In what is surely a less-than-subtle hint to Sony, in an interview with the Times Online, Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick has stated that if the hardware manufacturing giant doesn’t cut the price of their PlayStation 3, Activision Blizzard “might have to stop supporting” them.

This comment follows on from Kotick’s remarks about his concerns and frustrations with Sony, which could lead to Activision Blizzard reconsidering its stance as far as developing for Sony’s platforms go. In relation to this, Kotick said:

“I’m getting concerned about Sony; the PlayStation 3 is losing a bit of momentum and they don’t make it easy for me to support the platform. It’s expensive to develop for the console, and the Wii and the Xbox are just selling better. Games generate a better return on invested capital on the Xbox than on the PlayStation.”

“They have to cut the price [of the PlayStation 3],” continued Kotick, “because if they don’t, the attach rates [the number of games each console owner buys] are likely to slow. If we are being realistic, we might have to stop supporting Sony.”

Asked to mark a timeframe for this ultimatum, he replies, “When we look at 2010 and 2011, we might want to consider if we support the console — and the PSP [portable] too.”

While these remarks smack of bravado, which isn’t uncommon from Kotick, they are sure to send a clear message to Sony top brass: If they want the continued support of industry crushing franchise games from Activision, such as Guitar Hero, Call of Duty and Tony Hawk, they definitely need to put a strategy in place to either cut royalties paid by the giant publisher (which Kotick estimates to be in the range of $500 million from Activision just last year), or slash prices of hardware across the board.