Sir Howard Stringer, Sony's CEO, is an actual knight, and he ended his jousting tournament early recently to talk to Reuters about Activision head (and commoner) Bobby Kotick's call for a price cut for the PlayStation 3.
As you may know, Kotick has lately become very serious about Sony cutting the price of the PlayStation 3, going as far as saying Activision might drop the console altogether if the price isn't cut. "If we are being realistic, we might have to stop supporting Sony," Kotick said. "When we look at 2010 and 2011, we might want to consider if we support the console — and the PSP too.”
Stringer responded by basically calling Kotick a loudmouth: "He likes to make a lot of noise... He's putting pressure on me and I'm putting pressure on him. That's the nature of business." Oh, snap!
Stringer went on to explain that his company is not going to cut the price of the console because it would lose money on each unit sold if it did.
Reuters went on to inquire about rumors that Sony was thinking of selling off some assets. That, too, is not true, according to Stringer. "We're learning to fuse content and hardware. This wouldn't be a time to get rid of either," he said.
This back-and-forth between Kotick and Stringer is unlikely to end in an exciting duel to the death, but it does raise some interesting questions, which I will answer for you because I am a great genius.
- Is Kotick going to make good on his company's threat to not develop games for the PlayStation 3? I seriously doubt it, but if it did, the fallout would be enormous and might add up to a death knell for Sony's gaming machines.
- Is Sony going to eventually cave on ceaseless demands to lower the price of its flagship game system? Sure doesn't look like it in the near term, but in the long-term, of course.
- Is Sony going to succeed in fusing content and hardware? Partially, but they'll really need to overhaul the PlayStation Network and the PS3's firmware to accomplish this.
- How funny is all this back and forth to Nintendo, who have discovered the age-old secret to earning endless amounts of money? Very, very funny.
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MahBoiTaarec10
@AJAC09
And charging $50/months and for expensive 1st Party accessories isn't.
JohnnyBuku
As an owner of 2 360s and a Wii i can't justify $400 for yet another console. I CAN however justify $300 for a blu ray player that happens to play games (might even get a couple).
If $ony wants to gain marketshare for both hardware and software than they do need to cut the price - soon.
Zmeeds
pipo, you just did. that's called hipocrisy.
cyjoker187
I love both consoles. Does that make me a non fanboy... fanboy?
snookgum123
I like how he put it !! Rofl Ps3 is good I bought the very first Ps3 when it come out and still running strong even today. So he's absolutely right... Its good that he doesn't give in to xbox whiners tring to buy ps3 on a cheaper scale!
xxsodaboy
Sony may not necessarily NEED a price cut, but it's something they should at least seriously consider.
I'm one of those people who wouldn't mind owning a PS3. Granted, I already own a Blu-Ray player which eliminates any legitimacy in my arguments for buying one with the Missus, but still. There are games on the Playstation 3 I would absolutely love to play. Little Big Planet, MGS4, and God of War III being chief examples.
But I'm an adult. When the time came to choose a new game system, I chose an Xbox 360. Halo 3 and the Gears of War franchise were just too big to ignore. Yeah, there are times when I wish I would have just bought a PS3 instead. For the most part, though, I'm relatively happy with my decision. Eventually I plan on owning both consoles.
That said, I'd own a PS3 a hell of a lot sooner if there were a substantial price cut.
Pipo35
@ all who claim that the PS3 has superior quality; higer quality doesn't matter if you only have 10 good games to play on it. My brother has a 360 and a PS3, and hates the fact that he bought the PS3, due to the lack of titles. stop fanboying, its kinda old
nvserg
wow, if they do stop making PS3 games, its gonna be all bad. my question is why put pressure on each other, whats the point????? how is Mr. Stringer putting pressure on Activision?
Pipo35
@ MahBoiTaarec10 do you have actual proof that sony is 1/3 of their profit? If they sell more titles to 360 and Wii owners, then no longer developing for sony wouldn't really hurt them all that much
down311
Consoles usually sell at a loss but make it all up in software, thats the point of dropping the price to move more units.
PS3 is awesome and worth the price but millions of people don't care what we think, they won't pay that much.
Zmeeds
if activision wants to make money then should should concentrate on making games that cater to the tastes of us upper class gamers.
ajac09
lol and reasons like this is why sony is in 3rd place. The economy is to shot for expensive game systems. Sony is greedy.
Erthazus
Stringer just said: Kotick, SHUT YOUR MOUTH!
I agree with Stringer. Playstation 3 is a very good piece of hardware and it is not cheap because sony makes only elite QUALITY technology, so no RROD, no technical issues but for that you must pay them money. Besides, Playstation 3 just have 2.5 years and only now it started to push the best games. 12 June 2008 year. since then, Playstation 3 have the BEST lineup.
I hope that Sony will make money out of PS3, because more they make, better quality games we have. Thank you Howard Stringer, i wish you good luck and many years to live. Thank you.
Muscley_Arms
@ T_Rexx, quality doesn't mean anything when that quality can't be used because you bought something of paying the electric bill and rent
MindCarrot
Sony does not need a price cut. All the specs of the PS3 more then make up for the price tag. Besides they would lose even more money if they did a price cut so people need to just shut up about it.
MahBoiTaarec10
@T_Rexx
Couldn't have said it any better. Sony still has the upper hand with Activsion. That's 1/3 of their profit down the drain if they do. And in this economy, they'll never even try.
Lucifer6972
Hmmm, interesting.
So yeah then, is probably not even inevitable, huh? Well, anytime soon. Oh my goodness, I guess we gotta wait until Sony shows us their hand, until then, we speculate when.
For real, right? Nintendo is like Hugh Hefner and you could see the similarities...they don't have do to nothing, say nothing, and every now and then, they got their crazy parties. Oh come on, I heard what Peach does...LOL!!! :)
Vesipham
For all the people who talk about wanting a PS3, I recommend mowing lawns for money. Worked for me.
T_Rexx
There you go Mr. Stringer, don't be bullied by these loud mouths,
stand your ground and not be pressured until u see fit.
As a PS3 owner we are behind you... if you want quality then pay for it, and not degrade the system to a cheap price cut similar to the Wii and inferior 360.
Quality is Quality.
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