Reasonable said:
I may be misreading you post - but to lose 100% of the cost then the cost of the PS3 version would have to exactly match the 360 - i.e. if the title cost $10M then it cost another $10M on PS3. This is extremely unlikely. Ages ago Ubisoft, for example, were citing releasing on 360/PS3 as having an approx 10% overhead on development - i.e. if the game cost $10M then you could take the view it would cost another $100K to get a PS3 version. They would save the money of the PS3 developtment ..That's what I meant...And yes the company does count sales across all platforms it releases..But if no money goes into a PS3 version of a game...then there is no money or sales lost....If they where to not release a COD game on PS3 they upset the fans..But would not lose any invested capital From what he said it seems the PS3 does not meet their return expectations I was talking about sales revenue. A large company has to be profitable, it also has to be large - i.e. they would lose sales units and sales revenue if they didn't support PS3. I understand...But in a scenario where no investment capitol used and no localizing is done for a PS3 version it would not make them less profitable....Since the profits is something the CEO is saying is a problem on the PS3...I also understand that they would lose possible sales to a proven consumer base on the PS3...But as I said before with no investment come no exepectations...It would actually increase their profit per invested capitol if they only released certain games on the Xbox 360...since overall lower dev cost and distributing cost would see them getting an increase in profit margin Don't be fooled by looking at very old releases, look at something like Wolverine or Prototype. The PS3 sales units aren't far behind 360. Without PS3 version those titles weren't going to suddenly sell more anywhere else (360, PC, etc). So Activision lose those sales and associated revenue and profits. In the case of games like Xmen i see what you mean.....It would of been nice to have seen InFamorus vs Prototype in a exclusive sales battle...For converstaion sake...Maybe Prototype brings in the change they are looking for. What some are arguing is this makes sense, as they could be more profitable - which is true. However they then would likely lose their position as the largest publisher right now as that also depends on size - sales volume. I personally feel it's an empty threat and as you said before they might be trying to work an angle on Sony..I don't how they would lose their Position due to the xbox 360 being over 30 mil...and just look at EA. With their whole "360 Maxed out" thing....To me it came of as a part of a "Get moar PS3 owners to buy our games" stratergy...Yet Madden 10 is only advertized for the Xbox 360...Weird Therefore I doubt they'd drop PS3 unless they were making a loss on recent games, which I doubt because: a) I doubt having Wolverine, Prototype and recent games on PS3 cost double development of just having them on 360 - I find it hard to believe it added more than 20% max to the development cost I have no Idea if it did or did not....but his statements were post the releases of these game... b) I doubt Sony royalties are that high they can't make a profit off the PS3 sales of Wolverine, Prototype, etc. If they were then Sony would have to adjust them as it needs profitable developers working on the platform (BTW I think the royalties is the real issue for Activition here so do I ) Do they have to pay royalties to Sony for using teh Blu-ray format? c) I don't believe they want to lose the volume of sales they've seeing on PS3 for most decent titles at the moment This kinda brings us back to square one d) I don't believe they want to limit themselves to US (even though arguably most of their titles do best there) as I believe they want to remain biggest if they can and they'd be hadning EA, etc. an easy weakness to exploit if they stopped supporting a platform that can sell more units of games in Others and Japan In the case of "Others" They would do the Xbox 360 a favor and force fans of their games not buying for 360 to consider getting one...It seems that with the size of Activision and EA that they felt they needed to add their two cents in the console war e) I don't believe it! I can't believe it's not butter
Basically, I don't believe they're trying to do anything other than get their royalty payments adjusted and try and actually grow PS3 install base. Frankly, I'm amazed that, looking just at sales split of Wolverine and Prototype, and with the iminent hugeness of MW2, anyone thinks they would seriously drop support. The only valid justification would be the PS3 platform dying, and again I just believe we're past the point of that happening. There are too many titles coming that are big exclusives over next 12 months, and very probably a price drop, for PS3 to suddenly collapse in the 2010, etc. timeframes Activision cite. It does seem a bit outlandish and if you read between the lines the royalties things is most problable... |
