Bobby Kotick: One Of America's Highest Paid CEO's May Surpise You

While video game maker EA's CEO recently stepped down because of mediocre sales, his counterpart at Activision has nothing but bright days ahead.

According to a recent Bloomberg article, Activision's CEO Bobby Kotick received an incentive-based package worth $64.9 million in 2012. A large bulk of the agreement came in the form of a stock award, reportly worth $55.9 million. While vesting stretches over five years, the awards are reported in the year of the grant. Kotick, 50, received $8.33 million in total compensation last year, filings show. His base salary is "only" $2 million, which doubled from last year. These numbers put Kotick ahead of the likes of Goldman Sachs’ Llyod Blankfein ($21M) and Disney’s Bob Iger ($40M).

While one could debate whether or not Kotick deserves this massive compensation package is irrelevant. Activision said Kotick exceeded goals on operating income, diluted earnings per share and free cash flow. Lets not forget, the last major first person shooter Activision released, Black Ops II, reached the $1 billion mark in just 15 days. This milestone was reached 24 hours before the 2011s Modern Warfare 3 ... another Activision product.