Activision boss Bobby "What, Me Worry?" Kotick has a well-established routine for dealing with record labels. When it comes to Guitar Hero, they take their small cut of the profits, they get their songs on the game, they go quietly into the night. Helps Activision make a ton of money from the games, but it also looks like it cost them a deal to get the Beatles on Guitar Hero. Speaking with Reuters about said deal, Sony/ATV CEO Martin Bandier has said Activision's hard-ball stance with record labels was the driving force behind MTV scoring The Beatles catalogue:
It was presented as if they were doing the music business a favor. It's true you can choose other types of music, and somewhere along the line someone's going to do it for free for the exposure ... When it comes to the Beatles, the leverage changes. We're very happy with the terms of our arrangement with MTV.
Well of course you are. "Very rich" deals have a way of making very rich people very happy. MTV and Activision face off in battle of the brands [Reuters]