Growing tired of the Playstation 3’s high price tag, the head of gaming’s biggest publisher is threatening to drop future support of the console if the price doesn’t come down.
"If we are being realistic, we might have to stop supporting Sony," Activision CEO and President Bobby Kotick (pictured) told the Times of London. "When we look at 2010 and 2011, we might want to consider if we support the console — and the PSP [portable] too."
The mention of the PSP is likely referencing Sony’s PSP Go, a UMD-less handheld that will sell for $249 when it goes on sale this October. Analysts have criticized the price tag for being too high.
Kotick’s words seem harsh, but by citing next year or the year after as the time frame for dropping support, Kotick reveals his bluff. I don’t expect Sony to go two years without cutting the Playstation 3’s price from $399, and Kotick probably now feels the same way.
Ars Technica suggests that Kotick is making a play for better support of Activision’s upcoming blockbusters, such as Modern Warfare 2 and DJ Hero, with advertising and lower licensing fees. That’s speculation of course, but it makes sense as motivation for Kotick’s comments if Activision isn’t actually looking to drop support.
Publishers calling for PS3 price cuts is nothing new at this point. They want a wider install base in order to sell more games, but Sony can’t afford to drop the price without taking deep revenue losses up front. The company has repeatedly denied any suggestion that the PS3 will be less expensive in the near future.
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That said, the most played console in the world is still the PS2, so the day the PS3 becomes affordable in the mind of those PS2 owners, sales are going to explode.
Activision should stop acting so high and mighty. Dropping PS3 support would be millions in losses for them, they know it.
And it's easy to pirate games on X360, they are also taking a huge loss from there.
And right now, the worldwide sales of PS3 and X360 are roughly equal weekly despite a huge price difference.
PS2 owners are not migrating to X360 as has been proved numerous times by the "most played console" surveys. They are clearly waiting for PS3 to drop in price.
Read the original interview. If PS3 is selling better then why did he say this:
"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," Kotick says.
Sony really needs a $100 price drop and they need God of War, FF, GT5 etc.. to be HUGE or they are in trouble.
http://www.cdfreaks.com/jochem/../im...ies/2/wink.gif worldwide numbers will tell you that the ps3 is not too far off from the 360. the US is where the 360 is beating the ps3 badly!
and as for the games, well i honestly think you need to look at the current games out for the ps3! uncharted, LBP, GOW3, KZ2, and the fact that the devs are putting out multiformats also tells the story that THEY think its worth making games for the ps3!
activision are trying to call sony's bluff with this statement!
The US education sector needs a little .. well .. a complete overhaul.
At any rate, buying it just because your friends have got it doesn't make sense to me. Your friends could be morons, and .. well .. the birds of a feather
On the other hand, if you can easily pirate all games that your friends have got, and play them on your own console ... sure .. that's a reason I can understand in the current economic environment.
It's interesting that people buy the xbox 360 & pay subscription fees to play games online ... when it's shown time & again that the PS3 version of games are roughly equivalent, sometimes better, sometimes worse ... but completely free.
M$ sure has a great strategy .. the same as WoW really.
Give it to them cheap, and shaft them a little every day afterwards.
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