Activision Threatens the PS3

I just read a news brief over at GameInformer.com, that said that Activision "might have to stop supporting Sony." Nothing has been decided as of now, and they won't pull support for games coming out this year, but its not good news for the Playstation crew.

Activision's CEO Bobby Kotick was the source of the comments. With the words coming from the highest echelons of the company, you know these rumors are serious. He said that the PS3 is very costly to develop for, and that they just aren't getting a big enough return on their investments. The 360 and Wii, he said, make for much higher profits, and it sounds like they are easier to develop for.

This is certainly not the start of problems for Sony, and it won't be the end either. The PS3 has consistently sold worse than XBox 360 and Wii since its launch, so the installed base of PS3 users is far smaller than for the other systems. Which in turn means that fewer copies of software are sold for the system, the problem for Kotick and Activision.

If Activision does pull out, Sony will be losing some big franchises and some top developers. The biggest losses will no doubt be the Call of Duty franchise and the Guitar Hero franchise, both of which sell millions of copies every year. But PS3 will also lose the Tony Hawk series, the James Bond games from Treyarch, and the talents of Raven Software (Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Wolfenstein, Singularity) and Radical Entertainment (Prototype) among others.

As a 360 owner, I have to say I have mixed feelings about this news. When I hear bad news about PS3, it always makes me feel somewhat validated, that I made the right choice when buying my console. But I also feel bad for all those PS3 owners that wouldn't be getting the quality games they love. As a fan of gaming in general, I think it'd be bad to lose out on these versions.

But I'm skeptical that this split will every actually happen. Activision may not get as high a return on PS3 versions, but they do still get a return on their big franchises, like Call of Duty. At the most, I think they might not do Sony releases for the smaller, lesser-known titles.

And there's the possibility that PS3 will start selling better, so they won't need to worry about failing Activision. With God of War 3 coming out this year, I expect sales will see another spike. I doubt they will ever catch up to 360, but Kratos will help.

Either way, PS3 needs to pick up the pace. The "10-year cycle" only works if developers keep supporting the systems.

- Scott