Gaming News: "Acti-Pressure"
Posted: Friday June 19th, 2009
by
Speaking to Times Online, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick stated that if the price was not reduced on the PS3, Activision Blizzard might have to stop supporting Sony gaming systems. Specifically he said, "I'm getting concerned about Sony; the PlayStation 3 is losing a bit of momentum and they don't make it easy for me to support the platform. It's expensive to develop for the console, and the Wii and the Xbox are just selling better. Games generate a better return on invested capital on the Xbox than on the PlayStation." He went on to clarify, "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." And, "When we look at 2010 and 2011, we might want to consider if we support the console — and the PSP [portable] too."
Source: Times Online [ more info ]
Now, I'm not overly fond of the idea of 3rd party publishers threatening console makers. But I get where Kotick is coming from. He can't really see the profit in porting games to a system that's not selling well. And where I might usually be dismissive of a threat such as this, look at some of the blockbuster titles the PS3 would lose if Kotick actually had the balls to drop his company's support of Sony consoles: Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk, Call of Duty, Barbie! Okay maybe not that last one so much, but you get the idea.
And that drink reference. Well... like Mountain Dew Game Fuel that had Halo 3 on it, there's now Mountain Dew Game Fuel for World of Warcraft with different flavors for the Alliance and the Horde. (I think you probably know which flavor I'd drink, even if the other one was better.) I just thought it would be funny if Kotick furthered his demands with something completely trivial. You know, pushing the supposed advantage.
Because of the comic yesterday I really didn't want to do a comic based on this news today. It just felt like I was kicking the PS3 while it was down. But, it was just too hard to pass up such a bold statement. I mean seriously, how often do we hear a publisher make a threat against a console maker like that?
[ discuss ]
Source: Times Online [ more info ]
Now, I'm not overly fond of the idea of 3rd party publishers threatening console makers. But I get where Kotick is coming from. He can't really see the profit in porting games to a system that's not selling well. And where I might usually be dismissive of a threat such as this, look at some of the blockbuster titles the PS3 would lose if Kotick actually had the balls to drop his company's support of Sony consoles: Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk, Call of Duty, Barbie! Okay maybe not that last one so much, but you get the idea.
And that drink reference. Well... like Mountain Dew Game Fuel that had Halo 3 on it, there's now Mountain Dew Game Fuel for World of Warcraft with different flavors for the Alliance and the Horde. (I think you probably know which flavor I'd drink, even if the other one was better.) I just thought it would be funny if Kotick furthered his demands with something completely trivial. You know, pushing the supposed advantage.
Because of the comic yesterday I really didn't want to do a comic based on this news today. It just felt like I was kicking the PS3 while it was down. But, it was just too hard to pass up such a bold statement. I mean seriously, how often do we hear a publisher make a threat against a console maker like that?
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