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Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land That’s a question Edge are asking today, and it follows on from a string of questions people have been asking for at least 10-15 years. What was once a company renowned for their PC adventure games, and later as the publisher of stuff like Half-Life and SWAT, are now facing oblivion, with Activision displaying zero interest in maintaining the brand following their merger with Vivendi. Me, I say put it to rest, and it’s a sentiment shared by company founder Ken Williams:
I really don’t know what Sierra even is these days…I suppose I should be disappointed anytime I hear that Sierra is being shut down, but it really doesn’t bother me. The company was horribly mismanaged for a long time, and it depresses me more every time I hear about a dumb decision being made than it does when I hear that someone did the right thing, even when it includes killing off a brand or reducing staff size.
Oh Sierra. Don’t worry. It’ll all be over soon. And when it is, we’ll remember you for Quest for Glory, not Magna Cum Laude.
Why Sierra Must Die [Edge]
So Activision doesn’t want to publish Ghostbuster: The Videogame (silly, Activision). We’ve heard that the game isn’t cancelled, but what exactly does that mean? Is it even coming out or will it just languish? According to Variety, Sony Pictures, who owns the rights to Ghostbuters and who licenced the IP to Vivendi last year, is working Vivendi “to evaluate various options surrounding the release of the ‘Ghostbusters’ video game”. What’s more, Sony adds:
This has presented [Sony Pictures Consumer Products]with an opportunity to reevaluate the game release marketing strategy to potentially coincide with the 25th anniversary of the original film in ’09.
So if the game’s not out until 2009, who’s going to publish? One thing that is for sure is another year in develop should only help not hurt this game.
Ghostbusters game delayed to 2009, but who’s publishing it? [The Cut Scene]
As a part of Activision’s continuing offloading of Sierra properties, Ludlum Entertainment has required the rights to create games based off of the works of Robert Ludlum. These include the Bourne series and Covert One, both of which excited Crecente to no end when Vivendi first announced them back in 2005. Now three years and one measly game later the ball is back in Ludlum’s court. “Our colleagues at Vivendi Games did a tremendous job of capturing the spirit and allure of Robert Ludlum’s writing with The Bourne Conspiracy and the gaming community’s strong response is clear indication that future Ludlum games will deliver both popularity and profitability for years to come”, commented Jeffrey Weiner, CEO of Ludlum Entertainment.
Weiner went on to say that the company looked forward to working with other partners in the future.
Ludlum estate reacquires Bourne game rights from Vivendi [GamesIndustry.biz]
Earlier, we brought word that Activision was taking inventory of Sierra’s catalogue and picking and choosing games it wanted to publish. Some games, like Crash Bandicoot, made the cut. Other games like Ghostbusters: The Video Game did not. Does that mean the game’s been canned? Well, no. It means that the game doesn’t have a publisher. The dev team is still there! Dan Aykroyd is still there! Ernie Hudson, he’s still there!! Activision isn’t the only show in town, and as a Vivendi spokesperson told game site Destructoid: “It is not cancelled and will not be cancelled”.
We are following up.
Future of Ghostbusters [Dtoid]
Activision announced today that it would be taking a handful of titles formerly published by (and planned to be published by) Sierra and add them to its own product portfolio. Games in the Crash Bandicoot, Ice Age and Spyro the Dragon series will join the Activision family of published titles, with Prototype and an unnamed, unannounced fifth title to rest in the shade of the mega publisher’s wing.
What’s missing from that list? Loads of Sierra titles. Ghostbusters: The Video Game and Brütal Legend to name two. WET and Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena to name two more. Want another? 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand.
Yes, “Uh oh” might be the words you’re looking for.
“We have conducted a thorough review of Vivendi Games’ brand portfolio and are retaining those franchises and titles that are a strong fit with our long-term product strategy”, Mike Griffith, CEO of Activision Publishing, said in a corporate statement. “We are reviewing our options regarding those titles that we will not be publishing”.
“Reviewing our options” may mean axing of certain non-guaranteed hits or shopping them out to another publisher.
Griffith is also quoted as saying “We are focused on improving efficiency across the combined organisation and are concentrating on businesses where we have leadership positions that are aligned with Activision Publishing’s long-term corporate objectives”.
That press release speak for “people are going to lose their jobs”.
Thanks to Nirolak for the tip.
When yesterday over 92 percent Activision shareholders gave their thumbs-up to the company’s pending merger with Vivendi, it was pretty much a done deal, and today Activision Blizzard is official.
Board chairman Rene Penisson said he’s “delighted that the merger is completed”, and that the new company is “determined to ‘think big!’”
The merger was first announced in December of 2007. Through it, Blizzard and Sierra parent Vivendi becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of Activision, scoring 295.3 new shares of Activision stock. It’ll also buy 62.9 million new shares for a total of $US 1.7 billion – the result is that Vivendi owns a stake of about 52 percent in its new parent company.
Announcement follows the jump.
Sunday night’s pre-E3 Kotaku party is going to be a booze-fuelled, feel-good adventure. None of that, however, will dull the pain of Brütal Legend‘s absence at E3, an absence confirmed by MTV Multiplayer today. Double Fine Productions frontman Tim Schafer confirmed the bad news earlier today and I’m just barely keeping it together.
Shareholders are expected to approve Activision’s pending merger with Vivendi with a vote on July 8th, and now one more obstacle has been cleared: the Delaware Court of Chancery has denied a request for a preliminary injunction on behalf of Wayne County Employees’ Retirement System, who sued in April because it, as a group, opposed the merger.
The Wayne County group had claimed that it was getting short-ended in the deal, not gaining all the benefits from the combination that it could. The court will not allow the Wayne County group’s lawsuit to impede the merger, which is highly likely to be approved across the board. Activision’s full announcement follows the jump.
Movies tend to run longer these days than they used to (where’d the 87-minute feature go?), but even taking that into account, the average size of a film script today is around 120-150 pages. The Ghostbusters game? 480 pages. Oh, sorry. According to Ernie Hudson (and if there’s a steady paycheck in it, I’ll believe anything he says), it’s “480 pages or something”. While that’s not huge in terms of games, where sometimes thousands upon thousands of lines of dialogue must be recorded (hi, Oblivion), it’s huge when you consider the entire principal cast of this game are Hollywood talent. And huge when that means they’ve recorded three Ghostbusters film’s worth of stuff.
Ghostbusters script is 480 pages long, says actual Ghostbuster [VG247]
So, yeah, Activision and Vivendi pulled out of ESA. What does that mean? Let’s ask EA! Jeff Brown, the Canada’s arm of corporate communications, said:
I think having [Activision and Vivendi]pull out of the ESA reflects an unfortunate lack of leadership… They’re a big company and we feel that when you’re a big company you’ve got a responsibility to consumers to work on policy issues which are very, very important to consumers. And the best way to do that is with an industry consensus… There’s always tensions inside these organisations, but for the most part it works… So it was sad to see them step away from that responsibility. We hope that others don’t do that, but I think that the onus is on the ESA to prove that membership in it is good for the company and good for consumers. And I think we’re going to see the ESA redouble its efforts to prove that.
And if not, Jeff Brown is here to pitch in! Lack of Leadership [Games Industry]
