Take on talent like the CoD guys, offer them compensation through royalties in exchange for owning their intellectual property and giving them access to massive distribution, and then duly fire them once you don't think you need them anymore.
Sounds like a great way to discourage future talent from dealing with Activision, although there's a sucker born every minute.
As a side note, the company does $3.2b in revenue but only has $100m in profit? That's miserable!
