Activision CEO Bobby Kotick says he sees the number of games bought per console slowing if the
price on the PlayStation 3 doesn't go down, and that his company (the largest independent game developer in the world, thanks in part to that sweet, sweet Blizzard cash) might consider dropping the PS3 and PSP in 2010 or 2011 if things don't improve. He says Activision paid $500 million in royalties to Sony last year, but the Xbox 360 and Wii are cheaper to develop for and offer a better return on investment. Still, with 23 million PS3s out there in the world, we'd think it'd be difficult to ignore the console entirely -- especially for cross platform titles like the upcoming Modern Warfare 2, where a majority of the work takes place in content development and gameplay mechanics. Of course, with games like
Guitar Hero,
DJ Hero and
Tony Hawk now demanding the purchase of peripherals along with the game itself, Activision itself could certainly be doing more to make gaming cheaper on consumers... but we suppose that's another conversation entirely.
[Via
Joystiq]
posted June 19th 2009 10:32AM
Sony needs to drop the price now especially since Project Natal will be ready in 2010. It's no secret that the $399 current price will not attract newbies. Sony needs to listen to their Developers and the masses.
Price drop will happen, probably coinciding with launch of the PS3 Slim.
Project Nada? Whatever. The masses that wanted cheaper consoles don't give a damn about another more complicated and expensive accessory. Besides, the Wii is said to be for the casual gamers (not the 360's main target group); why would that be different for this Project Nada, which is essentially a better Wii? Finally, Project Nada promises a lot. But what we have seen so far in live presentations were just rather simple demos. There may be a big difference between the actual shipped product and what MS like us to believe with that showcase video. Maybe with the actual shipped product, you would need to set up your living room this and that way, position the cams or sensors exactly as specified for optimal performance, adjust the room lighting, etc.
Activision is paying about $7 for every unit PSP/PS3 that exists in the world just to make a game for it. If you assume 30% of the units probably dont even get used (face it lots of people own shit they dont use) they're paying about $10 for every unit that they even have a chance of selling a game for, run through profits on each game sold etc... I can definately see where they'd have a less than favorable margin on sony units.
Sony used to have the corner on the gamer market, now they've priced half of their fans right out of their own marketshare, let em drown for a few years they make enough other crap to learn their lesson and come back with a unit that doesn't cost $500.00
All I see when people say that the PS3 doesn't need a price cut is "Blah blah blah, I justified paying $399-$599 for my PS3, so you should be able to do it as well! (Please tell me I didn't waste my money, please please please!)"
They don't want other people to get it cheaper because it makes them feel like they threw money away, and they feel the console is worth that money. The Neo Geo was worth the $600 or whatever it cost to some people, but not to the masses. This is the same situation. Not everyone wants to spend even $400 on a ps3. If I get a blu-ray player, it will be in the form of a drive for my HTPC so I can rip stuff to my library... I don't game on my consoles that often, and when I do, I enjoy playing the type of games on the wii that I can just play for 15-20 minutes and stop. I would love to play little big planet though. :-| Oh well, I'm not going to pay $460 to play one game, I'll just go to my friend's house who did.
It's quite possible that Developing for the PS3 is not nearly as easy as the Sony fanboys think it is. Simply saying a game is cross platform doesn't mean that they may not need to re-write huge portions of a game to work on the PS3. If a game costs them more in royalties and the porting process than the profit they make on sales, it makes huge sense to stop developing for that console if the competitors are giving you profits. YES, the Big titles are giving Activision profits from PS3, but what about the smaller titles that it is releasing cross platform? I doubt those are yielding a profit, and Activision can't be expected to let the profits from the big titles subsidize the losses from the smaller titles when they could just stop releasing them for PS3. I doubt Activision would drop PS3 completely, but they may stop bringing all but their biggest titles to the PS3.
For all you who are saying he is talking out of his ass... If you knew how serious businessmen are about diminishing profit margins, you would rethink entirely.
Seriously, tell me, how serious are those serious businessman about giving up on serious profits?
Ok, why do ppl (devs mostly) not see this...
Using my personal experiences as example....lets say i have 10 friends, just saying, out of those 10, 5 have 360s 2 Wiis 3 PS3s.
From the 5 that have 360s, those 5 360s are modded, they DO NOT BUY any games... SAME WITH THE Wii.
Us that have a PS3 DO BUY them games.
Maybe retail stores DO BUY the games, does not really mean they SELL.
As more games come out, more games are actually being sold for PS3s and more games being downloaded for 360s.
As of sold units, more of my friends are gtting PS3s, some had stopped using 360s, and Wiis, well they are fun so whatever.
Dropping PS will be absurd. Also if you consider the fact tha the PS2 is still selling and the install base for the PS2 still bigger than any other console system. And Activition still making games for PS2.. so putting PS2, PS3 and PSP together, they are selling enough i`d guess...
In the other hand, how about they make better games? just IMO!!!!
PS3 needs a price drop, period.
The blueray bullshit and the "cheaper compared to an xbox with the same addons" is just not enough. It has more cpus, more horse-power, etc, but if you get the same games with similar quality on a cheaper console, i will go for the cheaper. Sure, i can buy a Ferrari but if i can get an Audi for almost half of it, it's a no brainer.
Activision makes money from games
less ps3 sold = less games sold
cheaper ps3 = more ps3 sold = more games sold
I dont understand what's so difficult to understand, im actually surprised that there are no other publishers complaining too.
Activitsion... the new Electronic Arts. No huge loss. I'm certain we won't miss shovelware guitar hero games.
THE PS3 must drop price as their focused market is getting smaller now that blu ray players are 99 bucks. This will significanlty lower ps3 sales.
I own both consoles and love them both, but just out of curiosity how many of those 50M units sold by Microsoft where from the same people buying one or more of the same console to replace RROD and E71 bricked units?? For whatever reason, I for one have bought 3 so far and not because I think it is a superior console but only because I like it. On the other hand, my one PS3 is still holding strong and I think it is by far a lot better value and console for my money. I do agree that PS3 needs a price cut to increase install base but I hardly believe those sales number are no where near accurate. Just my 2 cents!!!
YES!!! More dev need to treat Sony like then maybe everyone can win.
I'm not a huge fan of Activision (and their recent trend of keeping a constant stream of sequels coming is kinda annoying), but I do think they have a point. The PS3 is over priced as a gaming console, and that's probably a good part of the reason why they have a smaller market share than the other systems. I certainly would not be willing to spend that kind of cash on a PS3 (especially not now) all things considered (fortunately, I received a PS3 as a gift quite some time ago). I'm really interested in the PSP and want to grab one, but it's just too expensive and there aren't enough games or anything going for it to make it worth the money. A good price drop would convince me to buy.
Although the threat is most likely empty and wont be followed up upon, Sony might want to take the advice anyways. And if Activision DOES actually dump the PS3/PSP, it'd be a huge hit to Sony all things considered. Even if you put aside the amount of games Activision may bring to the systems, just the press would hurt (bad press isn't always better than no press...).
If some other company comes in and makes the same 'threat', Sony would be in big touble I'd imagine...
The thing is, Activision has Blizzard now. They have WoW, soon to be SC2 and Diablo 3 to fall back on. Not to mention the next-gen MMO being produced that will transition all of WoW's player base into it. Activision is going nowhere, while you have to sort of worry about Sony, they always cater to the expensive crowd, and now is just not a good time. They keep posting record losses, while ATVI is posting record profits. Sorry Sony, but ATVI has the upper hand right now. Whilst the threat is obviously idle, the point is that Sony needs to get the ball moving if it wants to compete.
Is it just me, or is it every time we hear from Kotick he is only talking about something that makes him more money? He obviously doesn't care about the gamers, and now he is starting to take on the console manufacturers. '
Although, this also sounds like an empty threat to me, Kotick is giving Sony until 2011 to drop the price, which if the PS3 doesn't get a price drop this Christmas I would be highly surprised.
Die Sony! woo!
*looks out for fanbois*
I'm still baffled that people complain about the price of the PS3?! It has WiFi, rechargeable controllers, and Blu Ray - it's not to be compared with a base model Xbox 360, or even an Elite. It HAS MORE STUFF. It's a more features for the money.
Compare Apples to Apples!
80GB PS3, Wifi, rechargeable controllers, PSN, Blu Ray player - $399.00
60GB Xbox 360, Play & Charge Kit, Cheapest knock-off BR player ($99 wal mart), WiFi Attachment - $493.97
The PS3 is $94.97 CHEAPER than the closest Xbox, and that's not even retail - those are Amazon prices!!! How the F can people still be complaining?
how about dell.com with 15% off coupon code 65G7RQ11J?M2LH
Xbox 360 $254.99 free shipping. wi-fi is OPTIONAL
PS3 $339.15 with free shipping
Sony will drop the price eventually, probably by the holiday season, then this greedy tool, will believe he had something to do with it. If he would have said this when the console launched, I'd give a nod for his giant brass ones, but saying this when it's likely to happen is just an ego trip.
What a shity software partner.
Activison should drop prices on its game "peripherals" first. We all know that Sony sells its hardware at a LOSS where as Activision sells them for a HUGE margin. IF Activision wanst more of its software to sell they should drop the price.
How about $49.99 for a game with a peripheral. Nintendo has been doing it not only successfully but at a PROFIT.
You guys are really silly. Look at the facts and not your opinions. Activision is in the BUSINESS of making games. Now obviously the more consoles sold equals a higher installed user base which in turn means the potential for more games to be sold. Which is how Activision makes $$MONEY$$. They just said they payed SONY $500million in royalties. Now how would they be able to pay SONY that much money if they werent selling any games?
Need an example of how this works. Look at the Super Bowl, aka the highest ratings numbers of any televised event annualy. Do you think anybody would pay the exhorbitant prices to advertise during the super bowl if they thought noone would watch their commercials? of course not. But thats not an issue to them becuase the installed user base of people owning televisions in the united states is ridiculously high, so even if a fraction of all those people watched the super bowl thats potential revenue from someone seeing a product and wanting to go out and buy it. Thats how BUSINESS works.
So if SONY isnt selling systems, then People arent buying games for a system that they dont own. Regardless of your opinion of SONY's system the sale figures dont lie and theres noone here who can deny why those sale figures are as such. Consumers arent buying the PS3 as readily as the Wii or Xbox 360 because of its price, nuff said.
So while I agree that Activision wouldnt go cold turkey on SONY and stop making PS3 games. Im pretty sure their support for the system in regards to crossplatform games, exclusives and DLC would be far less than if they felt SONY was making smarter decisions in regards to the sale of their console. Quite frankly i am totally in agreement with this move by Activison, someone really needs to get SONY off of their high horse. When something doesnt work you either fix it or abandon it. But Sony is trying to have their cake and eat it too. The PS3 price cut rumor is almost starting to enter into the Duke Nukem Forever territory as far as feesability. Who knows mebbe if 3dRealms had actually come through and released Duke after all these years they might still be around today. I'd hate to have the same conversation in a year or two with SONY and the PS3 price cut in place of 3dRealms and Duke Nukem Forever.
Here i go again, its ok to pay $489 for a kindle or maybe its ok to pay $600 for an iphone, but a console that does way more shit for you for $400? Thats overpriced for sure!!! Go sony drop the price already so all those who complain about it be happy.
Side note: They still wont buy the console even for $1
I sure as hell am NOT going to buy a kindle...at all. I'd rather buy the hard copy of the book and read that. Kindle costs incredibly too much and does incredibly too little. I don't care what the cost of the components are, it's not worth it to me.
I want to buy an iPhone, though am unable to do so for several reasons (it's on AT&T, I'm on Verizon, it costs more than I'm willing to pay, etc). After apple releases an equivalent to the iPhone for the Verizon network and at a more affordable price, I'll buy one.
The thing is, all this pricing stuff is all about the psychology behind it. If users can see other game systems for $200, they'll view another game system that costs $400 as too expensive. It doesn't matter if the other system has more to offer, or is supposedly better. Same thing goes with computers and phones and everything else out there. People compare prices to other things they know and are comfortable. If it's more expensive they will thing it's too expensive.
The only real exceptions to this are 'status' items - for example not many are going to complain about the price of a Ferrarri, it's a status icon, the money is 'worth it'. Same goes for other similar things (people were willing to pay exorbinant prices for cell phones when they first came out b/c of their 'status', same went/goes for smart phones).
The fact is, other game systems that are considered 'competitors' (as opposed to from a different tier like comparing a Ford to a Ferrarri) are selling their products for considerably less. Because of this, the consumer compares the two and says that Sony is selling for too much. It doesn't matter that Sony has blue rary in their system (and having rechargable batteries on the PS3 without any other option IMO is a pain - I always forget to charge mine and then have to play with it plugged in with that fkn short cord. I have the recharge packs for my XBOX360, but at least if I forget to charge and the pack dies, I can plug in regular AA's until the pack recharges) - the average consumer will not take the fact into account. That said, I'm not willing to pay the price of a PS3 just to get my game system to come with a blue ray player with it -_-
@Gilberto $1 is just too much for a blu-ray player with No games... they'll still complain no doubt.
I could care less bout Activition, GH series are shit and boring, COD4 was fun and MW2 will be .. but other than that all the generic crap is.... uhm... crap?
Any upcoming game for the ps3 looks way better... from sony and other devs..
When did it become a necessity to buy a video game console? The PS3 is a luxury, if you can afford it great, if you cannot do not buy one! Sony, don't fall for Obamnomics and be forced to sell your amazing system for a lot less than it is worth.
I brought X:Men Origins: Wolverine and I brought Prototype and I gotta say, very disappointed with these titles. Both could have been better. Wolverine could have had less bugs and, IMO, Prototype could have done SO much better on the PS3 (I liked how inFamous used the L3 button to help me look for shards)
They are so lucky to have fans of comics and comic based movies that will buy their games regardless of how crap they make them. The next Activision game I'll be purchasing will be Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 and if that turns out to be crap (like bugged out and co-op not as functional or fun as described), I'm going to stop buying Activision games completely.
Also, DJ Hero will suck. I hope Scratch does better. Ultimately though, Beatmania shall continue it's rule. It's a fact. When will anyone ever see a Activision game at an arcade? I haven't. Have you?
Any how, Activision can whine all they want. But I would like for them to disappear until they develop something solid.
I think its BS either way, no one is ditching anyone, and yes they both make cheap shit, but sony has the edge. It's a multimedia behemoth that is a blu-ray player, internet device and gaming system in one, I can remember when I got my first gaming system, Sega Genesis...I feel old now. But anyways, to see a system that is basically a barebones computer without a monitor or sound system, its pretty damn impressive. Only reason why I'd go with an Xbox is for Left 4 Dead, and I'm sure I'd get bored as shit with the game because of the fact that Microsoft charges $50 a year for their online program, which doesn't work properly half the time and bumps you out of online games because no one's unit can keep up with the ping commands, I'm not spending $200 on a console, $40 on a game, $30-75 on an extra controller, and then another $50 a year to pay for online shit. Not when I can get a PS3 for $350, an extra controller for $50 and a game or two for $30-50 each. Add the fact that I can play DVDs and my old PS2 games on it (if I search out an old school one) and still not get RROD'd, then fuck, that's the clear winner right there.
First, I think that this is just a threat by Activision to get Sony to lower royalties. They probably don't want to leave Sony and they are trying to bully them so that they (Activision) can make more money.
The thing you have to remember is how much activision has to pay sony to release games on the PS3, not just how many games are sold. Sony has the lowest overall install base (which in this case, overall install base is what matters...not just Europe as someone mentioned a few pages back). With this lower install base, multiplatform game sales are lower on the ps3 than on the 360....for example, UFC sold over 600k units on the 360 last month while selling only close to 400k units on the PS3. Which in itself is good, nothing really to complain about. But if you look at royalties (and this is all hypothetical) lets say that 10% of the money made on the 360's copies went to royalties, and 25% of the ps3 copies sold went to royalties. then you combine that royalty payment, with the fact that you are selling about a 3rd less on each multiplatform game (which is about the real difference in multiplatform game sale on those 2 consoles), and the cost of development when it comes to porting or developing a ps3 game. then you are making less profit. and it can possibly get to a point where cutting out development of a PS3 version of some games would save Activision money...especially those games that dont sell in the millions across the board.
The only way Activision can make more money with Sony is for them to sell more units, or lower fee's. the only way Sony is going to sell more PS3's on a month to month basis is by lowing the price.....yea Sony has bluray and wifi out of the box and people like to always bring that up when they are defending Sony....and yes that is nice, but the majority of console buyers don't care about that stuff...
Lets be honest, Blray hasn't exactly "taken off" to where it matters that there is a bluray drive. and WiFi isn't a system seller guys...let be real. yea its nice that the PS3 has it built in, but that isnt enough to sway a gamer from one side to the other. Many console owners on both sides don't even connect their consoles to the internet...probably over half don't...and you have to think that less than the half that do probably don't even know how to set up the WiFi portion to make that connection. I kindof compare it to cars that has the donut as a spare vrs cars that has a real 5th tire as a spare. yea the real 5th tire is nice but it isn't a car buyers decision changer, and its definitely not enough to justify making a car more expensive if you can be just fine with a donut.
Its hard to say how I feel about this. I see Activisions side, and to be honest, they shouldn't have to pay more to release games on the lowest selling console, that makes no sense. but at the same time, Sony probably cant afford to drop the price on the PS3 right now (which they do need to do) they packed so much aurguably unnesesary stuff in the ps3 that they probably dont have as much room to play with price as say Nintendo or Microsoft and they probably know that they cant win in a price war with the 360....lets be honest, everything on the 360 is overpriced...120 gig HDDs for almost $200 bucks, Wifi for $100 bucks...Microsoft has a lot of room to play with. Sony has to be smart.
My thoughts on this are that they didnt say "we will no longer support ps3/psp if you dont drop the price"
More than likely the discussion was more ... "without a price drop, and signficantly increased unit sales, there is no way you can bribe us to do exclusive titles, or even exclusive content for your platforms.. it just doesn't make business sense to dump those resources into PS3 or PSP with alternatives for exclusives in the Wii 360 and DS"
In other words, no matter how much sony is offering them for an exclusive of any type .. the reduced unit sales mean it makes more sense to target 360/wii as primary platform and backport to the sony platforms.
Ron Popeil owns Activision?
You guys complaining about the price of the PS3 are just whinny bitches that can't afford one. Either buy one, or don't. If its too much and blah blah blah, you just can't afford it. Period.
If a built in blu-ray player, dvd upscaler, wifi, 80gigs, multiple USB ports, rechargeable controllers, free online gaming, backwards compatibility, and works like it should (360s clearly don't) out of the box isn't worth 400 then I don't know what is.
Bobby Kotick, aka Opie Cunningham, can kiss my ass. The comment in this article was right: '...with games like Guitar Hero, DJ Hero and Tony Hawk now demanding the purchase of peripherals along with the game itself, Activision itself could certainly be doing more to make gaming cheaper on consumers...'
I personally haven't bought any of those games due to the high buy-in cost and sure as hell won't when their CEO says dumb things like this. Their ridiculous pricing is worse than dropping the PS3 $100 since, if you wanted to buy all three sets of accessories for those titles, it would add up to way more than $100.
LOL I wonder if anyone will get my Opie Cunningham comment :-P
How about some compatibility with the original guitar hero's with the newer controllers...and maybe some bluetooth enabled guitar controllers instead of a damn dongle....Activision can go f**k themselves...I'm gonna show support for Scratch instead of DJ Hero.
Sony PS3 = Luxury Item - If You Can't Afford It, You Don't Need It.
As Fresh and many others has pointed out - "Built in blu-ray player, dvd upscaler, wifi, 80gigs, multiple USB ports, rechargeable controllers, Free Online Gaming, backwards compatibility"
If you just want a Gaming Console, fine, Buy a XB360 and save up for the next 2-3 you'll have to buy to replace the first one!?!?! Funny how people complaining about the PS3 costs, have no problem Paying More for Xbox Replacements?!?!?
I've had my PS3 since December 2006!
I've had to replace my original Xbox 3 times!?!?! I had to pursue Xbox/MS on the warranty issue as they thought they were going to charge me each time, Fail...
Activision is the new EA... only more expensive.
Why are you guys so aggressive at Jon? Sure, he doesn't have a job experience but don't bitch as if he is going to fail life. Seriously, keep your cool guys because most of you probably don't have a single scholarship to a university. Some of the stuff you guys said was respectable and true though.
I only have two volunteer experience when I was in high school. After graduation from college with full scholarship, I received 4 job offers from tech companies. That was 3 years ago. Some of guys who posted shouldn't even comment.
As for you Jon, don't bring this attitude to a job. You will only see trouble. I would recommend you to get a job while in college. Find work and grab an honest life seriously. This is a hard thing because I had seen friends who thought they had it all but in reality they don't.
What some of you SPEC-tards out there need to realize when comparing systems isnt whats inside the box, but whos buying whats inside the box. This is a site about Tech and tech related news. Which is why we all come here. The thing is that im pretty sure a very large portion of people who have PS3's, XBOX 360's and Wii's right now got them as gifts from : MOM, DAD, Grandma, Grandpa, Wifey, Hubby, etc. So while you and i can sit here and trade specs in between prepubescent insults and comments that look more like a college thesis. When any one of the aforementioned individuals walks into their local electronics superstore or toy store. I can almost guarantee you they're conversations with store employees is nothing like the tech psychobabble we spew here on a regular basis. Mom and Dad are just concerned with getting you what you want or the closest thing to it without breaking the bank. Granny and Grandpa have serious memory issues and dont know WiFi or Blu-Ray from waffles and blueberries. Then theres Wifey and Hubby who just try their best to get whatever their told to so as to not get a frying pan to the head or a stress related migraine.
The thing that all of these people have in common is that they want the easiest road to redemption. They want to go in the store, grab the box, pay for it and get out. They've probably spent months prior listening to the gift receiver drill a never ending tirade reciting half the crap we say here on these message boards without the slightest of interest in whats being said and feeling even less inclined to commit it to memory.
The point being that ultimately it doesnt mean a damn thing about whats in the box but whos laying down the benjamins on it and do they feel that its worth their money or do they even know what their buying. These are called consumers. No company is ever gonna care what you want inside your dream product if your not willing to plunk down the cash to buy it. They only add all these SPECS and labels to appease the OCD masses that are us but in actuality they are targetting the dumbest person with the most money to spend. But in our current economy and just in general people like to get a bargain. Im sorry but i dont care what the PS3 does vs the XBOX 360 if they both play the same games the same way and one of them cost half as much. Then as a MOM or DAD i dont care what my non-income contributing child wants, they get the cheaper one. Granny and Grandpa are living off their retirement checks and dont have much to spend but wanna get you the best of what they can afford. one again im gonna go with the one that does the same thing for less money.
Trust me sit there and argue with someone whos getting you a console as a gift and see how far you can get trying to convince them that BLU-Ray is pivotal to your purchase because it displays the same movies that you can already watch on standard def DVDs at a higher resolution which would also therefore require you to buy a compatible television in addition to the purchase of said console to even take advantage of the amazing Hi-REZedness. The convo might go something like this:
You: "but MOOOOOOOOM i need the bluray cuz its got super high rez graphics and makes the screen practically pop out at you blah blah blah."
Mom: But you said they both play the same games right?
You: Yeah...
Mom: and they both play DVD's right?
You:Yeah...
Mom:and one of them costs half as much as the other one?
You:yeah..
Mom: XBOX it is!
Hell yes! The only way my dad will get me one of these is if the price drops and the return investment is worth the price. Which it already is but of course we are Indian and cheapness runs through our veins
A clever move on their part! sony should see the benefit too. i.e. more sales, more popular, and maybe even sharing one of the 360's strong points. the price.
its a bit too obvious the microsoft paid them to say this BS. Look at what PS3 features, free internet, wireless controller (rechargable), support for cancer (folding @ home/ life with playstation) and many more. What's psp also gotta do with this. What they're trying to say is buy an xbox 360 or wii and leave out the ps3. Go play with your microsoft friends and one day you will really regret you even posted this comment activision
Whatever is is that your making, if it's costing you $100 and it's being sold for $99. Even though you made that $100, you lost $1, and multiply that buy thousands, and it adds up. Your still in the RED. It costs a lot of money to make games this generation, and if the PS3 is hard to develop for and Sony's support is pretty weak, and it's costing you millions to make that PS3 game, and it doesn't even sell Half of what it does on the 360 or PC, why would you keep throwing good money after bad? That sounds like the government. Company's are here to make MONEY, if Not making PS3 games saves you all that money, you can spend your effort at where your actually making your money, the 360, PC and Wii. Your no longer bleeding money from the PS3.
Lower the price of the PS3, more people buy them, and more copy's of Activision games get sold and they get into the Black once again. The fact of the matter is, the 360 has far more games sold per console them the PS3. Far more 360 games have sold over a Million copy's then the PS3. Get more PS3's in the marketplace, and the shear numbers alone will get more games sold even with low game attach rates. That's not going to happen without a price drop. One rumor after the next on when the Next price drop is going to happen. I just don't think it'll be any time soon. Sony is still bleeding money in the Entertainment division. If it wasn't for the PS2, Sony would really be hurting. Something needs to happen before the PS3 turns into the Dreamcast. The PS3 doesn't even have the cheapest Blu-Ray player going for it anymore or the Best Picture. Many Stand alone players beat it hands down in both Categories from reviews at many different places. Saying the PS3 is the Best Blu-Ray player these days is showing your just a huge fanboy!!! If you want to play games ALSO, it may be the way to go, but it's not the BEST.
Sony has 3 Choices with the PS3, #1 Drop the price, bleed money even faster in the hope of more game sales, and the hope of more games sold per console so Sony can make they're money back on each console and then some. Keep the price the same for far longer and hope sales will pick up at some point and more games get sold per console. #3 Drop the PS3 and call it a failure.
Ads for the PS3 are far and few between. Developer support is weak. This has been told by quite a few Developers for quite some time now. Activision has to be pretty serious to say something like this since they are a PUBLIC traded company with Investors to think about. I don't think it's a idle threat at all. No matter what you people think around here, the loss of Activision on the PS3 would be HUGE! The loss of one Studio on HD DVD moving to Blu-Ray only killed HD DVD!!! Activision makes a lot of different games, and no matter what you think of Guitar Hero and others, those are the games that SELL to the Mainstream Gamers, The Gamers the Wii has been selling to in huge Numbers. If you can't buy those games on the PS3, they can just as easily play them on the 360 and Wii. Doesn't matter how much better you think the PS3 is. Games sell the console, not the other way around. Now stick your head in the sand and flame away and call me a fanboy, whatever. I want to PS3 to succeed, Competition is better for everyone all around. After all, if it wasn't for the PS3, the 360 wouldn't be as good as it is, MS would be sitting on there a** and not making it even better many times over. The longer the PS3 is around, the better for me and every other current and future 360 & Wii owner. Activision would be a HUGE loss on any console.