Posted on Friday, June 19 2009 @ 18:44 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick warned Sony that his company is considering to drop support for the PS3 and PSP consoles due to high development costs and disappointing sales of the PS3.
It is not a very subtle hint, although Mr Kotick says his company paid $500 million to Sony in royalties and other goods last year, which “probably still worked out at 400 per cent of the profit they made”. Actually, Sony's games division lost $597 million last year, and Mr Kotick seems to think it may have to risk more losses if the £299.99 PlayStation 3 is to develop.
“They have to cut the price, because if they don't, the attach rates [the number of games each console owner buys] are likely to slow. If we are being realistic, we might have to stop supporting Sony.” Ask when and he says: “When we look at 2010 and 2011, we might want to consider if we support the console — and the PSP [portable] too.” Sounds like Sir Howard Stringer, Sony's chief executive, is going to have to call Mr Kotick pretty fast.
More info
at Times Online.
