Activision ditches PS3 from Black Ops ads


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Activision has omitted PlayStation's logo from a new print run of Call Of Duty: Black Ops ads in the UK. In yet more evidence of a blossoming partnership between Activision and Xbox, Microsoft's branding proudly accompanies that of Treyarch and Activision - but there's no room for Sony. CVG first spotted the 'missing' PlayStation logo yesterday, in UK rock magazine Kerrang!. An ad for the multiformat Black Ops in the inside of the publication's cover only contains the Xbox Live logo and famous 360 'Jump In' branding, with no mention of PC or PS3. A fluke? Not on your nelly. Today, UK games industry bible MCV came through the post and - once again - there was no mention of Sony on a Black Ops ad. This time, an ad cover on the weekly magazine - prominently showing off the game's 9/11/10 release date - only contained Xbox Live, 360, Treyarch and Activision branding. The Kerrang! ad promotes the 'network premi?re' of the Black Ops trailer on ITV this Friday.

It will air during half-time of the England vs. Bulgaria international football match. What's the betting it's been part-funded by Microsoft? Platform exclusive ads aren't a new thing, of course - with EA notably teaming up with PS3 for FIFA 11 and Need For Speed campaigns last year. But the Black Ops campaign seems to offer more evidence of a burgeoning relationship between Microsoft and Activision - following an announcement of timed 360-exclusive DLC at E3 in June. Rumours persist that a 360-exclusive Black Ops public beta is on the way - something Treyarch told CVG it's "not planning" any time soon. We'll see.

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It's either a mistake from the marketing PR, so Sony didn't dump as much into advertising it as Microsoft due to the DLC agreements. Thoughts on why Sony isn't getting any love here?

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I don't see anything about the PC version, either, so it's not a big issue. Probably a partner ad, where maybe Microsoft paid for the ad to promote the 360 version of the game, or Activision and Microsoft split the cost.

Not a big deal, really.

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It sucks that PS3 isn't on the ads - but it could be exclusive arrangements between MS and Activision for a certain set of ads.

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Do Microsoft and Sony normally pay to have their symbols shown at the bottom of print ads like that? I knew they paid for the TV commercials but I guess I never really thought about the print ads, it always looked more like a listing of available systems. Its pretty clear that's what is happening here though, the one of the left even has the Xbox Jump In stuff around it.

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This really isn't alarming. Many games have had exclusive advertising runs for specific platforms. There were Final Fantasy 13 trailers with and without the xbox 360 logo and vice versa (as a recent example I could think of). People seem to be jumping to odd conclusions these days.

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unlike the other two, MS does usually pay for some advertising for a product, even if it's 3rd party. Usually the investment pays off for them. I see this as just the same thing, MS offered up some money and figured if we're paying for it why would we say it's on PS3 too.

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Sounds like a good opportunity for Sony, being only behind 4 million units, to pump out a bit more advertising so they can get more of these sales. They have done tops with first party, now they need to capitalize on ads like this to take the ring again.

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Do Microsoft and Sony normally pay to have their symbols shown at the bottom of print ads like that? I knew they paid for the TV commercials but I guess I never really thought about the print ads, it always looked more like a listing of available systems. Its pretty clear that's what is happening here though, the one of the left even has the Xbox Jump In stuff around it.

No. They're just put there so consumers know what platform the games are on. They don't have to pay anything, and the developers/publishers aren't legally obligated to place each company's logo on there.

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Platform-specific advertising isn't new so this shouldn't surprise people. If you haven't noticed (or read), the PC logo isn't on there as well. My guess is Microsoft either paid for the advertisement or provided something in return to Activision/Treyarch. Also, the past Call of Duty games have proven to be most popular on the Xbox 360.

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Platform-specific advertising isn't new so this shouldn't surprise people. If you haven't noticed (or read), the PC logo isn't on there as well. My guess is Microsoft either paid for the advertisement or provided something in return to Activision/Treyarch. Also, the past Call of Duty games have proven to be most popular on the Xbox 360.

Yeah, I see that huge Jump In banner on the bottom the ad as well. Obviously that isn't something Activision would promote. Pretty sad day when MS spends more money advertising a 3rd party game landing on the PS3 and PC than they do with their home grown Alan Wake. sigh.gif

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I don't see anything about the PC version, either, so it's not a big issue. Probably a partner ad, where maybe Microsoft paid for the ad to promote the 360 version of the game, or Activision and Microsoft split the cost.

Not a big deal, really.

This.

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I don't see anything about the PC version, either, so it's not a big issue. Probably a partner ad, where maybe Microsoft paid for the ad to promote the 360 version of the game, or Activision and Microsoft split the cost.

Not a big deal, really.

This is all it is, just like TV ads that one of the platform holders partly pay for to just have their console at the end.

Its not hard to see what is going on either with these companies at the moment either, Microsoft is partnering with Activision for bits and bobs, mostly CoD related things, and as seen at E3, EA are getting more buddy buddy with Sony for bits of things too, like the Dead Space and MoH limited editions, easier than trying to compete for attention on the same platform for similiar genres.

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This is being waaaay too far read into.

:yes:

this happens all the time when games just advertise for my system even though it's multi platform. I saw like a million FF13 ads that just said xbox360, didn't even mention the ps3.

Good, no one should by this game. Recycled garbage over and over. my opinion, and im sticking to it.

watch the new multiplayer trailer, looks epic

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watch the new multiplayer trailer, looks epic

Epicly spamtastic and retarded. First MW was the best, the rest are just horrible clones made to raise your epeen with killstreaks and explosion spams galore. Just not my cup of tea. Knifes should not kill in 1 hit, if you bring a knife, even 2 to a fight, you should die lol. RC car... um, wasn't that already in a pretty horrible game... forget what it was called, but it sucked big time.

I could see this game being fun to watch and laugh at the ludacris events, but not something I think I would have fun playing, especially if I had to pay the amount they want from it. Not only are those issues a negative against it for me, but the company as a whole who publishes the game is just horrible, and their goals for future online gaming are horrible. I will in no way support that.

I don't need to play games, and I don't have any feeling of want to play this. This is something I'm pretty sure I can easily do without.

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:yes:

this happens all the time when games just advertise for my system even though it's multi platform. I saw like a million FF13 ads that just said xbox360, didn't even mention the ps3.

+1 This is what I was also thinking when I read the OP post's.

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Black Ops was just advertised on TV in the UK as an Xbox 360 game.

Yeah, like others have said Activison and MS probably split the cost, as they showed off the xbox360 S too.

Didn't Sony do the same with Toy Story 3 adverts?

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Black Ops was just advertised on TV in the UK as an Xbox 360 game.

Yeah, like others have said Activison and MS probably split the cost, as they showed off the xbox360 S too.

Didn't Sony do the same with Toy Story 3 adverts?

Yup, just like FF13 was advertised everywhere as being a Xbox 360 game, or Assassins Creed 2 had adverts being a PS3 game, its nothing new.

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I don't see anything about the PC version, either, so it's not a big issue. Probably a partner ad, where maybe Microsoft paid for the ad to promote the 360 version of the game, or Activision and Microsoft split the cost.

Not a big deal, really.

Bingo..it's just a partner ad.

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I don't see anything about the PC version, either, so it's not a big issue. Probably a partner ad, where maybe Microsoft paid for the ad to promote the 360 version of the game, or Activision and Microsoft split the cost.

Not a big deal, really.

PC shouldn't be on the ad. This is the second cod game that's gonna fail on PC. Till I actually see dedicated servers and not a avp announcement of how they will be available at a later date, this games gonna suck balls on PC. I'll buy it for 360 but not PC.

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PC shouldn't be on the ad. This is the second cod game that's gonna fail on PC. Till I actually see dedicated servers and not a avp announcement of how they will be available at a later date, this games gonna suck balls on PC. I'll buy it for 360 but not PC.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/08/call-of-duty-blacks-ops-dedicated-servers-dev-console-mods.ars ... :whistle:

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