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Activision CEO: “We Might Have To Stop Supporting Sony”
- Thread starter TEXAN*
- Start date
Yeahhh, I had seen this. It's not totally impossible -- it did happen to the Gamecube. The PS3 isn't exactly the gamecube, though.
My bet is that nothing constructive will come from this since none of the people who will comment on this thread know what it costs to work on PS3, and those who do know won't comment. It's clear that relatively working on the PS3 gets them less bang for their buck but how this works against install-base we can only blindly speculate. Activision games (or the big ones, anyway) do seem to sell somewhat under the install-base line on PS3.
My bet is that nothing constructive will come from this since none of the people who will comment on this thread know what it costs to work on PS3, and those who do know won't comment. It's clear that relatively working on the PS3 gets them less bang for their buck but how this works against install-base we can only blindly speculate. Activision games (or the big ones, anyway) do seem to sell somewhat under the install-base line on PS3.
Indeed no matter what truth is behing this PR (reality? pressuring Sony on the hard price?, royalties?) I agree that will only end in flame war.
Oh, it's certainly them pressuring Sony on the price. Kotick has gone on record asking for Sony to cut the PS3's price before, he did it just before E3 and Sony struck back, and then E3 went on with no price cut. Now whether they'll actually cut and run is the question. I doubt it, the HD market isn't that big and PS3 is still a fair portion of it, but as others elsewhere have pointed out, those are famous last words.
I think this is just a strike back at Sony after Tretton's remarks (was it Tretton?).
Activision: We'd like you to cut the price, Sony.
Sony: Do you pay my bills? If so maybe we could chill.
Activision: It would certainly be a pity if your beautiful console were dropped, wouldn't it? And such a lovely portable, too, I'd hate to see something happen to it.
So maybe we're 1 or 2 statements away from an offer Sony can't refuse.
Activision didn't drop Gamecube support until Wii came out. They were a bit more selective as time wore on, but they did release the later Tony Hawk, Call of Duty, and X-Men Legends games on the machine. A publisher as big as Activision dropping PS3 support would be very bad news indeed.
I meant other 3rd parties, I actually know very little about Activision games, I realize. I didn't buy a single one last year, I didn't buy any this year so far -- though I'll probably get Prototype in coming weeks, and it may be the only one this year.
Activision's earnings are very weird, compared to other pubs, where the PS3 revenue is a lot more balanced. Their platform breakdown Q4 last year was: MMORPG (obviously), then Wii, then 360, then PS2 then PS3. I guess that's what you get when you make so much money off Guitar Hero. And then again Activision is the most successful pub this gen, so maybe we'll see more pubs try and emulate that spread?
From The GAF, revenue for Q1 2009:
Code:
ACTIVISION, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
FINANCIAL INFORMATION
For the Quarter and Year Ended March 31, 2008
---------- ---------- --------- ---------
Quarter Quarter Year Year
Ended Ended Ended Ended
March 31, March 31, March 31, March 31,
2008 2007 2008 2007
--------------------------- ---------- ---------- --------- ---------
Publishing Net Revenues
PC 8% 5% 6% 7%
--------------------------- ---------- ---------- --------- ---------
Console 87% 80% 85% 80%
--------------------------- ---------- ---------- --------- ---------
Sony PlayStation 3 18% 12% 13% 5%
Sony PlayStation 2 21% 49% 29% 45%
Microsoft Xbox 360 27% 12% 31% 18%
Nintendo Wii 21% 5% 12% 5%
Other 0% 2% 0% 7%
Hand-held 5% 15% 9% 13%
--------------------------- ---------- ---------- --------- ---------
Sony PlayStation Portable 1% 8% 3% 4%
Nintendo Dual Screen 4% 5% 5% 5%
Nintendo Game Boy Advance 0% 2% 1% 4%
--------------------------- ---------- ---------- --------- ---------
Total publishing net
revenues 100% 100% 100% 100%
---------------------------- ---------- ---------- --------- ---------Interesting that the Wii is smaller than the 360 for this quarter, but still about 40%. Of course, ATVI's probably seeing the PS2 lose importance more and more and are getting worried.
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This is a bit strange for the CEO of Activision to be coming out and saying what has been said. Strange in that he must surely know that their is a high probability that Sony will indeed be lowering the PS3 price later this year in most regions. Perhaps this is as has already been mentioned more to do with developer costs and royalties not being aligned with the actual size of Sony's install base and market share. Just a thought, has Activision released an important game recently? Perhaps getting a little press for Activision right about now won't be such a bad thing either for any Activision products that are about to be released. 
... Bit cynical of me but hey business is business right!
... Bit cynical of me but hey business is business right!Just checked, they also have another important release at the end of this month- Transformers: Revenge of the fallen on all platforms... Ok I'm not saying I totally believe my own cynical idea but anyway makes you think doesn't it. A bit of attention here and there for Activision right about now would definitely be a nice thing for them to have no? :smile:
To be devil's advocate, isn't there the issue of ROI? Activision only has so much money, there might be investments with better return. I'm not sure what those would be, though -- especially with a company so wary of new IP like Activision. Maybe put the money in making 3 MORE Guitar Hero games?
Yeah, but I'm not sure that that title's gonna chart hugely. It'll sell well, those titles usually do, but they tend to have legs.
Hmm, I'm surprised at this.
If you at worldwide install base, the PS3 isn't that far behind the 360. Shipped it's 22.73 PS3 against 30.2 360. PS3 is at 75% of 360. That despite a year later and all.
Of course, PS3 has a couple million consoles edge in Japan, where Activision games wont sell, making the gap in the west a bit more pronounced.
But if you look at Europe weekly software charts, outside the UK PS3 dominates over 360. Granted those markets are kind of fragmented. And I've always heard to the effect one game in Europe sold is worth more than one game in the US sold in profit due to the higher prices.
Basically in my own mind I was pretty sure third party support for PS3 was very safe. So this is surprising to me.
I really see this as PR bluster. Theyre going to take COD off the PS3? It's sold millions there. And they are supposedly going for the best selling game ever with MW2. For that it needs to be on more platforms not less.
This has got to be terrifying for Sony though, Activisions leaving literally would probably have the ability to just about end the viability PS3. Just due to the absurd popularity of Call of Duty alone. Probably even EA doesnt have as much clout as Activision these days. Telling USA teenage boys "hey, you can get Modern Warfare on 360 but not PS3" would be devastating I think.
But yeah, this'll generate headlines, but not going to happen I think.
If you at worldwide install base, the PS3 isn't that far behind the 360. Shipped it's 22.73 PS3 against 30.2 360. PS3 is at 75% of 360. That despite a year later and all.
Of course, PS3 has a couple million consoles edge in Japan, where Activision games wont sell, making the gap in the west a bit more pronounced.
But if you look at Europe weekly software charts, outside the UK PS3 dominates over 360. Granted those markets are kind of fragmented. And I've always heard to the effect one game in Europe sold is worth more than one game in the US sold in profit due to the higher prices.
Basically in my own mind I was pretty sure third party support for PS3 was very safe. So this is surprising to me.
I really see this as PR bluster. Theyre going to take COD off the PS3? It's sold millions there. And they are supposedly going for the best selling game ever with MW2. For that it needs to be on more platforms not less.
This has got to be terrifying for Sony though, Activisions leaving literally would probably have the ability to just about end the viability PS3. Just due to the absurd popularity of Call of Duty alone. Probably even EA doesnt have as much clout as Activision these days. Telling USA teenage boys "hey, you can get Modern Warfare on 360 but not PS3" would be devastating I think.
But yeah, this'll generate headlines, but not going to happen I think.
To put things into bigger context, since we're all bad people (including me) who didn't go find the original article. (Noticed this quote from GAF.)
Last two paragraphs of the article.
It's very very much a politics play, or that's how the whole article is framed.
Last two paragraphs of the article.
It's very very much a politics play, or that's how the whole article is framed.
That's true. That's probably why this is about royalties. They're making money on the PS3, but if they could shift those dollars and man hours into a different platform and get a higher return, then they'd be kind of crazy not to do it.
I dont understand the above qoute at all though.
400% of what profit? What is he trying to say with that part? Is he saying Activision paid Sony 400% of what profits Activision made from Sonyplatfoms? Or basically a quip at the fact Sony didn't make any profits last year?
Is he saying Sony charges more royalties than other companies?
I still kind of wonder if the whole charging for PSN bandwidth thing didn't tick a lot of companies off.
I just wonder if they can. Using the money to increase the effort on 360 and Wii would probably be counterproductive, and I suspect that we're already seeing Guitar Hero fatigue. Lord knows that Kotick drove Tony Hawk way, way into the ground. Given videogames' profit curve, though, I might expect smaller titles to skip the PS3 if sales continue down, sort of like we saw for PSP. They may not make enough to recoup the added R&D effort of porting to PS3 (or just more crummy, low-cost ports).
I think he's saying that 500 million is 4x the profit activision made off the PS3. I don't think Sony charges more, but their games may cost more to create.
That's a strange figure, actually. The license costs what, $10 a game? We sorta know that Activision hasn't sold 50 million copies on the PS3 last year, don't we? Is this DLC, then? It's still a pretty big gap to span. Also, there's the issue of profits. The way it's said, it suggests that, Activision makes only dollars off each game sold.
It certainly did, but that's what it was going to do anyway. PSN still saw the Wolverine demo, though, at 16c a pop. It's not getting the MW2 beta, but didn't CoD4 also skip the PS3?
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So basically the jack hole wants to make more money and thinks if he threatens to stop supporting this platform he'll get it?
Get real dude. There is zero chance that they'll do anything of the sort. Zero. This is nothing more than a "threat" because they want Sony to drop the price so they can get a larger user base for PS3 and in turn hopefully make more money. Activision is so so much worse than EA ever was.
Get real dude. There is zero chance that they'll do anything of the sort. Zero. This is nothing more than a "threat" because they want Sony to drop the price so they can get a larger user base for PS3 and in turn hopefully make more money. Activision is so so much worse than EA ever was.
