InsaneBear

Reactions: Activision May No Longer Support Sony Consoles Come 2010

Bobby Kotick had some harsh words for Sony and its consoles today. The Times Online reports that Activision’s head honcho is none too pleased with the state of the Playstation 3. “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”.

What’s the reason for these bold statements? “They have to cut the price, because if they don’t, the attach rates are likely to slow.” Bobby also seems to be a bit miffed about royalties that his company has had to pay Sony, with the Times Online saying that “his company paid $500 million to Sony in royalties and other goods last year”

Considering that striking statements like “When we look at 2010 and 2011, we might want to consider if we support the console — and the PSP too.” are coming from the CEO of the world’s largest third party publisher, I”d say there’s some weight to them. I doubt Activision will actually stop supporting Sony platforms, but this is sure to at least get Sony’s attention. Which is good for all of us, because maybe Sony will actually give us that long-rumored price cut.

Sony proceeded to give a non-commital response to Kotaku when asked for comment: “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,” said Playstation spokesman Patrick Seybold. “We enjoy healthy business relationships with and greatly value our publishing partners and are working closely with them to deliver the best entertainment experience.”

Author: Ryan

Tags: bobby kotick, ps3, sony