Activision May Stop Supporting Sony?

[joefro]

Activision boss Bobby Kotick has threatened to stop supporting the PS3 and the PSP. "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 [portable] too".

via Kotaku

http://kotaku.com/5296566/activision-threatens-to-stop-supporting-sony-consoles

Wowza. I don't expect this to happen, but if it did I think that the PS3 vs X360 battle would turn into the Blu-ray vs HD-DVD battle. Meaning that as soon as Activision would stop supporting Sony, other publishers would soon follow, just like when Warner Bros. stopped supporting HD-DVD, Blu-ray basically had won at that point.

I'm now expecting Sony to fire back with a, "I disagree. The PlayStation brand is and has always been the home to the best gaming experience..."

So, does anyone think that this might happen?

I don't.

P.S. - Let's try not to turn this into a fanboy war. This thread is about the possibility of Activision dropping support for the PS3/PSP.

[amtalx]

I think his head may be getting a little fat with their success, although Activision Blizzard is pretty much steamrolling everyone in both the PC and console markets. I doubt it will come to this, but I'm glad someone with a lot of industry clout is saying it. Hopefully it will push Sony to stop pricing their hardware beyond its value.

[Outrider]

Yeah, I agree with Amtalx. They're not going to stop supporting the Playstation platforms (especially not with their major franchises), but saying something like this publicly should at least get Sony to realize how upset devs, publishers & consumers are with the lack of a price cut.

[AC9breaker]

You know it seems like with every other press statement coming out of Activision I'm finding ways to hate the company even more. You gotta respect the capitalism spirit but man if it isn't a disgusting thing. Kinda like a hotdog eating contest. It's an impressive feat, but fucking horrible to watch.

[Leviathan]

Kinda like a hotdog eating contest. It's an impressive feat, but fucking horrible to watch.

Fact.

It's pretty stupid for them to say that, they can try to do it but I wouldn't end well.

[Rubius-sama]

I doubt it'll happen but it should. It's great to see developers are catching on to Sony's bullshit. I saw it years ago.

[McLaughlin]

Fact.

It's pretty stupid for them to say that, they can try to do it but I wouldn't end well.

Curious, why is it dumb for them to consider dropping the platform that's the hardest to work with, and has the smallest installbase?

[Leviathan]

I think they're just bluffing to call attention to themselves, and to hike up sales.

[AC9breaker]

Ignore tylor and his PS3 flame war starting ways!
I'm on to your evil ways young man!

[goldbrease]

I think they are trying to scare sony into dropping the ps3's price tag by about $100.

[OrangeTippedGun]

Now everyone keep in mind, Kotick, I'm pretty sure is also the man who wanted to sue EA or the developers of Brutal Legend or something like that because after the game had already been in development, Activision decided not to publish it because they didn't think it would do well. It eventually became one of the most anticipated games of 2009 and EA became the new publisher for the game. Kotick wanted to sue simply because he turned down what will now probably become a blockbuster hit in gaming this year.

Though with all of that aside, Kotick does kinda have a good reason not to publish anymore on Sony platforms. I mean seriously, Wii and 360 are doing so much better and cost much less to publish games on. I think if Activision were to stop publishing on Sony platforms they may actually end up not wasting so much money on manufacturing Blu-rays and UMD's. But I'm probably wrong and Sony and Actvision will probably come to a compromise.

Just imagine how crazy it would be if Activision stopped publishing for Sony platforms. After all Sony has been through, lost nearly all it's exclusives. Hell, they don't even have Final Fantasy anymore. If this becomes reality, I don't think the PS3 will survive such a blow. Major games like Call of Duty and Guitar Hero no longer on Playstation. Dam, that would suck...for Sony.

[goldbrease]

sony us did not get ff13 exclusive for ps3, jp sony did. however they announced last year that ff13VRs will be globally sony exclusive.
i'm really surprised there was no news on ff13VRs at e3 this year.

and yes, I believe kotic has proven himself in this last 2 months to be clinically insane.
It would not surprise me if he is pink slipped.

[OrangeTippedGun]

sony us did not get ff13 exclusive for 360 jp sony did. however they announced last year that ff13VRs will be globally sony exclusive.
i'm really surprised there was no news on ff13VRs at e3 this year.

and yes, I believe kotic has proven himself in this last 2 months to be clinically insane.
It would not surprise me if he is pink slipped.

When I was saying Sony lost Final Fantasy I just meant that they lost it as an exclusive. I know it's gonna be on PS3 also.
And is FFvs13 seriously gonna be PS3 Exclusive?! O_o
Damn, and FFvs13 is what made me wanna try 13 in the first place! I haven't really gotten into any Final Fantasy games. I was hoping 13 would be a great start and it now looks like 13 will. But I won't be able to experience vs13. ;_;

[amtalx]

It would not surprise me if he is pink slipped.

I don't think Kotick is going anywhere. He's and asshole, but he knows how to make money. That's what shareholders like. If dropping the PS3 because its a sinking ship becomes a reality (which it won't) I don't doubt for a second that he would do it. Its bad for gamers, but he's not a gamer, he's a businessman.

[goldbrease]

or it could be like the ctrl-alt-delete comic were a corporation takes over his holiday and the gamers boycott his company and drive him out of business.

[Tetsaru]

Its bad for gamers, but he's not a gamer, he's a businessman.

I think this quote RIGHT HERE explains why Sega/Sonic Team continue to churn out horrible games, and why Nintendo was on a shovelware streak for all the casual/non-gamer audience. I find it mind-blowing to believe that corporations pull bullshit like this because THEY THINK it will earn them more money in the long run. Maybe initially, but what happens once all the pissed off hardcore gamers - the audience who plays games the most and thus provides the most income for these corporations in the first place - stop buying their games? THEY LOSE MONEY, of course! Luckily Nintendo realized this at E3, but apparently Sega's still oblivious as usual... -_-X

Imo, in order to run a successful business, you MUST make your customers happy so that they continue to support you, and what better way to find out how than to listen to them? Their comments, complaints, what have you - and also experience first-hand what the customers go through when they use the business's product or service. A similar example: my mom, who is a teacher, often gripes about how the government tries to implement new education policies, yet these officials never first-hand witness what goes on inside a classroom. Giving out more tests doesn't make children smarter, it just stresses them out more... and different people learn different ways, of course... but I digress...

It's so simple: you run a business, people pay for what you have to offer them. You make them mad, they don't give you their money, they spend it on a different business, and you go bankrupt. I don't see why more businesses realize this kind of stuff... no wonder our economy sucks right now. =/

[amtalx]

But here's the problem: games for casual gamers generate more revenue. The big console manufacturers have been pandering to us for so long that we've become accustomed to getting what we want. Nintendo discovered that you can make more money in the casual arena. The simple fact is that we aren't needed anymore.

Look at something like the Cooking Mama franchise. That has sold over 4 million copies. Gears 2 sold 5 million. If you put the development cost of all Cooking Mama games together it would probably still be less than half of what Gears 2 cost to make. Unless a core game approaches Halo or Modern Warfare success, a publisher will make way more money with series of casual games. And how often do those blockbuster AAA titles come along? Not too often. Casual games are low risk with relatively high returns. AAA titles are a huge risk and may not pan out. Look at Killzone 2. They hemorrhaged about $30-50m(lots of rumors) in development costs and it just cracked a million units in the middle of last month, way past its original release date.

[Sexy_Raine]

I don't remember the last I ever bought a game from Activision, I could care less what they do. Plenty of other developers still out there.

[OrangeTippedGun]

I don't remember the last I ever bought a game from Activision, I could care less what they do. Plenty of other developers still out there.

Activision publishes. They don't develop.

[Kent]

I think this quote RIGHT HERE explains why Sega/Sonic Team continue to churn out horrible games, and why Nintendo was on a shovelware streak for all the casual/non-gamer audience. I find it mind-blowing to believe that corporations pull bullshit like this because THEY THINK it will earn them more money in the long run. Maybe initially, but what happens once all the pissed off hardcore gamers - the audience who plays games the most and thus provides the most income for these corporations in the first place - stop buying their games? THEY LOSE MONEY, of course! Luckily Nintendo realized this at E3, but apparently Sega's still oblivious as usual... -_-X

Imo, in order to run a successful business, you MUST make your customers happy so that they continue to support you, and what better way to find out how than to listen to them? Their comments, complaints, what have you - and also experience first-hand what the customers go through when they use the business's product or service. A similar example: my mom, who is a teacher, often gripes about how the government tries to implement new education policies, yet these officials never first-hand witness what goes on inside a classroom. Giving out more tests doesn't make children smarter, it just stresses them out more... and different people learn different ways, of course... but I digress...

It's so simple: you run a business, people pay for what you have to offer them. You make them mad, they don't give you their money, they spend it on a different business, and you go bankrupt. I don't see why more businesses realize this kind of stuff... no wonder our economy sucks right now. =/
What Nintendo's doing however, is making non-gamers into gamers. By sucking non-gamers into being consumers, they generate lots and lots more revenue.

Eventually, these people will become "casual gamers," and some might even start taking gaming more seriously. When/if Nintendo goes back to making the games that gamers want, they'll have an even larger audience than they did before.

I don't remember the last I ever bought a game from Activision, I could care less what they do. Plenty of other developers still out there.
Activision itself doesn't develop games - they are a publishing and production company that owns, partially or wholly, many individual development studios (just like Sega does now).

Activision, however, is currently the second-largest publisher in the world for video games, second only to Electronic Arts... Slightly.

Think about that for a minute.

The statement, from a business standpoint, is stating that if they drop development for the PlayStation platforms, they'll gain more money in turnaround due to not having to develop for these platforms, and instead focusing their development studios on other, more profitable hardware - at the same time however, Sony will lose not only a bunch of their forthcoming library from the publishing giant, but also lose all associated royalties from sales (currently, Sony gets about ~$10 per PS3 game sold). This is a pretty big deal, and it's hard to meet the article with anything more positive than a wince without being delusional.

Though really, I don't think it'll be happening - if it did, it'd either not change much outside of PlayStation platform releases and we'd just see more releases coming out of Activision...

...Or their releases for the current Microsoft and Nintendo platforms would actually see better overall quality, due to not having to worry about multi-platform development as much - but I'm a bit skeptical on the chances of this happening, though it would be a good turnaround for them.

[Sexy_Raine]

Ahh ok, Thank you for clearing that up. MW2 is still coming isn't it?

[joefro]

Ahh ok, Thank you for clearing that up. MW2 is still coming isn't it?
Yeah its still coming out. Along with the next 50 Guitar Hero games this year. Kotick is just talking out of his ass. If his plan does come to fruition, I doubt it would be until well into 2010. But it won't.

[goldbrease]

you know what other company really annoys me? THQ.
they never released destroy all humans POTF in the us for ps3 but they released it for ps3 in europe. not to be rude but isn't the european version the US version with more language options?
then shortly after this they announced they were dropping most of their projects. aka they are prety much just making wrestling games now.

[joefro]

you know what other company really annoys me? THQ.
they never released destroy all humans POTF in the us for ps3 but they released it for ps3 in europe. not to be rude but isn't the european version the US version with more language options?
then shortly after this they announced they were dropping most of their projects. aka they are prety much just making wrestling games now.
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e397/joefro72/Picture1-4.png
I don't think PS3 owners are missing out on anything.

[goldbrease]

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e397/joefro72/Picture1-4.png
I don't think PS3 owners are missing out on anything.

I want it solely because i'm a fan of the series lol.
atleast the ps3 is region free so if i wanted to spend the insane amount on importing i could.... >.>

[Blue-Hawk]

Meh, who really cares? When was the last time Activision even released a good game anyway? 5,6 maybe even 10 years ago?

[amtalx]

Meh, who really cares? When was the last time Activision even released a good game anyway? 5,6 maybe even 10 years ago?

*Modern Warfare knocks on your door*

Can you imagine the bawing if they pulled Modern Warfare 2 for PS3?

[Kent]

Meh, who really cares? When was the last time Activision even released a good game anyway? 5,6 maybe even 10 years ago?
More like a week or two ago. Activision publishes games left and right, and it's a combination of being silly and being in denial to think that losing their support wouldn't be a big loss.

Mass-market publsihers are fine with delivering a "good" product (as opposed to a "great" product) because they can get it out faster, and make a return on their investment sooner.

[OrangeTippedGun]

So whats the current status now between Sony and Activsion? They make a compromise yet?

[Outrider]

There was never actually any change in their relationship - Kotick just started saying things and message boards started flipping out.

[Syndrome]

What Nintendo's doing however, is making non-gamers into gamers. By sucking non-gamers into being consumers, they generate lots and lots more revenue.

Eventually, these people will become "casual gamers," and some might even start taking gaming more seriously. When/if Nintendo goes back to making the games that gamers want, they'll have an even larger audience than they did before.

I agree with your first statement completeley about Nintendo letting a lot of BS Wii and DS games come to their systems for the "Casual Gamer", I mean, what real gamer really wants to play a Grey's Anatomy game? But, for your last statement I'll have to say it's not WHEN or IF, it seems to be NOW. Did you not read or see anything about E3 this year? 2 Mario games, Metroid Other M AND the Metroid Prime Trilogy are coming to Wii. The Conduit is an amazing game, made by our beloved SEGAC. Zelda has been officially announced, though no details are known at this time, Monado looks very good, Also Sin and Punishment 2 looks pretty fun too. I think late 2009 and 2010 are going to be the years Nintendo redeems themselves to their hardcore fanbase.

[Kent]

I agree with your first statement completeley about Nintendo letting a lot of BS Wii and DS games come to their systems for the "Casual Gamer", I mean, what real gamer really wants to play a Grey's Anatomy game? But, for your last statement I'll have to say it's not WHEN or IF, it seems to be NOW. Did you not read or see anything about E3 this year? 2 Mario games, Metroid Other M AND the Metroid Prime Trilogy are coming to Wii. The Conduit is an amazing game, made by our beloved SEGAC. Zelda has been officially announced, though no details are known at this time, Monado looks very good, Also Sin and Punishment 2 looks pretty fun too. I think late 2009 and 2010 are going to be the years Nintendo redeems themselves to their hardcore fanbase.
I don't think it's happening now - the announcements from Nintendo are in line with the announcements made by them every year.

A bunch of crap aimed at non-core gamers, then a couple things to whet the appetites of your somehow-still-rabid Nintendo fanboys/girls, just so they don't lose their core fanbase as quickly. Just about anything good at this point will make a lot of people think "Hey, Nintendo actually does care about us still!" despite that, realistically, it's almost a token gesture.

As for non-Nintendo companies... Well, Sega had nothing to do with The Conduit aside from publishing it (i.e. none of their studios did any development), and Treasure is just made of pure win - and the Wii's control setup is perfect for Sin & Punishment (which was on the N64), so this is a logical choice.

[Outrider]

I think late 2009 and 2010 are going to be the years Nintendo redeems themselves to their hardcore fanbase.

I mean, to add to Kent's comment - you listed a re-release compilation, a couple copy/paste sequels (that I'm excited about, but still), and a game that was actually announced over a year ago.

Pretty much the only big surprise from Nintendo was Other M, and that's a whole other discussion on whether that will be worthwhile or not.

I agree that they had a better E3 showing than last year, and that some of those games I'm looking forward to, but it's not quite the renaissance some people would like it to be.

[goldbrease]

the trilogy wasn't anounced as a pack but as single disks. the big differnce is that the previouse 2 games will have bonus content unlocked by points like prime 3 does.

[Outrider]

the trilogy wasn't anounced as a pack but as single disks. the big differnce is that the previouse 2 games will have bonus content unlocked by points like prime 3 does.

Yeah, but as I said, it's still just a re-release compilation. Also, there's no new content. The bonus content you unlock in the compilation's version of Metroid Prime 1 and 2 is the same bonus content that was available in the original Gamecube releases, but it's unlocked using the new bonus system instead.

Certainly a great deal for anybody who doesn't have the games (or for someone like me who wants to try out the first two games with the third's control scheme) but it's not the biggest deal to most people.