From DailyTech: The video game industry is feeling the burn of the poor economy as game sales and console sales are slowing for some companies. A few smaller game developers have been forced out of business altogether and many in the game industry are calling on Sony to cut the price of its PS3 console. Sony maintains that there is no price cut coming for the PS3 console. Sony says it can't cut the price of a console that is a money loser already when it posted a massive $1 billion loss in its last quarterly earnings report. The fact that Sony is on shaky ground financially has not stopped Activision CEO Bobby Kotick from calling on Sony for PS3 price cuts and even saying that his company's support the console may stop if price cuts aren’t made. Kotick said in an interview, "It's expensive to develop for the console, and the [Nintendo] Wii and the Xbox are just selling better. Games generate a better return on invested capital on the Xbox than on the PlayStation." Kotick says that in the 2010 or 2011 time frame if no price cuts are offered on the PS3 Activision may have to reconsider supporting the platform and the PSP as well. Activision has weight in the market as the world's largest independent developer of video games with a market value of $16 billion. Sony issued a statement in response to Kotick's threat, denying the claims of the PS3 losing momentum in the market. The statement said, "We enjoy healthy business relationships with and greatly value our publishing partners and are working closely with them to deliver the best entertainment experience." View: Article @ Source Site |