Activision empieza a temblar O:

This war of words between EA and Activision rumbled through Germany this week, at this year's Gamescom.

In Battlefield and Call of Duty, the two giant publishers are sitting on the largest FPS franchises in the world. But while Activision are the top dogs right now, EA are snapping at their heels. Almost literally.

Relations have not been good for some time and they seem to be getting worse.

On Wednesday, Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg addressed EA in his Gamescom keynote, saying that verbal fisticuffs were not doing anyone any favours.

“Competition is of course a good thing,” he said. “It keeps us all on our toes and ultimately makes the games better. It’s healthy. But it’s one thing to want your game to succeed and another thing to actively, publicly say you want other games to fail.”

He was talking, of course, about EA CEO John Riccitiello’s publically-stated hope that Call of Duty would ”rot from the core.”

“I’ve been asked countless times to respond to this comment and I’ve generally chosen not to,” said Hirshberg. “My job is to help our incredibly talented, passionate teams to make the best games they can, not to throw insults around at others. But I actually feel this kind of rhetoric is bad for our industry.

“Can you imagine the head of Dreamworks animation coming out with a new movie and going to the press and saying that he wants Toy Story to ‘rot from the core’? It’s kind of hard to imagine, right?”

Indeed. So did Hirshberg’s call for a truce work? Nah, of course it didn’t.

“Welcome to the big leagues, Eric,” responded Jeff Brown, EA corporate communications manager.

“I know you’re new in the job but someone should have told you this is an competitive industry. You’ve got every reason to be nervous. Last year Activision had a 90% share in the shooter category. This year, Battlefield 3 is going to take you down to 60 or 70.

“At that rate, you’ll be out of the category in 2-3 years. If you don’t believe me, go to the store and try to buy a copy of Guitar Hero or Tony Hawk.”

Ouch, looks like EA are unrepentant. Hilariously unrepentant. This may roll on for some time.