Earlier today, Activision Blizzard posted several listing on their website for jobs in the growing field of “good-will accounting.” Activision is seeking applicants at both the experienced and entry-level, suggesting that they are looking to revamp their existing team. This field has become the new “it” job in the video game industry over the past year, encouraged by the ESA’s extensive research into the field. And, just recently, we have seen figures in tech like Elon Musk publicly stating their desire to explore options on how best to incorporate good-will accountants into their business. It is a rare instance in which video games seem far ahead of the curve, as compared to the tech and motion picture industries.
We did a quick email Q&A with Steve Gunderson, an executive good-will accountant who worked to pioneer the field in his work with ESA. We touch upon how this growing field works and how it relates to the recent troubles that Activision Blizzard are experiencing.
Q: First off, what’s it like to create your own job?
A: It’s honestly pretty great. I sometimes wonder if I should have created an easier job for myself. Like freelance white wine drinker. Haha.
Q: Simply put, what is good-will accounting?
A: Well, simply put, good-will accounting is the constant tracking of the amount of public good-will these video game companies and their brands have built up and “spent.”
Q: And what exactly are the credits and debits in this accounting system?
A: Well, first, I should say that these credits and debits are measured in a made-up currency called “units.” Which was originally actually a placeholder name while I searched for a more clever name. But here we are.
The debits in our system can be a number of things. The most obvious being a successful game launch and continuing game support. But stuff like charitable donations, community engagement on Twitter, a positive article about free pizza in the workplace, or a fun E3 stage presence can also be considered debits.
And these are used to offset things in the credit field like a poor game reception, allegations about sexism within the company or actions taken to destroy unionization efforts.Q: What are the biggest challenges facing a good will accountant?
A: I personally feel like this growing field offers a unique and ultimately rewarding challenge. The most obvious difficulty is accurately gauging the amount of units a good will event generates, outside of any prejudice. This can take a great deal of data analysis to pin point the correct debit entry to put on the good-will ledger. And with the case of live games, debits constantly need to be input as new content rolls out. And each debit value can depend upon stuff or reception, uniqueness of new content and how characters may be trending within the fan-art community. The ESA actually offers a software suite that can help companies with much of this work.
And that is just the basics of what is becoming an immense field. You also have to correctly model good-will decay. The decay of both credits and debits that occurs as the public forgets about good-will events. And this can fluctuate based upon the the political outlet, movies, tv and even the season. Anything that takes the public’s focus off your good-will events. And just recently, we’ve begun incorporating the “rich man sins” model in which the success of the company can greatly increase the credit entry of any bad-will event. “X successful game studio has enough money to not sexually harass it’s employees” if you will. And our ESA software suite has these kinds of models built in, with 24 hour support for accountants.Q: Can we speak to how Blizzard found itself in this situation and how a more robust good-will accounting could help?
A: Well, I obviously can’t speak too directly because I don’t have any insider info. But I will say, for a lot of companies, the older employees don’t fully trust this field and don’t give it the resources it needs to really thrive. And that leads them to spend large credits that can not be matched on the debit end of things. And while I admit that this field is not an exact science but, if you put your trust in the science, a company can really feel the benefits.
Q: Quick follow up, since this field seems so immense and involves so much analysis, wouldn’t “good-will analyst” be a more accurate title?
A: Short answer, maybe. And we do know of some companies that use that title. But we at the ESA recommend video game companies use the term “accountant.” Our ESA hr hiring accountants have found that, if you use the term accountant, applicants would be more willing to accept a lesser salary.
Steve Gunderson, Executive Good-Will Accountant at the Entertainment Software Association
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