Video game publisher Activision Inc. plans to have about as many games for the launch of the new PlayStation 3 as it will for the forthcoming Xbox 360, the president of the company's publishing division said Wednesday.
In an interview at the game industry expo E3, Kathy Vrabeck also said the company wants to increase the number of in-house developers by about 25 percent to 30 percent.
Activision has said it plans about four launch games for the Xbox 360, Microsoft Corp.'s new console due this fall, and Vrabeck said she expected a similar amount for Sony Corp.'s PS3, due in the spring of 2006.
"That's our strategy, we want to have a handful of high quality titles that can be at the top of the charts," Vrabeck, the president of Activision Publishing, told Reuters.
Major publishers usually try to have a few titles available at the launch of a new console to take advantage of heavy-spending early adopters, who tend buy a number of games to go with their new hardware.
Activision has had about a year to work on games for the Xbox 360, Vrabeck said, but only recently got development hardware for the PS3. Launch games for a new console can typically take anywhere from 12 to 18 months to develop.
To help make all those new games, Vrabeck said the company needs to expand its roster of development talent.
"There (are) not enough bodies out there to fulfill our development needs," Vrabeck said.
