Ghostbusters spooks 1 million

By Tom Magrino, GameSpotPosted Jul 21, 2009 2:57 pm PT

Terminal Reality's movie-themed paranormal shooter reaches platinum milestone; budget pegged at $15-$20 million; third Ghostbusters film teased.

Terminal Reality was probably hoping for an alternate reality when it launched Ghostbusters: The Video Game last month. As reported by The NPD Group last week, game-industry retail sales in the US were down 31 percent in June, the steepest year-over-year drop yet in four months of consecutive decline. Within that weak overall climate, the Xbox 360 edition of Ghostbusters narrowly missed the top 10 best-seller chart--while the other version didn't even crack the top 20.

Slimer would be breaking out the booze regardless.

Rankings aside, Terminal Reality is hailing the game as a success. Speaking to the Fort Worth Star Telegram, Terminal Reality said that Ghostbusters: The Video Game has sold 1 million units worldwide since its release on June 16. Besides the Xbox 360, the game was released for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PSP, Wii, DS, and PC.

The Lewisville, Texas-based developer also noted that the Atari-published title spent three years in development, had a final budget of $15 million to $20 million, and up to 80 developers worked on the project at its height. Notably, the game featured the voice work of original Ghostbusters Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, and Ernie Hudson, with Aykroyd and Ramis also contributing to the game's script.

"It took us years to build the physics into the game of how one of those proton beams might hit a wooden table and just cut it in half, with one-half actually falling away from the other--and then one of the characters could actually interact with the destroyed object," Terminal Reality cofounder and president Mark Randel told Star Telegram.

Randel also noted that the game's commercial success has apparently rekindled Hollywood interest in making a third Ghostbusters film.

"It is great to realize that if they are thinking of rebooting Ghostbusters, of handing off the torch from the old guard to the new for a new Ghostbusters, that the success of the game definitely had something to do with green-lighting that project," Randel stated. "And you can bet that if that movie were to come out, we’d just love to do another Ghostbusters game based on it."

For more on Ghostbusters: The Video Game, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.

73 Comments

  • hush404

    Posted Jul 23, 2009 4:48 pm PT

    Good for them, hope it continues to sell!

    I personally love it. It's rite at home with the GB feel and lure. Co-op would of been great, but w/e.

  • ssfire8

    Posted Jul 23, 2009 12:00 am PT

    cross the streams is so much fun i got the 360 version an the ghostbusters game really dam good!

  • raahsnavj

    Posted Jul 22, 2009 3:50 pm PT

    But can you cross the streams?

  • shentonio

    Posted Jul 22, 2009 3:01 pm PT

    I rented the game first before buying, as you never know with licenced games how they'll turn out. As a huge Ghostbusters fan, all I can say is congratulations to Terminal Reality for the great job they did with the game. This could have been a huge missed opportunity, and although it won't break records I am actually quite surprised it has done this well. If you're a fan, you can't help but have a huge grin on your face the first time you hear the theme song again (I got the PS3 version by the way). And multiplayer is also surprisingly good, and of course they got all the cast back! It can be difficult to find a game online sometimes (only 4 players at a time of course) but it is worth it everytime to be busting ghosts with the original crew! Ghostbusters!

  • link1709

    Posted Jul 22, 2009 2:51 pm PT

    This is fantastic news. I am a huge fan of Ghostbusters. My dream is to own the Ecto-1, take my future children to school in it. Then fly it to America and hand it over to the man who deserves it more than anyone. Mr Dan Aykroyd. I will buy the Ghostbusters 3 game and hope terminal reality continues with the fantastic work I had experienced with the Ghostbusters game. Well Done Guys. You deserve it!

  • MJR52

    Posted Jul 22, 2009 12:43 pm PT

    A third movie would be sick... if they do it correctly

  • kylemahler

    Posted Jul 22, 2009 11:55 am PT

    You can probably go through the story mode maybe 3 times and that's mostly to get the trophies on PS3. Go thrugh it on beginner or experienced, Beat the game on Pro, go through and have less then $100,000 of damage. The story mode it's self is kind of short, but the multplayer is a lot of fun to do and that's the thing that keeps you to it.

  • KyleMD03

    Posted Jul 22, 2009 11:37 am PT

    @bleedgreen2-1-5

    The replay factor is not so much there as it more comes into it's own in the multiplayer. If you don't want to drop 60 bones just wait a bit and find it after price cuts, or buy used. I really never thought I would have played the multiplayer but so many respected gamers said if I owned it I needed to at least give it one play online and they were right. Some DLC would be nice but I don't see much they could do other than maybe co-op story mode or map packs on multiplayer.

  • Jynxy425

    Posted Jul 22, 2009 11:08 am PT

    How about some TLC from Terminal Reality, with some DLC for us 1 Million game buyers !!!

  • Mr_Tweedy posted Jul 22, 2009 10:10 am PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Mr_Tweedy

    Posted Jul 22, 2009 10:10 am PT (hide)

    Buy The Conduit!

  • klugenbeel

    Posted Jul 22, 2009 9:42 am PT

    This is a game i wanted to pick up but haven't, yet. Glad to see it is doing well and hope they may do another GhostBusters movie would be great. Bill Murray is the man!

  • Garygok

    Posted Jul 22, 2009 9:20 am PT

    I think you can attribute these sales to people buying this game for nostalgic reasons alone, which is the reason I went and got it on release day. The game itself however wasnt that good and unless they improve on it significantly I wouldnt buy a sequel.

  • HyruleanLink

    Posted Jul 22, 2009 8:53 am PT

    Great success for a great movie.

  • wahyudil

    Posted Jul 22, 2009 8:39 am PT

    Wow! I can't wait to see the movie ... I really loves ghostbuster

  • rohail88 posted Jul 22, 2009 8:29 am PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    rohail88

    Posted Jul 22, 2009 8:29 am PT (hide)

    Man what a cheapass game!!

  • NuKkU

    Posted Jul 22, 2009 8:01 am PT

    really 1 mil i was expecting to succeed but not this much lol

  • QOSMSTR

    Posted Jul 22, 2009 7:27 am PT

    @bleedgreen2-1-5

    The replay value is great since you go back and get artifacts and scan ghosts, and professional difficulty is hard. I had to get a guide for strategy against bosses.

  • Ronin893

    Posted Jul 22, 2009 7:15 am PT

    I would love to see another Ghostbusters movie.

  • bleedgreen2-1-5

    Posted Jul 22, 2009 6:32 am PT

    i need to get this, im a ghostbusters fan and i played the demo, its luigis mansion but good. Its $60 tho, how good is the replay value? If anyone has an opinion let me know cuz i dont want to pay $60 for one play through

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