well, just consider that he said such a thing not in front of players or of the gaming press journalists, but in front of bankers and investors. I guess he wanted to tell them "we create videogames, but trust me, it's a real business with high profits possible".
Not that I find him very sympathetic, heh...

true but activision is one of the biggest players out there. and if the dude succeeds other companies may follow
Not in Japan they aren't. And when it comes to the future of consoles as a whole, it's what happens here that will count; considering the majoirty of the big "players" as it were, are here.

He's an idiot. His peripheral vision will hopefully take him out of the equation as far as most gamers are concerned.
He probably is using such blunt wording to garner attention, but sooner or later he's going to realise that not all publicity is good publicity. He should talk to Gerald Irving Ratner about that.

....
japan does not really matter bansama. it is usa market which counts. unfortunately.
Sony and Nintendo may come from there but whether they succeed or fail depends practically solely on american market. Japanese market has a second biggest impact followed by UK one but they cannot change anything.
If activision succeeds with console abandonment then rest of the world will follow including Japan.

Japan most certainly wouldn't follow. Nintendo and Sony have a stranglehold here. One that goes far deeper than just games. It'll pretty much come down to how the old Zaibatsu were when they wanted to maintain control of the market. Ultimately, Nintendo own the market place here (and to a very lesser extent, Sony, and to an even lesser extent, Microsoft).
If they really don't want something on the market here, Nintendo/Sony will do pretty much whatever it takes to ensure it doesn't get on the market -- such as refusing to supply stock forcing retail businesses to make the choice between stock that is certain to sell and that which may or may not (and I can already tell you which choice those retailers are going to make).
Thus, what happens in the West, ultimately, will mean very little here. I expect that all that would happen is that Sony and Nintendo will pull out of the West (or at least threaten to -- thus forcing the same choice on the Western market that they won't think twice over forcing here).

This is illegal in western countries and results in huge fines... tens of millions of dollars, hundreds. Neither Sony nor Nintedo won't do it because if EU even smells of anti-competitive methods they will slap a 300 million euro fine like it was a parking ticket.
just ask Microsoft.
and lose substantial source of income? Main source of income? Will not happen.
Wii
PS3
Whatever trend usa adopts EU, australia, Canada will follow and both Nintendo and Sony will adapt and try to make money from it. If japan does not follow the trend there will be markets separation.
Japanese products from sony and nintendo will be a niche market in USA
and American products from sony and nintendo will be a niche market in Japan.
but worldwide Japan is lesser market. important but without any leading power.

CEOs are a lot like hardcore gamers.

The Japanese and Western console markets are already separated. They've been separated since their conception; primarily due to language used.
For a basic example of why that's important: it's far cheaper to localise a Japanese game for the West than it is to localise a Western game for Japan. That already gives Sony and Nintendo a huge advantage over anything Activision would attempt to introduce over here.
This is something you can readily see over here. The games sold here primarily consist of those created here, for this market. Sure, there are Western games too, but unless they are tied to a major license, they tend to take the back seat in terms of shelf space and more importantly advertising.
I can think of only 2 Western games that have recently had air space on the TV (specifically for the game, and not as an advertisement for the system). And those two games are the recently released FEAR 2 localisation and Counter Strike Online (and that's only really Western in terms of the license from Valve to create it for the Asian market). This is important as Activision will need to spend a very large amount on advertising to gain the interest of this market; and look at the difficulties that Microsoft have had penetrating the Japanese market.
The simple point is, Activision are in no way important to Japan and pretty much; never will be. Regardless of some idiotic CEO's megolomaniac-like dreams.

No wonder you guys pay zillions for imported games from the West and shelf space is extremely limited. I don't blame you guys for wanting some price parity with digital distributors, since that's the only place you can get games easily. Here in HK, stores and stores stock cheap PC games, console games all over the place. So I don't really care about Steam's prices or not.

Oh, they've created an online version of Counter-Strike, now?
(sorry)

No wonder you guys pay zillions for imported games from the West and shelf space is extremely limited. I don't blame you guys for wanting some price parity with digital distributors, since that's the only place you can get games easily. Here in HK, stores and stores stock cheap PC games, console games all over the place. So I don't really care about Steam's prices or not.
Pretty much. It's even worse these days. 80% of the shelf space (for stores within reasonable travelling distance from where I am) is devoted to Nintendo with most of that space going to the DS. The remainder 20% is split between PSP, PS2, PS3, Xbox360, PC games and Gameboy advance (roughly in order of largest shelf space first). It's probably worth noting that Gameboy Advanced is only last in that list as stores pretty much only stock the last 3 or 4 Pokemon games for that system (this does not include second hand games).
Oh, they've created an online version of Counter-Strike, now?
Yup, specifically for the Asian market. The Japanese homepage for it is here: http://cso.nexon.co.jp/beginner/index.aspx
I hear it's built of the 1.6 (gold source) engine, but have no desire to try it myself.

Yes! It's a MMOALAR (pronounced "[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molar_(tooth)]molar[/url]"), or a "Massively Multiplayer Online Act Like A Retard". Wait, that 's possibly the definition of all multiplayer games, especially MMOGs.

Im not denying that although seeing how ex-bocks made its presence there Japanese console market (and it is important achievement as it ten years ago would not be possible in my opinion) will be influenced by western console market which is much bigger and more important.
If Activision succeeds with whatever they are doing and since they are so big, american divisions of nintendo and sony will have to adapt.
those adaptations will spew over to japan (over longer period of time. talking about 10 year time not next year).
that is why it is quite important to follow what activision is doing. god forbid that prick is right...
because if he is right then even japan will suffer.
(that sounded a bit too melodramatic :) )

Quarterlies just came out last week. They tend to be accompanied by buzz and news stories.
The guy is, by all accounts, short-sighted and has no knowledge of videogames. But there is Blizzard (It's ATVI) and Activision has some solid IPs. Also next quarter shouldn't be bad - Modern Warfare 2 and Ultimate Alliance 2 should sell decently. Honestly, I think the guy lucked into a co. w/a number of strong franchises. Still, judging by the stock price, he seems determined to mess that up.
Blizzard are really solid - activision is not bad, but GH is running on fumes. Still, CoD is running strong, and smaller devs like Raven and Radical have given them some solid stuff , too.
The problem is Activision relies too much on licenses. Well, the problem for gamers, not stockholders. These games, which are mostly trash, are the videogame equivalent of grindhouse movies. They make a lot of money though - as they have small budgets. Also, no one in the industry expects them to be any good.
A big problem with the company is shortsighted people like this guy who are exploiting the X Hero franchise to death without developing new IPs (he actually thinks Dj Hero is a new IP). I think DJ Hero, with its expensive shelf occupying equipment (and from what I hear impossible to comprehend gameplay) is going to kill the company's earnings. If Konami relied on DDR as much as ATVI does on GH, they'd be bankrupt three times over.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 and Modern Warfare 2 should sell decently enough to counter it, though. All in all, if the stock doesn't go up around Xmastime, I'd be shocked. Both MUA2 or CoD:MW2 would have to be truly awful for that to happen.
@Lukasz
Big companies fall. There's no such thing as too big to fail. I think X Hero is reaching the end of its lifespan and ATVI doesn't have the sense to pull back a little bit to avoid oversaturation. A release of expensive equipment that doesn't sell could effectively cripple ATVI - though I think they could survive thanks to CoD:MW2, MUA2, and Diablo3.
Look at Midway. They dominated publishing for what - 25 years? Bankrupt.

okay... Im sorry but i don't get your point.