some great examples of that, with titles such as Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure - the first cross-platform product that combines a video game and toys - as well as the Call of Duty ELITE service, which will significantly enhance the experience available to our global community of over 30 million Call of Duty players.

In addition, we are about to launch some of the most highly anticipated entertainment properties in 2011, including Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 and Goldeneye 007 Reloaded. Needless to say, it is a big year!

How does Activision Blizzard get involved in the local community?

In the past 12 months we have significantly increased our engagement with the local gaming community.  We have a dedicated and passionate team and have made this a real focus area for our business – we want to put our customers and fans first in our thinking, and enable forums for two way interaction and dialog.  

As one example of this, we recently invited select members of the gaming community to participate in an exclusive session with Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling for Modern Warfare 3.

We are always looking for ways to give back to local gamers in a meaningful way.  

With that in mind, we will be a major sponsor for ‘Movember’ in 2011, with the goal of helping to raise awareness for men’s health.  It’s a partnership that is meaningful to our staff, and we believe the gaming community and community in general.  It’s something that we’re extremely proud of.

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