Brutal Legend, more like... oh fuck

[thorn]

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/53901

In the wake of the recently completed Activision Blizzard merger, the company has revealed that only five franchises from Vivendi Games' Sierra portfolio will be making the transition to the newly-formed company's publishing operations.

"The only [Vivendi] franchises that Activision Publishing will release are based on Crash Bandicoot, Ice Age and Spyro, as well as Prototype and one other game that has not yet been announced," an Activision Blizzard representative told GameSpot. "We are reviewing our options regarding those titles that we will not be publishing."

The remaining Vivendi Games portfolio includes Double Fine's Brutal Legend, Terminal Reality's and Red Fly's Ghostbusters, A2M's Wet, Starbreeze Studios' Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, Massive's World in Conflict: Soviet Assault and Swordfish's 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, among others.

While a majority of those projects stem from independent developers, Activision Blizzard is "exploring options" for internal studios Swordfish Studios and Massive Entertainment, including possible sale or closure.

Though the news appears grim, these titles could theoretically be published under Activision Blizzard's other publishing arms. However, no official word has yet come from the company.

Anyone heard any extra details about this?

[Thrik]

There're a few posts here:

http://www.idlethumbs.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5727&page=2

But just now, some mysterious guy with one post has left this on the Double Fine forums:

Brutal Legend has been a victim of this purge because it didn’t line up with whatever Activision had in mind (speculated here that Double Fine retains the IP which Activision wasn’t happy about), whats worse is that Activision decided to save the “Prototype” game a new IP even though it got poor and mixed reviews because it is another generic sandbox action game.

I feel bad for Double Fine to be kicked in the balls for a second time after Microsoft/Majesco, I can only hope that Brutal Legend gets released and is a roaring success that kicks sand in Activision’s face for dropping it.

EA partners program might be worth checking as id, Valve have all been stating good things about it & EA has the marketing muscle to push Brutal Legend and make it a huge hit.

Good luck Double Fine crew stay strong!

... which I guess means that it'll be Double Fine themselves shopping this off to publishers rather than Activision if that intellectual IP comment is correct — it's bloody Psychonauts all over again. The upside is that nobody else can develop it other than Double Fine themselves, whereas if Activision owned the IP they could theoretically dole it off to any fuckers.

[toblix]

Blood on The Sand is cancelled. FUCK!

[thorn]

Whoops... didn't notice the comments in that other thread.

Seeing as it's multiplatform from dot, I imagine EA would be able to get right behind it. Whether that's a good thing or not, I'm not too sure.

*is still smarting from Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath*

[Wrestlevania]

I'm not surprised they dropped Brütal Legend to be honest; bean-counters want what they know sells (i.e. sandbox games), not something original. Especially when the financial pinch is on.

What does surprise me, however, is that they didn't plump for milking the Ghostbusters franchise--I would've thought that was money in the bank myself. Very odd.

I sincerely hope Shit in the Sand never surfaces again, but there's so much financial interest in whoring out 50 Cent at every available opportunity that it's bound to reappear sooner or later.

[Thrik]

I can't see them just abandoning all those games. Apparently Ghostbusters had a big presence at Comic Con, and the others have been pretty widely publicised, anticipated, and far into development.

I've heard of publishers retiring IPs and individual games plenty of times, but never a plethora of them that're still in heavy development. They must be planning on doing something with them.

I'm beginning to suspect they may have a plan that doesn't involve casting off those games at all, such as a deal with one specific publisher who'll be handling them all, or perhaps one of the existing Activision Blizzard subsidiaries. The games being cancelled is only speculation at this point, after all. It seems weird that only a week or so ago Schafer said he'd never been approached to re-pitch his game to Activision Blizzard.

[Nappi]

That was a really crappy way to start a day.

Seriously, Spyro?! And.. well, pretty much all of games that made it?! It's almost like they got the two lists mixed up somehow.

EDIT: Ghostbuster won't be cancelled. Hopefully Double Fine will soon confirm that Brütal Legend isn't either.

[Wrestlevania]

Not wishing to give attention to lesser projects, but I'm dubious about Ghostbusters ever being released now.

It's already been snatched away from its original developer, for one reason or another (some citing serious quality concerns). It could well be one that doesn't see the light of day as the project stands now.

I believe it was also not going to be ready until summer 2009 at the earliest. It could be much later or not at all now, regardless of the original film cast's voice talent involvement.

[Nappi]

Finally Double Fine posted some information about the status of Brütal Legend.

Move the cursor and you'll miss it.

[n0wak]

This entire thing is baffling to me. Yeah, I know that we are too good for a 50 Cent game here, but this is a follow up to a million seller. They can it? For Spyro and Crash Bandicoot?? Really? Ghostbusters? Riddick? I guess after merging with Blizzard and getting WoW, Activision got tired of making money. That's the only reason I can think of for this whole thing.

[Thrik]

That's good news, Nappi. :tup: :tup:

(Someone make a positive equivalent of )

[ThunderPeel2001]

"Brütal Legend is fine.", or so says Tim. I hopes he's not lying or wrong.

[Noyb]

http://weblogs.variety.com/the_cut_scene/2008/07/brutal-legend-d.html

My information from reporting today is that developer Double Fine,Brutallegend which owns the rights to its metal rock actioner starring Jack Black and thus doesn't have to just sit back and worry about what Activision Blizzard will do, is very close to sealing a new deal to release the game. I don't know who it will be, but I understand that it may not be a traditional publisher. It could be a more "unique" arrangement. (Sorry to be vague, but even getting this much info was quite a chore.)

[Thrik]

I can't be bothered repeating myself so just check out the Mojo news post's comments. :~

[Roderick]

Well, copy-pasting isn't that hard But it's interesting news; a possible digital distribution scheme? I'd feel iffy not having the title as a boxed element in my hands, but whatever it takes...

I do expect to get the poster, DVD with cinematics and soundtrack like I did with Psychonauts though! DFAStore, don't fail me now!

Also, Activision is being goddamn retarded dropping Brütal Legend. For the rest of their existence whenever they express even the slightest murmur about innovation in games, pushing the medium or taking chances, I'll put my finger on their lips, say ,,hush..." gently, and then shiv them in the side.

[DanJW]

Yeah, who exactly do they have making these decisions? Are they completely deaf to internet buzz?

[Roderick]

Fuck that, they don't even have to watch the internet to understand this thing is highly marketable and has a high chance of success. Thematically it fits perfectly with the now incredibly popular Guitar Hero rocking craze, and with the backing of not only lots of big metal names, but especially the very publicly loved Jack Black, how could they fail to understand the potentially huge appeal this title can garner?

The mind just boggles, and I'm preparing my shiv.

[Thrik]

It is mental. Pretty much any twat could see that Brutal Legend is perfect for the current market place realities and underlying economic considerations, with Guitar Hero and Rock Band bringing people into the genre that aren't even normally particularly interested. There's never been a more perfect time for such a metal-orientated game.

[thorn]

Every quote I read mentions that they'll be supporting the four named titles and one more unnamed... how do we know that that's not Brutal?

[Thrik]

They said it's not been announced, as in it's a game that's never been announced. Brutal Legend has been announced.

Also, see the post above.

[thorn]

Ah, yes, I thought they meant that they hadn't announced which one it was. Consider it a brainfart on my part.

As for that post... I generally try not to believe industry whispers until there's an official announcement. Don't want to get my hopes up, after all.