Activision Threatens Sony
- Scribbled on June 19th, 2009 by Jonah Falcon
- Filed in Interviews, Sony PlayStation 3, WTF
Activision’s CEO Bobby Kotick has put down an ultimatum on Sony to cut the price of the PlayStation 3, citing the console’s difficult architecture and lack of sales.
“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.”
Kotick had complained earlier about the PlayStation 3, but we dismissed it as whining. Now Activision is doing the videogame publisher equivalent of withholding sex to force Sony into a premature price cut. Of course, the rumor is that Sony will cut the price in August of this year, so this may be an empty threat.
Let us know what you think.
(Thanks, Videogamer.com.)
June 19th, 2009 at 11:29 am
I find this fascinating… because it means one thing:
If Sony is planning on doing the PS3 Slim and they are planning on cutting the price when it comes out they are keeping it secret from the public AND THEY HAVEN’T TOLD DEVELOPERS THIS EITHER.
Would it be so hard to have a back-room conference at E3 and tell all the developers (or even a select few developes, say EA and Activision) “Look, we know you’re concerned on price, after October that won’t be an issue anymore.”
Instead we are getting the nascent threats from Activision about dumping support for the console. Smooth move Sony… the latest in a series of smooth moves going back to before the console was launched.
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