OK, I actually went and read the article, and here are some complaints I have.
1) Activision is whining and crying about Sony and yet they"havea market value of $16 billion (£10 billion) and operating profits of $179 million in the first quarter on sales of $981 million." This compared to Sony who is losing money on every console sold, and whose games division is losing money? So, Sony should lose even MORE money to appease Activision's insatiable greed? F them.
2) Activision has now overtaken EA. Considering the massive amount of money they make selling $100 - $200 games (with even MORE on the way out), as well as World of Warcraft money, it isn't surprising. People complained about a new Madden every year? Hell, how about releasing a new $200 Guitar Hero every bloody year. It is also no surprise that Activision has now official overtaken EA in terms of being d!cks too.
3) Games generate a better return on other consoles? Of course they do because they are cheaper to develop for and have a larger user base. But where was this complaining last gen? I don't remember hearing them complain about the user base of the Xbox compared to the PS2. Makes his complaining sounds more personal towards SOny than actual business. And what happens when the PS3 does drop in price...which is inevitable...and IF that causes sales to take off? Will Activision thank Sony, or do they only shoot their mouth off when not getting their way?
4) "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". Uhmmm....since attach rates are an average of the TOTAL consoles sold divided by the average of TOTAL games sold...selling LESS consoles would actually IMPROVE an attach rate. The opposite is also true...having a spike in console sales will result in the attach rate dropping because you are adding a whole new group of consumers who will only have one or two games.
5) When will they drop support? He says when they look at 2010 or 2011, they MAY want to look at whether or not they continue supporting the console. So in other words, in a year or two they may start thinking about actually doing it. In short, this is BS and they aren't goign to stop supporting the console. They are shooting their mouth off to try and cut down Sony in the media and essentially bully them into dropping the PS3s price...which we all know is coming this year anyway. In short, ACtivision is being a jerk.
6) A promo for all the expensive peripheral based games coming out this year? Gee, I wonder if this has anything to do with why they are complaining about Sony? Do they really expect every one of these $100+ games to sell like Guitar Hero or Rock Band? Doubtful...and yet they invested millions in making and shipping all these massive games which stores are going to hate for all the space the suck up. But hey, if you can bully people into a price war before Christmas, surely people will be more encouraged to buy more consoles and games!
7) THen what is the deal with AFTER talking about how Tony Hawk's peripheral works, they say such an interface would be ideal for SOny? Seriously, I have no idea what that means or what it has to do with ANYTHING. We already know SOny is getting the TOny Hawk game. Why would a skateboard peripheral be IDEAL for a consoles sales or success? It only works for one single game...it has no impact on total console or game sales.
I am inclined to agree with his overall basic point. Sony is in last place and losing money so they realy need to sell more consoles and games. But to see this article NOW, after a stellar E3 where Sony impressed a TON of people and media and critics? To hear him complain NOW after we've seen the crapload of amazing looking EXCLUSIVE titles SOny has coming out in the next year? And it is just WEAK for him to complain while he is sitting on a pile of cash and SOny is bleeding money. Or for him to say Sony NEEDS a skateboard peripheral? It makes NO SENSE.
The way I see it, Activision has invested so much money into all these new expensive games bundled with peripherals and are only NOW starting to wonder if that was a smart move. They are watering down and flooding their own market. I think they are concerned they've bitten off more than they can chew and are just looking for pre-emptive excuses. "Gee, we would have made more money on all these $200 games if SOny would have dropped the PS3 price, forcing a price war, and therefore we could have sold more copies. It's Sony's fault...not ours for thinking we could release 6 peripheral based $100 - $200 games."
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