Bobby Kotick built a $69 billion empire from scratch—and the story is even crazier than it sounds.
In this episode of The Big Shot, we sit down with gaming’s ultimate entrepreneur. Bobby takes us from hustling snacks at baseball games to building one of the most iconic tech companies in the world: Activision Blizzard. Hear how he cold-called Nintendo, got investment from Steve Wynn on a private jet, took over a bankrupt video game company, and turned it into an empire that Microsoft bought for $69 billion.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
- Bobby’s early hustles: selling ashtrays, snacks, and party access in NYC
- Dropping out of college after Steve Jobs told him to
- Starting a dorm room company with Howard Marks
- Convincing Steve Wynn to invest $300K after a chance meeting
- Reviving Activision from bankruptcy using old IP and grit
- Why Pitfall and River Raid were billion-dollar blueprints
- How Activision became the first American Nintendo licensee
- The Apple boardroom showdown with John Sculley
- Turning Activision into a media empire: Call of Duty, Candy Crush, and Guitar Hero
- What it felt like selling the company to Microsoft for $69 billion
- His philosophy on leadership, loyalty, and building an enduring business
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In This Episode We Cover:
(00:00) Intro
(03:19) Selling ashtrays at playdates: Bobby’s first hustles
(06:39) Shadowing NYC real estate legends like Larry Silverstein
(09:59) Dorm room hardware startup with Howard Marks
(13:18) Inventing a typewriter-printer hack and launching via Byte magazine
(16:38) Meeting Steve Jobs
(19:58) Why Steve Jobs tells Bobby to drop out of school
(23:17) Getting featured in Forbes and making his parents panic
(26:37) The wild story of meeting Steve Wynn at a Texas cowboy gala
(29:57) The legendary $300K check in the basement of a casino
(33:16) Trying to sell to Apple (and the cigar moment with Sculley)
(36:36) Licensing games for EA and learning to be scrappy
(39:56) Black Monday, the Amiga, and a failed bid for Commodore
(43:15) Buying 20% of Nintendo’s U.S. licensing agent
(46:35) Discovering Activision buried inside a bankrupt company
(49:55) Why Bobby wanted to bring Pitfall and River Raid back to life
(53:14) The $400K move that changed gaming history
(56:34) A childhood connection saves the Activision bankruptcy deal
(59:54) Turning a bankrupt company into a profitable one in months
(01:03:13) Raising $40M and going on an acquisition spree
(01:06:33) How Bobby became the longest-serving tech CEO
(01:09:53) The Toy Story game meeting that cemented Bobby’s role
(01:13:12) Why Bobby never wanted to run a business that lost money
(01:15:32) Reflecting on the Microsoft acquisition and legacy
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Where To Find Bobby Kotick:
• X: https://x.com/bobbykotick
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbykotick/
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Where To Find Big Shot:
• Website: https://www.bigshot.show/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bigshotpodcast
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@bigshotshow
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bigshotshow/
• Harley Finkelstein: https://twitter.com/harleyf
• David Segal: https://twitter.com/tea_maverick
• Production and Marketing: https://penname.co
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