ActiBlizz drops Ghostbusters, Brutal Legend in favor of Spyro, Crash & Prototype

We have a love-hate relationship with Activision-Blizzard; we love Blizzard and their games, but really rather hate Activision. This confusing dichotomy was further cemented today with the announcement that the company is streamlining their output by holding on to a few key Sierra franchises. Namely, Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, Prototype, Ice Age and an as-yet unannounced property, leaving Tim Shafer's Brutal Legend, Ghostbusters: The Video Game, WET, and Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena abandoned at the side of the road.

However, there's still hope for these games if another publisher swoops in and picks them up. Actiblizz will also be shaking up its Sierra-based internal development studios, with plans to "realign staffing at Radical Entertainment and High Moon Studios" (Prototype and Bourne) and to explore "options regarding Massive Entertainment and Swordfish Studios" (Wold in Conflict and 50 Cent). For the full skinny check out the Yahoo Business report.

It's sad to see interesting games like Ghostbusters and, particularly, Brutal Legend get poor treatment in favor of dead franchises such as Crash Bandicoot and Spyro. It's a world gone topsy-turvy, where EA are developing interesting and innovative new IPs and Activision is "streamlining" anything that stands out in favor of safe, boring franchises.

[Via Joystiq]

Reader Comments (34)

What so does this mean the current ghost buster game won't come out? or does it mean that there won't be a sequel to the game?

It means the current one wont come out...which is annoying and disappointing, but I've seen more games get canned closer to release then this one. We might yet get one version if one if them is close to release but a multi platform release is unlikely at this point....seriously, Crash Bandicoot and spyro? really? honestly? Rather then a game that has needed a next-gen face lift for Eons? Come on fools, you even got Bill Murry to work with the other 3 actors again for Christ sake!

That's not what it means. ActiBlizzion was just the publisher, not the developer.

Depending on the contract, Terminal Reality should now be free to find another publisher... EA would be happy to publish it I'm sure.

So is the Ghostbusters game just not being worked on anymore or is it still coming out or what?

Yeah, I don't know. They've been hyping this game for the past few months, had a ton of E3 coverage. They even got the voices for it all, and unreleased music. It looked pretty decent. What's going on.

I for one won't be losing any sleep tonight over the demise of Ghostbusters, it looked terrible. Good sound effects on the proton packs, though.

sony just showed that game (GB) in their press conference at e3, isn't sony a publisher? and can't they pick it up?

Sony's publishing division is pretty small. It's possible that they could pick it up, but I kinda doubt it.

This rumor has already been debunked, at least as far as Ghostbusters is concerned: http://www.destructoid.com/rumortoid-future-of-ghostbusters-and-brutal-legend-in-question-97180.phtml

[We have a quote from the Sierra PR team regarding Ghostbusters: "It is not cancelled and will not be cancelled."]

I want to believe! but GI.biz has yet to change the front page story to match

this doesn't mean that the publisher hasn't dropped it though, just that the team working on it are continuing to do so

I hope they don't drop Ghostbusters, that game looked promising.

Spyro and others is stale, yet Ghostbusters is not???
Seriously!?!?!?
I realize my memory may be a bit fuzzy at times I seem to remember playing Ghostbusters the video game on my Commodore 64... Now that title has been sitting around on the shelf long past its use by date!

If this is true, Activision is more stupid than I thought. I guess they figure they can survive on Blizzard's franchises, since Blizzard's been doing it all this time. Bad move.. If EA can get these games, I'm sure they will.

Brutal Legend will hopefully continue as it's being made by a mastermind of games. It seems they swapped the lists of games to keep and games to not, how sad.

I wonder if Sony could pick the game up. I mean, it is based off a movie that is owned by Sony via Columbia studios and the PS3 is the lead platform, but then the 360 and the Wii versions would have to be axed in the process. I know that this is about making money for the developer, so they would still have to go to a 3rd party if they want to pay their dues.

This to me just means Brutal Legend will end up like Psychonauts, where it went from company to company until someone got the courage to actually distribute the game. Microsoft at one point owned the distribution rights to Psychonauts until they dropped it... This just means Activision won't be the distributor of Brutal Legend.

Bad thing is, this could also mean that Brutal Legend will end up EXACTLY like Psychonauts... which is under-apprechiated. Without a big company like Activision marketing the game, it could fall under the rader like Psychonauts did.

None of the games have been inherently cancelled.
They just need another publisher to pick them up before they can be released.

Very very bad move... I think I'm starting to lose more respect for "ActivBlizz". What bad business practice.

I don't see them just dropping a huge game title like Ghostbusters. I know it is possible, but it really would hurt them with the amount of effort that is being put into making the game multi-platform and as close to a new movie as you can get. I mean Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis are co-writing the thing as well as reprising the voice talent of Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson. This would be a huge loss to all platforms and the bigger loss to the company. I know that some people are claiming it is still canceled and some are saying it isn't, so at the moment, I'm hoping it's a late April Fool's joke.

If Ghostbusters gets canned I'll be bummed! Guess they shouldn't have sunk all their money into Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, that lame-ass money grab that should of been offered as a download instead.

I will be bummed out if Ghostbusters gets canned! Maybe they shouldn't have sunk all their money into promoting that shameless money grab Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. It should have been offered as downloadable content instead!

WILL JOYSTIQ EVER FIX THEIR HORRIBLE COMMENTING SYSTEM?! HOW HARD IS IT TO CREATE A REGULAR FORUM. THESE BOARDS ARE BROKEN!!!

Pretty much all the "up in the air" games sound far more interesting to me than the ones they kept. Ugh, Activision. UGH, I say.

Activision is the dumb.

I can't believe they willingly kept 'Crash', 'Spyro' & 'Ice Age'!!!
What a bunch of douches...

Cool, am I the only one that's happy about this!
Exactly how I was hoping it would go, sure I'd probably like Brutal Legends and Ghostbusters but I'm such a huge fan of the Crash and Spyro franchises I'd rather see them prosper!

When was the last time there was a good crash game? I herd spyro is getting some good voice talent, but come on hoping for these games to turn out good is like hoping for a good dynasty warriors game. Uwe Boll should make a Dynasty Warriors movie BTW.
Ice age??

Ok Ice age was probably not the best idea but I still gotta say that crash and spyro have potential, maybe the merge will help.

I can't believe people are actually thinking this rumor is true. No company is just gonna stop making a game this close to release, especially when there have been like 5 different freaking versions in development.

Oddly enough I think EA will save the day, for sure they would pick up these franchises, so maybe it's all for the better, specially for Brutal Legend.

WTF!!! What will become of Brutal Legend? I feel the need to set my copy of CoD 4 on fire and throw it at the first activision employee I can find! NOTHING CAN DESTROY THE METAL!!!!

I hope I still get to play Assault on Dark Athena; I hope I'm not the only one.

I would actually like to play it too. I thought the first CoR game was going to be horrible, but it was a very entertaining game and I was very impressed at the lack of bugs in the game that I found. Not saying it was bug-free, but it was damn good for a company's first FPS. Hopefully a publisher will pick this one up

ActiBlizz drops Ghostbusters, Brutal Legend in favor of Spyro, Crash & Prototype

Reader Comments (34)

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