[UPDATE] Activision 'might have to stop supporting Sony'
- Posted June 19th, 2009 at 16:16 EDT by Mike Harradence
- 8,746 views
- 113 Comments
UPDATE:
Sony Europe has since commented: “We respect our third-parties’ opinions and their right to express those opinions but we will not be commenting on this story."
Meanwhile, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter also chipped in, accusing Kotick of 'bluffing.' “Of course Bobby’s bluffing, and good for him,” he said in a phone interview.
“I think Bobby’s obviously interested in Sony selling as many PS3s as they possibly can, and he’s not happy with their penetration so far. I think he favours a price cut, and would rather see one sooner than later.”
ORIGINAL STORY:
Activision Blizzard bigwig Bobby Kotick has warned that Sony risks losing support of the mega publisher unless it decides to issue a price cut for the PlayStation 3.
“They have to cut the price, because if they don’t, the attach rates [the number of games each console owner buys] are likely to slow. If we are being realistic, we might have to stop supporting Sony,” Kotick told the Times Online.
When prompted as to when the firm may consider dropping support for Sony, the executive added: “When we look at 2010 and 2011, we might want to consider if we support the console — and the PSP [portable] too.”
“Games generate a better return on invested capital on the Xbox than on the PlayStation,” he said.
Kotick went on to say that his company forked out $500 million to Sony in royalties and other goods back in 2008, which he said “probably still worked out at 400 percent of the profit they made”.
Comments
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AaronSOLDIER |
AaronSOLDIER- 1:38pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 4
radgamer is banned for a month...
And this sucks, but I can live without Guitar Hero and Call of Duty (if COD is affected)
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andysw
- 1:40pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 6
This wouldn't have happened if micro$oft hadn't ignored the xbox 360's reliability and release the console a year earlier. Even if the console did get released at the same time as the wii and the playstation 3 as it should have, what difference does it make in terms of playstation 3 sales?
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O_G_H
- 1:41pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 7
Still think microsoft pays for everything?
On another note, the price drop will be coming now. I always wondered what would happen if a heavy-hitting 3rd party ever did something like this (my bet was EA threatening to make Madden an x360 exclusive). I knew this day would come. Sony will drop the price now (you guys know I though...and knew...they had no intention of dropping it before).
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supamariobrotha |
supamariobrotha- 1:41pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 8
they can't try to make this the reason why sony cuts the price if so then to h3ll with blizzard
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bilbo_bobbins |
bilbo_bobbins- 1:42pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 9
activision are a bunch of tw@ts anyway. who cares, not me and I am sure Sony don't care either. Personally I think KZ2 is better than COD
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masonmcglasson
- 1:42pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 10
Stop supporting Sony would be their biggest mistake lmfao. PS3 has a WW install base of around 23million and 360 has a install base of around 29million? You think 360 really has that big of a lead? Look at PS2 the number one selling console ever. If Sony dropped its way better equipment to the price of the 360... It would triple the 360's sales.
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Kostchtchie
- 1:52pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 12
bye activision, close the door on way out as there are plenty more developers out there and i hope sony waves good bye to you also as i get sick companys and media strong arming sony to drop there price, its there console they can sell it at whatever price they choose, just because 360 has mcdonald take away price on there console does not mean sony need to
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PS3-The Ultimate Machine
- 2:02pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 14
Activision can go and **** themselvesfor all i care,just a bunch of loser un imaginative ******* work there,i mean their biggest title this year is *surprize* another dam ned fps no thanks Activision industry's biggest @ - holes.
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Stef Nighthawk
- 2:15pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 18
Is this really about lowering the price of the console or is it about lowering the price for the royalties Activision has to fork over?
Me thinks they will stop complaining if the PS3 remains the same price but Activsion has less royalties to pay.
Or Sony could also call their bluff as it would alienate 20+million users.
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Morganator |
Hero_Nakamoura- 2:17pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 19
Good riddence! Activision doesn't really make anything I have reason to be excited over anyway. They're just another Midway look alike to me. Be gone Activision! You haven't made anything to top the quality of Killzone 2, Gran Tourismo 5: Prologue (and GT5) or anything made by Sony for that matter. Grid and COD are **** in my book!
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Cloudie
- 2:29pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 24
Hmm...I can see where he's coming from on the business side of the equation and the recession isn't helping either but I call this mostly BS.
For the first quarter '09 Ubisoft,( 15% of sales were for 360 and PS3) Namco ( Playstation 3 - 3.273, Playstation 2 – 4.630 million units sold,PSP – 4.202 million units sold ,Xbox 360 – 2.704 million units sold) .
Sales of MGS4 boosted Konami's profits for 2 quarters on a system that was the highest priced and boosted the sales of the PS3 over the 360 for 2 months.
I think they need to stop milking the GH franchise. They're releasing the same game every 3 months ,almost, at full price just with different songs. Why not just make those songs downloadable?
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b3mike
- 2:31pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 25
Honestly who cares? The last Activision game I bought was SpiderMan 3 for the ps2 for $20.00 lol
Most Ps3 owners like variety, not just recycled first person shooters and Guitar hero
By the way guys GT5 prologue is going for $9.98 clearanced at Target. Rachet & Clank Future is $14.98, black label and no crappy red greatest hits case. Best get them before they are gone and replaced with the greatest hits reprints priced at $29.99!
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GranTurismoOwnsPs3
- 2:33pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 26
Who cares when we have so many amazing exclusive game's ? These developers can go bankrupt for all i care.
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FireSol |
FireSol(EU)/FireSolus(US)- 2:34pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 27
sad that Id and some other good developers work with such idiots
i understand, that is business and nothing personal, but if they ignore ps3, their profit goes down
they want more money and they began use durty tricks, well its their choice
but i really want to see how sony's response on that
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mcav |
mcav- 2:38pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 28
Oh come on - why do you think Activision have REALLY said this? Look at the software sales... They made their money on the PS3 sales...
Away you go, Activision. Don't make Guitar Hero or COD for us.... we're all so upset that we won't have your games to play.......[/sarc]
I'll just have to put up with ordinary games like Last guardian, Uncharted 2 and the like.
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lordAlucard |
Sympozium_666- 2:39pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 29
Thank god it wouldn't happen if Guitar Hero was soo expensive like do really need a game that doesn't support compatibility of previous GH series downloads
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draculaboy |
draculaboy99- 2:40pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 30
the only game that I cared about is Brutal Legend
and EA have that now
so I don't care about them
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se7enthsign |
Se7enthSign- 2:55pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 33
Sounds like an empty threat, but I think it will still be effective. It doesn't make sense that you can get an Xbox 360 AND a Wii for almost the same price as a PS3. I remember when the selling point for PS3 was that it was the cheapest Blu Ray player on the market. Now you can find stand alone blu ray players under 150, but a PS3 is still 400 bucks.
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liquidus118 |
liquidus118- 3:04pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 34
Wow, if that meant no more CoD on PS3 then everyone in my school would instantly sell there PS3's and call it the worst console ever, haha.
No biggie for me, if they want to stop making PS3 games then thats there loss of money.
But if they really weren' t going to out CoD on PS3 they'd be complete idiots, the amount of money that game makes must be insane amounts
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ORiGO-GAMES
- 3:10pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 37
I have a high respect for Activision, but I honestly have to step up and say... Give me a break... I agree Activision does make up for all that money for Sony, but the main issue is Activision does not develop ANY exclusives for the platform, only cross platform titles.
So the main reason Activision wants them to drop their price, is so that the install base is the same as 360 or greater. Which in turn just makes it easier to sell your cross platform titles............. My Advice is:
Make more exclusives!
Make sure they are GOOD!
Make fans happy.
-Adam McClard
ORiGO GAMES LTD
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PS3fan78
- 3:11pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 39
SHT heads anyway, COD world war suck ass, The only game they have thats good is COD4 so shut youre hole Activision, PS3 will sell more, I will make sure that is does, some how, even if it means wasting my time writing emails to every CELEBRITY, that can sponser PS3. this is brownmouse in PS3 id.
PS I will get my IDEA out there some how!
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ledzeppelin23 |
osufan21- 3:13pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 41
I laugh at activision, they wouldnt do this.
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Acezfalcon360
- 3:15pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 42
wow thanks for the ultimatum activision
why dont you go suck it!
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GunTeng
- 3:29pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 45
This sounds stupid. How can attach rates be affected by having less of install base?
I think what they mean to say is that the install base is too low (in their opinion) to validate the expense of creating products for the PS3. They fear they will not make a profit from releasing on the PS3 & stand to lose.
This is understandable.
Maybe with a higher install base, we can start to see some of the games that don't adhere to commercialism. Im personally so sick and tired of all the typical mass market games that are just average in gameplay (FPS for the most part). Granted, SONY are doing well to have the IP's they have...but a greater install base would be a great help.
But I have to question the politics that cause a dev company to state such things in public. Is it an honest assessment on their behalf or is it propganda to push their own brand? To publicly state sucha thing, it would appear to me to be self promotion & nothing else.
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markwesker
- 3:42pm BST - June 19th, 2009
- 47
Doesnt even make sence,they will lose money if they do that,they actually get more money from each ps3 version of the game sold,just that 360 version of a game sells more numbers to make up for it,which is why this is just a idle threat to force sony`s hand.
I do think a price cut is a little over due tho.
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