@jcp and nj5: the question though is what other platforms would they put their investments towards that have higher ROI? On a big game, publishers spend $25-30mm on dev costs, $30mm marketing, and maybe $30mm inventory build (although the last is just a working cap issue), so after that point whether a game is breakeven or not and whether it is a "hit" or not is largely driven by how many units they sell (this is the video game business model). Yes they have to pay SNE some royalties but that's a variable cost. If they spend $60mm developing and marketing an FPS for example, other than 360 or PC where are they going to be able to sell the game at a premium $60 ASP? Wii premium pricing at $50 which doesnt hurt, but ATVI would never abandon potential sales to the PS3 install base unless MSFT or Nintendo was paying them for the exclusivity to make them whole or the incremental dev costs to port the game to PS3 wouldn't justify expected PS3 unit sales + royalties. I don't know for sure but my guess is that dev for PS3 and 360 is more similar than 360 and Wii given Wii's more limited hardware. this is why it doesnt make sense for bobby to leave ps3 - bc he is in the business of making money, not bc he can't

Can you say that's the case for sure? I don't know how many people are involved in porting a game, but if you put all of them together you could probably make one or two full development teams at most. That would hardly oversaturate the 360 or the Wii if they so chose.

Ignoring the PS3 would also result in faster software releases.

As I said before, I highly doubt they'd stop porting the COD and GH games, but everything else is not so certain.

Well take a look at GH.
It's already on every platforms and is already getting way too many releases.
So where do you redirect the investment if you leave the PS3 ?
Only way is a new game which goes against their policy of few blockbusters franchises...

Not to mention the fact that EA would be jumping from joy if Activision let the field free for Rock Band...

That's a good question, and we can't really answer it without having more information... However, if the information gebx posted before is accurate (with the average sold copies for Activision's 360 and PS3 games), maybe they could put their porting teams working on a few 360 games? Or they could make a few trials on the Wii that they may not have enough staff for now...

i also think ppl forgetting the motivation for bobby trying to drive down ps3 costs.. its not like he saves any money directly from ps3 being cheaper, it just expands the install base faster to drive more software unit sales... clearly he wants the ps3 to be successful from a unit perspective, he just doesn't care of sne makes any profit on it

And is there any evidence to suggest that the new game would rake in more money that CoD on the Ps3 which has sold over 4 million?

I never said it was gloom and doom for Sony. I would like for Sony to stay in the competition; however, you are not aware of Activision's business model.

The company may be able to produce a greater return on investment by reallocating funds from Sony platforms to other areas. My point is, it's not as black and white as some "overly enthusiastic" playstation fans make it seem.

I just think it's funny that some posters challenge the business competence of a CEO. lol When it seems most do not have a solid understanding of how businesses actually work.

The goal of a company is profit maximization...Sure, Activision makes money from its Sony platform projects, but who is to say Activision cannot make more money from investing those resources to other platforms? and projects?

If Activision believes it can achieve a sustainable greater return on investments by abandoning Sony platforms....what basis does anyone on these boards have to question it? Unless they are a member of the company.....which I doubt

i think the cost of developing a new game are significantly higher than porting costs, though i don't have any #'s behind it.  just thinking about the major costs (creating the storyline, artwork, sounds, game engine, etc) i feel like porting is a small part of the mix vs the rest. 

Thebest they'd be able to do is make a new game for the 360. And that would probablly cost more than a Ps3 version of a CoD game. And do you think they think they can sell more copies of a new game on the 360 then a Ps3 version of CoD?

Anyone remember how the Dreamcast died? EA did not support them. Activision not supporting the PS3 is a massive, and potentially fatal, blow to Sony.