It was the perfect set-up for a cat fight when Activision's CEO Bobby Kotick made an offhand comment that Electronic Arts sucks the souls out of the studios it's acquired. For those who were expecting the fur to fly though, you'll be disappointed.

In a recent interview, EA's VP of corporate communications Jeff Brown remarked that the company's executives just laughed at the comment. He goes on to explain that the company leaves creative control in the hands of the devs:

The truth is, everyone laughed. In the past year EA has made radical changes to decentralize the company and put creative control back in the hands of development teams.

[Developers] get a lot of resources and creative freedom. That freedom has already contributed new start-ups like Dead Space, Mirror's Edge and Boom Blox and there's a lot of others to be announced soon.

Considering that EA is currently after Take-Two Interactive - the company behind the Grand Theft Auto series - this might also come as good news for those who are worried for the franchise's future. That is, of course, if EA succeeds in acquiring Take-Two.