The scuttlebutt is that publishers are afraid of Modern War 2. Starcraft 2 will probably be pretty big, too. At one point, this holiday was looking to be overburdened with games, but one by one, they've all slipped to next year.
As for Alpha Protocol, there were rumors that the publisher had some concerns, so even if the decision was made for marketing reasons, it could still give them some time to polish it up a bit.

They're afraid of Kotick's MW2 more than they're afraid of Bioshock 2, Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, Mafia 2, Aliens Vs Predator, Colonial Marines, Rage, Deus Ex 3, Fallout New Vegas, Napoleon Total War, Supreme Commander 2, Brink and a great many more quality titles combined.
That's not even retarded. That's purely vegetative.
Now Modern Warfare 2 is going to do as well as publishers fear, simply because there won't be any competition for it at all. Talk about self-fulfilling prophecy.

You're giving Kotick way too much credit. If he had his way Infinity Ward would still be producing WW2 games. They wanted to make COD2 MW, but were denied by the suits and had to wait.

That is one of the decisions I hope Kotick lives to regret. Hopefully while in his cardboard home. Fact is Kotick has seen the way the market is going and thats appealing to the masses. I am sure in Activisionland he is seen as a god. I just pray that I am right and eventually the public will wise up and finally stop buying Activision shite.

That's one option you can rule out for starters. If people stopped buying overpriced crap then McDonald's would never have left the States.
There are always ways in which Kotick could fumble, such as his console-free gaming idea. But you can rest assured that it won't be brought about by consumer awareness.