Activision: Food and Fuel Could Drive Down Console Prices

In a world of financial recession, we here at SPOnG like the kind of perspective supplied by high-flying executives with their eyes on the prize going forward 24/7 out the box. So, when Activision's chief executive, Bobby Kotick, said that economic pressure on consumers - such as the prices of eating and living - may force console manufacturers to reduce their prices, we listened up.

"With the rising costs of fuel and food and housing, it is more difficult to go out and buy a $399 (£200) console, and I think it's going to put pressure on the console manufacturers to reduce their prices", Kotick said.

For "console manufacturers" you can read "Sony and Microsoft", since the Wii carries a recommended retail price of $249.99 (£125.85).

Back in November Kotick said that the PS3 and Xbox 360 need to be down to $199 (£100) within two years. They have 19 months to go. SPOnG can't help but feel that Kotick is willfully disregarding the economics of hardware manufacturing, but we admire his sunny optimism.

Kotick also expressed concern that Electronic Arts' attempted takeover of Take Two will produce a monopoly on the sports genre. "That's concerning, sure. When you think about one company in control of the sports category, with no competition from anybody else, that could be a challenge", Kotick said.

It's not currently much of a challenge for Activision, however, since the only two franchises it currently produces that can be classed as 'sports' is the Tony Hawk series and its freshly announced Little League World Series 2008. The first series' title tells us Activision already has the biggest license going in that field.

It could be more of a problem, however, if Activision is hoping to break further into the wider sports category in the near future... Does EA or Take Two hold the official license for curling?

Kotick makes no mention of the fact that an EA takeover of Take Two could stop the recently EU-approved Activision Blizzard merger from grabbing the new company the title of 'world's biggest third-party games publisher'...

^{Source: Reuters}