Activision: PS3 Development Not a Problem

Activision has stated that, while other companies may be struggling to develop for the PlayStation 3, it has no such problem.

Speaking to investors during Activision's earnings conference call for the financial quarter ending 31/12/07, Michael J. Griffith, president & CEO of Activision's Publishing Unit, said:

"What you are seeing with many publishers is they are unable to simultaneously develop and launch on the PS3 and the Xbox 360. Instead, they develop and release one SKU at a time or they simply don't release a PS3 SKU at all. Call of Duty 4 represents the best-in-class next-generation development, making it the number one selling title of all time on the PS3."

"Over the past year, our central technology group has created a proprietary set of tools for next-gen development that has enabled our developers to address the challenging PS3 architecture in efficient ways. Our tools allow us to identify performance bottlenecks in the PS3 and focus our effort in a targeted way to improve performance that would otherwise without these tools simply be a trial-and-error approach."

While Griffith is clearly trying to send out the message that Activision is on top of developing for the PS3, the phrases "challenging PS3 architecture" and "performance bottlenecks in the PS3" still stand out.

Griffith also noted the PS3 as "a technically challenging platform where many continue to struggle".

[Violater]

the remotely negative term would be a standout

[ionace]

Nothing is perfect .. thats my way of looking at it. some of the most difficult things to use make for the best results.

[avacadosnorkel]

with all the extra room on the disc, all PS3 owners get is a couple extra players in multiplayer?

[dude_uk]

dude if u are too dumb to post this sh1t don't even post it...

its not up to disc space (off course thats also a factor)
but its the DEVS THAT CHOSE what to put in each version of the game for the different consoles

[mighty_douche]

Some have problems, some dont, why dont they share??

[Kleptic]

SCE's development empire shares everything in house...and has tools available for free now to third parties (part of the EDGE kit pioneered with Naughty Dog, Insomniac, and Guerrilla)...

that is one reason that all first party stuff looks light years ahead of most 3rd party games...save CoD 4 and UTIII...

not sure how 3rd parties handle it...I guess that is where middleware like UE3 comes in...but pretty much no developers have done good things with that, except for 2k and Epic...

[timmyp53]

Infantry Ward I wonder how easy it is to get help from Sony's ninjas. I always see special thanks to to guerilla games and stuff so I know some struggling developers can get a hand from some 1st party developers If they ask. All i know for sure is whatever they do they have to weane off the ports ASAP.

[DarkSniper]

PLAYSTATION® 3 development hiccups are a thing of the past. The only one to this exception is Electronic Arts. With developers fully recognizing and unleashing the full potential of PLAYSTATION® 3, games will see true next generation graphics and gameplay that is unrivaled on any console. In order for Microsoft's XBOX slaves to receive a portion of what PLAYSTATION® 3 can perform, they will need to wait 1-2 more years when Microsoft abolishes all XBOX 360 support.

The true definition of waiting, Waitbox 360.

$niper

[Dark Sniper]

Dark Sniper actually believes that PS3 has reached its peak in late 2007 with Uncharted. From then on, it was a backwards evolution back to PS2 graphics. XBOX 360 will clearly be the superior next-gen console, in 2008, and on.

$niper

[Hockey11]

actually your retarded because ps3 outsold xbox 360 in 07 which was supposed to be xbox 360's year with GeOW and Halo 3 but guess what your console failed and will continue to fail until it dies. Which is soon

[shysun]

IW is the shiznit!

[ASSASSYN 36o]

The shiznickel.

[kewlkat007]

are created equal, so I do not expect every game to be polished as the next developers.

-1st party Developers get great treatment and support..non-brainer

-3rd Party developers, I'm sure pay full price for kits, have less money, and do not have that strong backing. Especially when communication/support stinks. If your a huge Power House, then we would assume you are capable and well funded.

Nobody is gonna come out and look like a fool saying there incompetent about an architecture or not as polished but there are other factors gamers never get to know about.

[fenderputty]

Not in the case of EA.

[kewlkat007]

the Games EA comes brings out. Is it them or Talented devs, they keep in their basement.

If we can only praise 4-5 devs that work on PS3 games this Gen then Sony will have problems.

so being Happy about 5 Devs that do get it, in the end, do not help the console as a whole because I know there was multiple devs on the PS2 that made good games.

I think gamers are impatient, it's only been a year and we know games take like 3 years, so really in 6 years you see the "cream of the crop".

[GIJeff]

sony pays full price for dev kits too.

[heyheyhey]

the end of crappy ports is looking to come soon

[joevfx]

..i need to learn a new achitecture in this new age of games , waaa waaa i just wan tot sit on my ass and do the same old thign over and over again and learn nothing new"

all game devs except infinity ward, naughty dog, and epic.

[heyheyhey]

dont forget insomniac, criterion, guerilla, quantic dream, team ICO, evolution (of Motorstorm fame)

more will get used to it as time goes by

[DJ]

Just to see what they could do without compromises for other platforms. Either way though, they did an amazing job on all three platforms. The end of bad ports seems to have ended almost completely. DMC, Burnout, and COD are outstanding examples.

[Bonsai1214]

hmm, this makes me think starcraft 2 for ps3 is even more likely. unless i have my companies wrong.. haha. i'm really tired right now

[Salvadore]

With IW showing 3rd-party how it's exactly done, I give Kudos to Activision.

[meepmoopmeep]

is why i respect infinity ward and CoD4 is my favorite FPS of all time. it seems infinity ward embraces challenges and over comes them professionally. great work IW team! you guys rock! \m/

[chaosatom333]

all the developers need to share their knowledge of ps3, then we can see some awesome games, especially the first party titles because they know a lot more about the ps3. Also companies need to dump unreal engine 3, and find a new engine to develop for ps3.

[kingnick]

Sad that EA bought out Criterion Games and RenderWare. Someone needs to come up with a middleware solution that works well on both platforms without significant tweaking but it is unlikely due to the difference in architectures.

[ruibing]

I still want my Rock Band patch.

[Iamback]

it is obviously getting better, no need to raise this topic again

[Bleucrunch]

Agreed lamback!

[CaliGamer]

Take that EA.

[phony force slayer]

bottleneckstation3
upload beyond
this is uploading

[pwnsause]

it sounds like the miserable ports PS3 owners have been getting are soon to be over, thank god.

[RiloBunsen]

This shows the perefect example of having a ton of money (EA) to develop and remain a fool (EA).

[jackdoe]

Activision made a nice bundle of cash on the PS3 last year for a reason. EA did not. EA looks like it will follow that path if it doesn't get its act together. That Dead Space producer's comments confirmed that EA did not get its act together.

[KingKirchner]

Activision certainly showed that there IS a LOT of money to be made on the PS3 if you aren't lazy and actually put forth a little effort. CoD4's PS3 sales alone are great, and it's the best selling PS3 game now. If only other publishers *cough EA cough* would follow Activisions lead and realize that PS3 owners DO buy games, just not CRAPPY games.

[jackdoe]

EA somehow made one of the best games of 2007 into one of the most unappealing games of 2007 *cough* Orange Box *cough*.

[Genki]

I suppose they forgot the fiasco that was Tony Hawk...

They remind me of Midway now. Promising better Mortal Kombat games, we believe it and they turn out a trash product again and again.

I'll start listening when they start delivering.

So far, all they have is CoD4. Unless Infinity Ward gets cloned 10 times over, I'm not holding my breath for their other studios.

[altimako02]

I CANT BELIVE THAT THE ALMIGHTY PS3 HAS ANY BOTTLENECKS

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

We just delay everyone elses games untill we finaly get the PS3 version done.

Thats the PSinstallME for you.

[sonyfanonly]

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