Activision and PC-to-TV Gaming over Xbox Live

Activision wants to get a bigger share of the revenue generated by subscription-based service, and believes it has greater room for growth if they develop a direct PC link to the internet instead of through a console.

They do have a point:  Activision's "Call of Duty 2" is the reason why 60% are on Xbox live in the first place!  And last year they played over 1.7 billion hours.  And while the revenue from the retail part of the game did go to Activision, the massive subscription base is currently all going to Microsoft instead.

The CEO of Activision, Bobby Kotick, doesn't like the walled nature of Live, and has announced that his company is actively pursuing an "open" platform with the likes of Dell ad HP.  This had initially surprised me, as I'd assumed Activision had a close relationship with the consoles.  

But, to quote him:

"We have always been platform-agnostic... [Consoles] do a very good job of supporting the gamer. If we are going to broaden our audiences, we are going to need to have other devices."

I like this idea.  I think it would also benefit the casual gamer (like myself) if pay could better scale with play, and developers/publishers can be better rewarded for making successful products.