Activision CEO threatens to abandon Sony platforms

The entire world has been long clamoring for a PlayStation 3 price drop, but Activision boss Bobby Kotick is kicking things up a notch or two by actually threatening to drop support if sales don’t improve. Speaking with The Times, Kotick expressed concern that his company paid $500 million to Sony in royalties and other goods last year alone, but the Xbox 360 and Wii are cheaper to develop for and offer a better return on investment.

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They should have done this a long time ago. Sony is too hard headed to play nice with. Roll up your cuffs and ask them if they have a pair.

Sony Arrogance is stifling... and now hurting them.
Of all the high tech items we service that are marketed by Sony, only their Televisions and monitors are top-notch... but you sure have to pay a lot extra for that quality...
On the other end, PlayStation, their optical drives, and their VAIO Laptops are among the least reliable and most costly to own.

I'm not the biggest Activision fan as their policies and ways they do things aren't the greatest either. But I do agree with them. Why should they develop on a system that is more money for consumers to buy, more money to develop for from a game company stand point and less return for their dollar? They can continue to make games for Xbox360, Wii and the DS and even PC and still make money without having to resort to PS3. Sure they will miss out on a huge fanbase but as it still stands, PS3 is still behind the other two consoles sale wise and it costs less to make games for the two leading systems. It seems kinda like a no brainer and a great idea. I'm all for lowering the cost of the PS3. Bring back some backwards compatibility for PS2 games on it as well and get back to reality and remember these systems should be secondly for the fans.. firstly its to make money but if fans aren't happy and aren't buying then you won't be making money.

I applaud Activision for at least making a public outcry of the current situation with the PS3 and Sony. As fans voices have been ignored, maybe a big company will have more impact.

You know... even if they do do this, they probably won't miss out on a huge fan base. How many of those 20+ million ONLY have the PS3? I bet that most people who have a PS3 actually own an XB360, Wii or at least a PC. I doubt they'd be missing many fans. I used to be a manager at an EB Games... though it was 5-6yrs ago... and this was nearly always the case. If they can afford it, gamers who love their games will have 2 or all systems (I personally used to have an XB, PS2 & PC). =X

No more Guitar Hero for the PlayStation? seems like a fairly serious threat. Might actually increase my interest in a PS3!

I wonder if they would have the same attitude if they weren't merged with Blizzard.

Hay pol*****ic, I have my 360 next to my PS3 next to my WII. next to my Gaming PC (that im on now) Next to my Xbox 1 and PS2. Yep, but I had COD 4 on PS3 and 360. I think it best on ps3

It wouldn't hurt Activision Blizzard as much as people think, they still will make games for PC, Xbox 360, WII, and DS. Their all cheaper to make then for the Playstation 3. Then theirs the people who own multiples gaming devices, so if you buy it for the 360 instead their still making a profit. They may loose some sails yea, but without the needs to make the games for playstation 3 anymore they ain't going to loose much money. No production costs. I'v seen screen by screen comparisons 360 has alot more better looking games then the PS3, as the PS3 has some games that look better on the PS3, but not many.

Does the online compare? I read a comment that someone had both ps3 and 360 and bought all online games on the microsoft console. My own experiences with the ps3 online setup have not been favorable. Its as if they arent targetting easy use - the best thing about xbox live is that it combines all the best stuff about pc online gaming (messenger style utilities that are always available no matter what you play for example) and makes it very easy to use. playstation home was the sony answer. maybe for the kids but not for me.

Worldwide numbers sold last week:
360-125,534 units
PS3-110,177 units
The PS3 is still selling near 360 units despite being $100 more.
Wii-215,101 units
Maybe he should abandon the 360 and the PS3 and just make for the Wii.

Sony better do something radical because they are complacent since the success of PS1 & PS2 sales. Nobody can emulate a PS3 anyways since Blu-Ray is so new and the discs are massive, so why not just lower the price and rely on software sales for profit?

The PS3 may be selling a lot of units, but it is still going at a loss to Sony for every console sold. A lower loss than before, but still a loss nevertheless.

Add to it the fact that the Cell CPU has so much untapped potential, but is ridiculously difficult to program for, and you are bound to piss off game devs. Activision isn't the only one either; Valve's Gabe Newell has also expressed his distaste of the PS3's complex architecture and has reiterated Valve's commitment (if you will call it that) to not developing games for the PS3.

IMO, it's just ahead of its time. As soon as developers are able to understand how to efficiently code games for the PS3, they will be able to unlock it's full potential. Unfortunately, Microsoft and Nintendo (and maybe Sony too) will probably be ready with a new console by then too. So IMO the PS3 will eventually go the way of the original XBox.

I like your closing statement. But from what I've heard, the Nintendo Wii isn't as strong in sales of software titles. Nintendo is pushing lots of hardware and their own software. Activision would want to position themselves towards the platform that boasts the most 3rd party game sales and that has a lowest licensing fee.

I agree with their position here. Make the manufactures fight for their license fee.

the funny thing is that the xbox 360 aint that more expensive then the ps3 is, and if you consider how much it cost to be online each year on the xbox360 then its more expensiv after 2 years then the ps3 are LOL!!!!

It is just a matter of time, with the Microsoft and Nintendo providing better support to third party developers and a lower overhead for smaller design studio, Sony needs to step up or fade away. With the innovation of Project Natal, Sony has already taken a very big hit in the race for the top spot, Wii will have lost a large chunk of thier niche marketing and now sony will have no choice to do some drastic revamp or go the way of Sega and Atari.

The PS3 is still about $200 more than the XB360... to many people that's a considerable amount of money... especially for one game console. I'm pretty certain that most people who purchased the PS3 saw the benefits of owning a Blu-Ray player AND the game console in one... for about $400-500.

Hello!

I'm not sure to understand the main reasons with developers to drop the PS3 ..

- The sales figures aren't bad (PS3 came out Late!)
- The possibilities are tremendous (even if some said they maxed it out, well wanna see!)
- Not all PS3 owners have other consoles (huh maybe a PC & a the WII)
- Sorry for repeating myself (see older posts), but as a game developer, i would rather consider the fact that the PS3 is still a Crack-Virgin !!! So i guess for 10 other consoles sold, @ least 1 is cracked (maybe more ...) & the sales figures of Games vs device cannot be proportional ...

Now for the mean part:

Sorry I'm not that fond of Activision's games, except for the Call of Duty series, as for the big cinema hits - most are lame games, so like most people have a PC along their consoles, a Multi-platform games will always be played by someone even if you don't get the money out of it.

Sony should stay on its price, too bad for those that cannot afford, i could & did brought one when it was more expensive (20Gb one too)

Now If games developers want to go, i think they are free to take the risk of having more cracked versions around the net (check out the torrents ha!)

BTW for some other forums around PS3 lacking memory for GFX (texture) & Onlive that would kill consoles .. well i heard rumors (i need to investigate on them ...)
* Will Sony work on addons devices or firmware updates like Vista uses ready boost with some USB flash drives !?
* Will the PS Cloud be used to allow users access their own PS3 via the net on mobile consoles (like the PSP remote play) but with advanced features instead of a mega or several mega servers to huh, stream the games !!!? Moreover how will they cope with 100s or 1000s of games running different or same games @ same time !!! Will there be a lag?

These two rumors are .. well i just hope they aren't ... If anyone has some info, please post .. thanks!


Moreover, as a gamer, i don't want to lose Activion's games for my PS3 (don't like upgrading my PC every 3 months) ... but i sure hope they think twice before leaving, for the PS3 would win some ground soon & would love to have the Modern warfare 2 on it.

I'll be so sad to see my Xbox & Monster PC owner's pals playing this while i can't & more to see the worlds stealing it .... for unfortunately these two platforms are the most cracked around ...

To this, cheers!

R!

Really? Are we still going with the console wars? The Wii is the biggest seller because it is the cheapest. Period. Remember that the PS2 continued to outsell PS3, 360, and Wii for nearly a year after their release, you know why? It's cheap. Cheap means cheap, nothing more. The 360 is a fine system, I owned 4 of them; I bought and returned 3 of them until I got one that actually worked longer than a day. I don't know anyone in my office with a 360 that hasn't had it replaced by Microsoft with another one because of the "Red Lights". Why has it sold more? It's cheaper. I have yet to hear any but the most hardcore 360 fan say they wouldn't buy a PS3, the only thing holding the ones who still haven't bought one is the price--$399 is still pricey for some folks. Now if Sony did drop the price of the PS3, and understand I hope they do, to a price of let's say $299 or even something crazy like $249 or something even more silly like $199, how quickly do you think it would outstrip 360 and Wii sales? It would be almost overnight. A price drop would be a boon to Sony, and I think the CEO of Activision understands this and wants them to just do it. Software sales would be more than enough profit. What did the article say, Activision paid Sony more than $500 million in royalties last year? That's just one company. Think about it.

Hello ..

Sorry i don't think 360 is cheap ... & i'm no kinda guy who loves to buy the same thing more than once if unstable!

The PS3 is expensive for some, but stills 20 millions sold, so be it, it's not for those who can't afford too bad!

Most people i know owning a Xbox360 doesn't do so because of the console's price but the games price indeed .... well it's way below any other ones, like PCs and WII ... it's a cracked console, games are at the price of a DVD-R !!!! So as a developer, would stillthink twice!

The PS2 was cracked, like all other consoles of its generation - so who won ?

The PS3 isn't crack yet, it's a better Return On Investment.

I dont' like the fact that MS & Nintendo didn't do anything to prevent software theft on their respective hardware, it's a flagrant lack of considerations for games developers, sorry but for this i stay with Sony!

If i have to pay the price, so what, it's for the real value, not to buy 3 of the same piece of hardware & by the way, that can explain the rise of Xbox360 sales ....

Still, it's up to the gamers to decide, either because you can steal or you don't want to have a failed device, but mostly because of the games themselves!

To this ..

Cheers!