Well, I've already boycotted Guitar Hero. May as well boycott the whole company.

Mujah

It would be stupid if the good and popular games are nixed. WiC won numerous awards, and the Ghostbuster logo is apparently the second most popular logo on Earth. Maybe they'll be released under a different publisher name.

syafiqjabar

Maybe the problem is we don't see the whole picture. I'm only using Ghostbusters as an example since its the only licensed property I care about from the article, but what if the publishing deal between Vivendi and Terminal Velocity only had one game listed. No publishing rights to a sequel. Plus any sequel would hinge on getting everyone together again. Its possible this may be a stand alone game, not a new franchise.

Contracts do mention this stuff. The first example I always think of is Gears of War. Microsoft only owns the rights to two games. A third one has to be renegotiated and if Epic wanted to, take it to another publisher (although I doubt they would anymore. At first maybe, with the whole argument over DLC, but I think with the issues they ran into with Unreal Tournament 3 on PS3, they might just stick with Microsoft and its advertising money. I mean, I don't remember seeing a single commercial for that game in December. Now I see Microsoft pushing this game at least once a week).

All those franchises mentioned are Activisions (plus Crash and Spyro do make money, and are simple enought that they appear on every console) now. The ones not mentioned aren't owned by them (or they simply don't want).

I'm not counting Ghostbusters out. I am Brutal Legend. I read Shafer doesn't want Activision to publish his game anyways. But what about my World in Conflict. I love that game. I'd buy it for PS3 and 360 if it meant Activision would keep that franchise.

Shakezula84

If they can Ghostbusters, it'll be one of the biggest mistakes that they ever, ever, ever make, ever.

Ashkihyena

Wow, this makes no financial sense to me. You wanna compete with EA through next year? YOU DON'T CUT OFF PUBLISHING FROM (I'm gonna go right ahead and say it) BIG TITLES LIKE GHOSTBUSTERS!

I'm sure that everyone here is well aware that the game will still see release, which I know it will, but it angers me that Activision's vision is so firmly rooted in their asses!

CitizenInsane27

I find the "Legend of" Spyro games incredibly confusing. They look great from a technical standpoint, but they don't play well. I hope they turn it around, but they already managed to turn a light-hearted platformer into a beat 'em with a ridiculous attempt at a darker, more serious storyline. I don't care what genre they go with, just make it fun to play.

Wolfers

If Ghostbusters gets canned, watch out. It won't end well. Why would Activision pull such a stupid move and NOT publish it?

KagaSakai

I'm going with "Shit." Brutal Legend is at the top of my wanted list.
Could be nothing, but it has been a leetle too long since we heard anything substantial from Shaffer and Double Fine to just dismiss this sort of thing.

cynopt

@DangrMaus: You really shouldn't group Mario with Sonic...it's just not fair to Mario...not fair at all...

While everyone is freaking out consider this: 50 cent would never have gotten crap, Brutal Legend is being made by the same people who made Psychonauts- which if I remember correctly was a commercial failure- and though may be deemed brilliant is a new IP that hasn't found itself. Bourne games may be dropped due to licensing costs from the books/movies, and the series looked a lot better. WET is also not a founded IP, and is probably better lost to the fire. Ghostbusters may have licensing costs or would cost them too much to keep.

It's all business, and games like Crash and Spyro have founded themselves to make money just as the Ice Age games have. Prototype is really the only new IP that seems to really not have licensing costs drag like Ghostbusters/Bourne, is more founded than WET or Brutal Legend, and probably has what I like to call "business prospect in the market" or otherwise: they think it can make a lot of money and can use a lot of sequels to make said money.

JGab

@MagickBocks: Yeah, well, it seems as EA improves, Activision slowly degenerates to take their place.

Dear fucking god that lineup sucks.

Passa

@RageKage: I e-mailed the head of HR at Starbreeze a few weeks back and got a response. Sent the tip to Ashcraft a little while ago.

Does Not Equal

Next on As the game turns...
Pisses of deveolpers "Looks like it's EA partners here we come."
Tim Shafer shoves greasy Activision exec into the pool as they all walk out.
Gabe hands them all some Starbucks.

Gunloc

Also, unless they are late updating their site, Activision.com still lists Ghostbusters, 50 Cent, and World In Conflict as their games.

Shakezula84

Is Sierra still Sierra? I visited them up on the way to Yosemite years and years ago. They had a nifty floppy disk duplicating machine and I saw the system that ran the BBS I'd call for hints on the Leisure Suit Larry game I was too young to be playing...

What happened in between?

If only there were some free online encyclopedia I could search to find answers in. Someday.

Yonderboy

I'm personally looking for to Ghostbusters, looks like it'll actually be good.

Hearts_Are_1

Activision doesn't own the IPs to the games that they didn't mention that you guys are pissed about. The IPs they've announced are ones that Vivendi owned... This news really only applies to Activision as a publisher and any of their fully owned studios.

I'm not even sure that this is intended to address 3rd party developers and whether or not they will keep the publishing deals they had with Vivendi.

Vergobret

I really thought that Ghostbusters would generate some money. Oh activision, how stupid you are being at the moment.

Scottyshonuff

Activision's journey towards the dark side is almost complete.

Gouki4u's avatar has a severe case of Jekyll and Hyde

I don't understand why the "people are going to lose their jobs" or the negativity of the article has to be stressed so much. It's not like losing one's job is a laughing matter nor do people like to be reminded of such negativity.

Kuren

Update from GameSpot.com on this subject is that Activision will not be publishing titles beyound the mentioned five titles.

Shakezula84

If Brutal Legend gets canceled, infants WILL be choked.

Jorw

I was under the impression that Ghostbusters was pretty much um..."In the box and ready to go" as it were.

So what does this mean then, that a complete game was developed and now they just have no publisher?

Oh well I'm not too worried, I'm sure pretty much any company worth their salt would kill to release it.

Diddy_Mao

@Nirolak: what

WHAT

WHAT

jcsunshine

Well, admittingly Crash Bandicoot and Spyro do need some help becoming important again. It's not like the games are any good currently. Maybe Activision can breath some new life into the Bandicoot.

samaine

Thanks everyone! (and those who have yet to post)

griffinrider

@bsjezz:

That's the last thing I want.

LaneWinree

for the sake of healthy competition, i'd love to see sony or microsoft pick up some of these games /studios. it makes sense for sony to pick up ghostbusters, at least, and i bet microsoft would murder to get their hands on tim schafer

bsjezz

Actually the new Spyro game, Dawn of the Dragon, is a radical change from the other Spyro games and looks awesome. He's older and can actually fly, and they added 2 player co-op.

It will be good, mark my words. =)

mrmugen53

At least we all can agree that 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand should be a better game being canned.

Hikaru

Wow Ghostbusters has had a great reception if they are dumping that they definetly are not paying attention to the community. The game looks good Dan Akroyd has put a lot of time into this game it will be good damn it!

onepoker

NEED MOAR Brütal Legend!

SpearXXI

Oh, I was seeing in another article on this that they've also pretty much decided to dissolve Massive Entertainment.

They made World in Conflict in case people don't recognize the name.

Nirolak

Ghostbusters will be released, and it would be a good move for EA to do so; as others have said, even if the game isn't great, people will still buy it in mass.

QC8472

I asked myself a few days ago "What happened to the Riddick sequel/expansion?"

Damn you, Activision.

RageKage

Crash and Spyro are great, if you're 10 and simply can't wait for another sonic/mario game.

In other words, they suck.

Whoever picked these titles over Brutal Legend and Ghostbusters should be fired, like, yesterday.

DangrMaus

I heard that tim schafer wasnt happy at all with the merger and was looking to get a new publisher.

So it looks like more of a case of tim not wanting activision to have it, not activision not wanting it

kommanderk

I really hope someone will step up and publish those games, especially Brutal Legend, Ghostbusters and WET. They all seemed like very promising titles. I wouldn't mind even if Sony or Microsoft picked up any of those games as exclusives, so long as they saw the light of day.

cervantes240

Don't worry Activision can make a ton of Call of Duty and Guitar Hero games ...... who needs Brutal Legends and Ghostbusters ...... I need a napkin ;_; ;_;

alfredofroylan

Well they managed to dump all of the titles I was interested in (Ghostbusters, Brutal Legend, Riddick) and retain only one i was interested in (Prototype).

Honestly looking at Activisions upcoming slate I don't see much that excites me. Guitar Hero World Tour will be fine, but nothing too exciting. Spider-Man: Web of Shadows looks interesting but the last couple of games weren't exactly memorable. Even Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, as fun as the first one was, seems to be missing a certain spark. At least EA has games I'm interested in...

COULD432

Fuck them, I hope Ghostbusters and Brutal Legend get published and are huge hits and excellent games and their publishers can all afford to buy yachts and an actual bandicoot runs wild through Activision HQ, maiming seven.

jcsunshine

@griffinrider:
A new beginning was alright, but eternal night was kind of meh.

The new one had a developer change though, and its being handled by one of my all-time favorites Estranges Libulles who did the beat-em-up/platformer hybrid the Legend of Spyro titles attempted to aim for so perfectly in Asterix and Obelix XXL2 and pretty well in Asterix at the Olympic games (it was obvious the latter was rushed to meet the movie's release, but still pretty darned good).

Lijik

Well, I'm gonna mark this down on the "Well, this sucks" list.

AcidCrownie

Hey, EA said it wanted to generate some good will.

Pick up Brutal Legend, Chronicles of Riddick, and Massive Entertainment, it'll help a ton.

Nirolak

@griffinrider: Picture the usual platforming formula but with more headbutting enemies and running.

Gantz: Your Trusted Friend in Science.

@griffinrider:
I think the consensus is that the old ones were pretty good, but they're kinda stale.

ZinkO: Beat Incursion

@art_zombie: Oh, you meant Spyro, yeah, not bad, just decent.

art_zombie

@griffinrider: Worked on Crash of the Titans... It's alright. Just average, they keep coming up with the same stuff each year with the same formula so they can't mess it up.

art_zombie

@griffinrider: Yeah, the Spyro games are pretty decent.

spot778

Wow. Activision would be making a huge mistake by not publishing Ghostbusters: The Video Game and Brütal Legend. Scratch that, they'd be fucking stupid not too. That's better.

dead_red_eyes

No, not mine Brütal Legend! =(

yanya

oh cool, Activision hate, I was getting bored hating EA all the time. Hold on, stop the bandwagon you guys! I havent jumped on yet!

Spacehog85

@MagickBocks: Actually there may be a glimmer of hope. The overall creator of Dragon Age from Bioware got a promotion to a step below vice-pres. He knows what hes doing and he could change things for the better.

Gantz: Your Trusted Friend in Science.

I got a question for the community at large, since you guys know about games.

Are Spyro games any good? I've been intrigued for a while.

griffinrider

A little birdie told me Brutal Legends is comming December 2nd ;D

Grain of salt and all that jazz.

Gantz: Your Trusted Friend in Science.

And people wonder why I hate Activision.

Archaotic

@Raften:

The logic escapes me too... I thought someone would have took Crash out behind the barn by now...

Enigma_20XX

Kill me. Activision is the new EA, and my loathing for them grows with every day. Why weren't these executives aborted by their mothers?

MagickBocks

I wouldn't have been pleased to add Spyro and Crash to the line up. Leave the trash out if you ask me and just cancel anymore Spyro/Crash games. The only good ones were the PSone ones.

Amazon_Chris

Ghostbusters will be a hit regardless of whether or not it turns out to be a good game, and it was just being shown off at Comic-Con, there's no way it's been canned.

Mit

Sierra isn't publishing Brütal Legend anymore? Aww, I would have loved the irony of Sierra publishing a Tim Schafer game

Jeff Paine

So....instead of taking some promising games (mainly ghost busters), were stuck with two crappy dead franchises and a god awful movie license. Makes a whole lotta sense

Raften

@syafiqjabar:

I'm sure Ghostbusters will come out, but they need a new publisher quick cause if they can't get one, they have to delay the game.

As for World in Conflict. Activision owns Massive Entertainment now, and it was made clear that if they didn't mention it was in, its out.

Shakezula84

Activision = Old EA.

optimusprime

@Hikaru: What I'm taking as faith now is that .50:BotS was SUCH A BAD GAME that even the tragic loss of the potential that was Brutal Legend and Ghostbusters is fair. Those games, those two beautiful games of high hopes, despite all that, nobly sacrificed themselves to preserve us from .50 fighting terrorism, something that might have set back not only the gamer culture, but the war on terror itself (as no other country would ever take us seriously again [yes, even worse than now]).

So, I proudly weep for our fallen games.

Slatz_Grobnik

more like INactivision...am I right?

Anyway, why get new IPs when they have so many to run into the ground right now?

Mal-Content

McWhertor:
I think the reason that Activision didn't mention those IPs is because Vivendi doesn't own them.

From Wikipedia:
"Several studios including Massive Entertainment, High Moon Studios, Radical Entertainment and Swordfish Studios, were acquired and integrated into Sierra throughout 2005 and 2006 to give the company a new retinue of in-house developers. Creative licenses from other Vivendi divisions and from companies partnered with Vivendi were granted to Sierra, and copyright of several notable IPs such as Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, 50 Cent: Bulletproof and Scarface were granted to Sierra."

I believe that this press release was dealing only with those IPs that are wholly owned by Vivendi/Sierra, and is talking about how they are being folded into Activision's portfolio.

Massive Entertainment was up for divestiture according to the article on Yahoo Finance:
[biz.yahoo.com]

"Additionally, Activision Publishing announced that the company intends to adapt the Vivendi Games' studio operations to better align the studio structure against the new product slate. The company will realign staffing at Radical Entertainment and High Moon Studios and is exploring options regarding Massive Entertainment and Swordfish Studios, including the possibility of divestiture."

Hope that allays some fears.

ApollyonBoB

I don't think my little heart could bear another publishing disaster for Double Fine. It was bad enough Majesco ignoring the opportunity to promote Psychonauts (and having no money by that point), but Brutal Legend looks far too good - and fairly mainstream-ish - to let this happen again!

Kazzahdrane

With great power comes great deplorability.

Heliophage

I'm really glad you guys posted this. I've heard a lot of this coming down the pipe through various people involved and it's been on my mind a lot lately.

I guess it's like trading in used games. You typically trade in the ones you know are worth something and hold onto the ones that you'll get like 2 bucks for because it's just not worth giving away a game for 2 bucks.

They know they can sell Ghostbusters, duh. Brutal Legend has an untouchable aura to it that appeals to most people and one of the more 'cool' publishers will probably buy that one (T2?). The others they can probably sell to a middle-road publisher looking to cash in on some tie-ins, etc.

The best news you can get out of this is that the developers get more time to put that extra polish on these games while the publishing gets sorted out. Hopefully we'll see big publishers go the way of big record labels someday and all these great little dev houses can make games unfettered by this crap.

kidko

@kommanderk: If Tim Schaffer's going to be shopping it around, here's hoping he lands at either Valve or Telltale Games:)

Parsifal

No, I want a Riddick game so bad. I can understand why Brutal Legend may have been cut (with a name like "Brutal Legend" its almost self explanatory...to me the game looked like it was generic, just like its name) but seriously, the original Xbox's Riddick was so good it would be so nice to see another.

fenderfuel08

Maybe these titles are being hand picked by Activision to set aside and prepare to sell off Sierra? Maybe the titles not on the list will go with Sierra as a package deal? My opinion anyway.

I am disappointed about Riddick being up in the air as I was looking forward to it. The original will probably never make the 360 BC list so this was my only option. Would be cool if Sony picked up Riddick and did something like they did with Ninja Gaiden Sigma, but I know I'm just hoping.

crashlanding

Brutal Legend will find a publisher, and Ghostbusters probably will, but it's sad about Chronicles of Riddick and (yes, I hate to say this) 50 Cent.

Kato

I really hope Brutal Legend finds another publisher, Double Fine have the worst luck when it comes to them.

Also I worry for Massive Entertainment, the RTS maker who made Ground Control, World in Conflict I really liked their games but seeing as Activision have Blizzard now it was unlikely they would survive.

Jellocakes

Oh what the fux activision

zaagis

They canceled the two games I was looking forward to...

Great, now I'm going to be pissed off all day.

LuppyLuptonium

Well, after EA did such a superb job of vacating the throne of the most loathsome videogame related company, I guess somebody just had to step up to fill the gap.

Fuck you Activision.

Blue_Six

@Mit: I hope you're right, but dumber decisions have been made before.

spiderweb1986

Dang it, I was looking forward to the updated Riddick game!!! Arrrgh!!! I would have purchased that on day 1.

Twisk

Quick, someone give me a multi-million dollar loan. I have a good tip that there are some deep in development games out there with a lot of good press that just lost their publisher. Scrooge McDuck vault full of gold coins, here I come.

flit

Don't jump to "canceled" as a conclusion. Many of the titles Activision's not stacking up in their "easy money" bin are of the sort that is being propelled by a strong personality who isn't just going to go quietly into that good night.

PositivelyGreg

@Mal-Content:

More like Wack-tivision.
Not publishing Brutal legend or ghostbusters is a dumb move.

DissmalScientist

Due to the whole rockband PS3 fiasco, an activision stamp on any game is a lost sale to me anyways. I'll be glad if those companies publish through someone else. Brutal Legend will more than likely show up on Steam, as it has helped psychonauts probably sell more copies than when it originally released.

Daizaru1

@Jorw: I totally concur.

CoverD

@griffinrider: Just get the first 3
they were made by insomniac and are great, the rest i dont bother with

arkbuilder

@MagickBocks: That's a terrrible thing to say but, I am very impressed with your awesome Tomba pic so it evens out.

I hate me some Activision.

budash2

@crashlanding: Sierra was owned by Vivendi, who sold it to Activision. If Activision isn't doing it, it's probably not going to get done.

More than just the titles, you have to consider that a lot of people are losing their jobs in this 're-alignment'. There are a lot of good people being sent away from studios where they've put a lot of time in.

There are also a lot of us waiting to hear if we'll still be here in a few weeks.

glibby

"We ...are concentrating on businesses where we have leadership positions that are aligned with Activision Publishing's long-term corporate objectives."

Here, let me translate that:

"WE WILL MOLEST THE GUITAR HERO FRANCHISE UNTIL IT IS A COLD DEAD HUSK!"

fnc

awe horseshit. fie on activision.

knifey-spoonie

Crash and Spyro died after the PS1.

tdreher