Activision CEO threatens to Stop Supporting Sony

[Omegaice]

Originally Posted by mightypen

Can a publicly traded company ever make "enough money"?

Absolutely not. Isn't that what all of this is about? Money? WOW! Seriously? ActiBlizz would acutally turn it's back on a chance to earn much needed revenue during this "economic downturn"? I don't think so. It sounds like they are playing scare tactics to persuade Sony to lower the PS3's price before they are ready to so. Complete B.S. That's just my point of view though! Go PS3!

[bajor27]

Originally Posted by ras752000

Agree with all you point except this one . . . COD fans are like their own subculture (I know cause I am one) and none of the alternatives you listed (while they are great games) do anything for us long term online . . . I can still pop in COD4 or 5 every night, not so with the others.

Ya. I was a bit worried with that point myself. I know COD is huge, but since those games would still exist and Modern Warfare 2 would still come, I don't think it would make too much of a difference for the rest of the PS3s lifecycle or however long Activision could actually hold off developing for the PS3.

Battlefield 1943 maybe? I was always more of a battlefield fan myself

[Rike255]

This isn't going to actually happen. As many have said before, it's a scare tactic. Activision games sell extremely well on the PS3 (in fact, so well that it's in Activision's best interest for the PS3 to do very well...hint hint ), this is about business after all.

[AikonEnt]

Originally Posted by bajor27

I feel like adding more, and since it's kind of a different thought, I don't think I'll use the edit feature.

Would it really make a huge difference if the PS3 lost Activision support?

When I think about it, I don't think it would.

We'd lose

Call of Duty - enough other shooters (Resistance, Battlefield, Killzone, etc) that I don't see it as a huge deal

Guitar Hero - we'd still have Rock Band

Tony Hawk - we'd still have Skate

Dreamworks movie games (Transformers and dreamworks animation stuff - Are these even any good? Would still get Pixar movie games

Marvel games - Spider-man games haven't been that good since 2, Ultimate Alliance isn't too bad, and Wolverine seems decent

The marvel stuff is probably the biggest loss in terms of there not being anything to really make up for it, but I think this would hurt Activision more than Sony. Would anyone here buy a 360 just for Activision games? I sure wouldn't. There are 360 exclusive games I'm interested in, but they are made by better developers.

I also think you might see other developers trying to fill in the gaps with whatever they can since they'd have decreased competition which could be awesome.

I'd have to agree. I wouldn't be heartbroken to lose any of those. I know lots of people love their COD and GH, but I have little to no interest in them.

The Rock Band producers would love it, they'd have the PS3 all to themselves.

[MacDaddyOJack]

Ha, I'd be fine if Activision did leave! I haven't played one of their games since super nintendo. They aren't leaving anyways. Even if the attach rates drop becuase of a high price, they would still be excluding a huge gaming market.

[Marine Mike]

Whatever helps the struggle for Sony to drop the price of the console I suppose.

[Sponge-worthy]

Originally Posted by Rike255

This isn't going to actually happen. As many have said before, it's a scare tactic. Activision games sell extremely well on the PS3 (in fact, so well that it's in Activision's best interest for the PS3 to do very well...hint hint ), this is about business after all.

^This. Activision's entire business model is about multi-platform gaming. They are not going to cut off one of their limbs merely because the PS3's install base isn't quite to Activision's liking.

Everyone would like to see a price cut in the PS3. However, I think Sony and M$ are both holding steady on hardware prices. A PS3 is basically the same price as a 360+WiFi, and I don't think either company wants to enflame much more of a price war on the hardware, at least for right now.

[cajmoyper]

I'm not going to pretend to be alright with this. I love GH and am looking forward a lot to MW2. Even if you're not a fan of anything Activision, you shouldn't shrug this off as them being a producer of "nothing interesting". Still, I don't think it'll happen.

[Velmeran]

Is Activision really in a position to try and complain about pricing, given their own pricing model (go look at the cost of the various GH games and what have you and tell me how much development cost goes into one of the games when very little but song selection changes..)

I'm all for seeing a PS3 price drop (the $100 rumored would be huge as it would put the console closer to the 360 and Wii in pricing, and again has the added selling bonus feature of playing BD's) but it's a very odd strategy on Activision's part to come out and talk anything pricing related.

[Marine Mike]

Its pretty funny how their Band Hero bundle is going to cost $200, which is half the cost of the console they are complaining about being too expensive.

EDIT: Therefore if the PS3 dropped its price by $100, then there would only be a $100 difference between their game and the console it'll be playing on.

[zweet77]

See yah Activision!!!

[Terjyn]

Originally Posted by Simplayer

I think COD sells about the same on the Wii and the PS3.

Hmm, I hightly doubt this.

For Call of Duty: World at War, taken from NPD:

In November 2008, PS3 sold 597k and Wii version didn't chart in the top 20, putting it somewhere below 187k.

In Dec 2008, PS3 version sold 533K, and the Wii version charted but barely at #19. Guessing they sold in the 400k territory.

In Jan 2009, PS3 version clocked in at #11(right around 100k sales) and Wii version again behind at #18.

Basically, before WaW dropped off the charts altogether the PS3 had a good 600k copy lead on the Wii. (And note, the PS3 version did top 20 in February and the Wii didn't).

Now maybe things are completely flipped in Europe, but I just don't see it.

[Rike255]

Originally Posted by Marine Mike

Its pretty funny how their Band Hero bundle is going to cost $200, which is half the cost of the console they are complaining about being too expensive.

It's $200!!! Oh...my...god...I never knew that lol. Now I'm about 1/100th as interested in Guitar Hero as before... What's 1/100th of 0?

[Marine Mike]

Originally Posted by Rike255

It's $200!!! Oh...my...god...I never knew that lol. Now I'm about 1/100th as interested in Guitar Hero as before... What's 1/100th of 0?

Kotick questions continued Activision support of Sony platforms

Kotick openly called for a price cut on the PS3, citing a probable drop in attach rates. We can only imagine how Sony feels about being told its prices are too high by the CEO of the company behind (according to retailers) the $200 Band Hero box.

[richieb1971]

Activision aren't on my radar. The reason they don't make enough money is because not enough people are buying their games. Its using an excuse. They want mass penetration of the console to get people doing more lucky dips on their wares.

[Rike255]

It all makes sense to me now. He wants a price drop because he knows nobody can afford a PS3 AND their crazy expensive games...

[AikonEnt]

Isn't this a bit like a tyre manufacturer moaning about the amount a car manufacturer sells their cars for?

[heathward]

i don't think i own a single game that has the word "activision" written on the box anywhere. maybe dead space? should i be concerned about this?

[Darkhawk9587]

This doesn't make sense. How is the PS3 losing momentum (I don't own a PSP so I don't know about its momentum). This past year was arguably the best lineup of games for the PS3 and with games such as MAG, God of War III, Uncharted 2, Bioshock 2 and Modern Warfare 2 and others, it seems to me that the lineup for the next year will be stellar as well, keeping the Ps3's momentum up to pace. Activision is just being lame IMO.

[MacDaddyOJack]

Originally Posted by Rike255

What's 1/100th of 0?

It's still zero