Major video game publisher Activision’s CEO has threatened Sony, saying that the PlayStation 3 is in a bad position and that his margins hardly justify developing for the platform.
His comments may be of concern to Sony in its international markets, though perhaps not in Japan:
“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.
They have to cut the price, because if they don’t, the attach rates are likely to slow. If we are being realistic, we might have to stop supporting Sony. When we look at 2010 and 2011, we might want to consider if we support the console — and the PSP too.”
Sony for its part refuses comment, then rubbishes the uppity publisher:
“We respect our third parties’ opinions and their right to express those opinions but we will not be commenting on this story.”
Later they thought better of it:
“PlayStation has tremendous momentum coming out of E3, and we are seeing positive growth with more than 350 titles slated to hit across all our platforms, including many anticipated games from our publishing partners.
We enjoy healthy business relationships with and greatly value our publishing partners and are working closely with them to deliver the best entertainment experience.”
Via Hachimaki.
Of course, his words can hardly be taken at face value; giving Sony a squeeze might extract concessions, and if he did want to be rid of Sony he would hardly want to give the impression that its position was favourable…
Hahahaha! Activision pawnz Sony (and it’s not the only videogame delevoper with the same opinion). Where’re your support now, Sony? Huh? HUH?
1. Stop making games for PS3
2. Cut sales by more than 33%
3. ?????
4. PROFIT!
Oops Xbox360 died LOL
This just shows that Sony needs to get their act together and listen to buyer input. Fix the recurring issues with their hardware (went through three PSP’s before one worked), before it goes to ship. Maybe if they stopped trying to r♥♥e the buyers for every cent they’d have a more loyal client base…
goodbye Activison i will miss you(B4 merge with blizzard and b4 the GH/MF tittles were ever released)
cause we all know…current acitivison isn’t good at making new games…only making the same games….over and over and over and over and over again…so…does anyone actually own every singe GH tittle that is release every year?