Activision cans The Movies for consoles
After months of evasive statements, the publisher admits its Hollywood sim isn't expanding beyond the PC.
In March 2003, the game industry was abuzz with word of a deal struck between mammoth publisher Activision and development legend Peter Molyneux. Under the terms of the deal, Activision would publish The Movies, an ambitious Hollywood mogul sim in development at Molyneux's British shop Lionhead Studios.
At the time, both Activision and Lionhead made much of the fact that the Movies would be released for both the PC and consoles. The fanfare was still going strong a year later, when Molyneux trotted out the game at E3 2004. However, in subsequent months, little was heard about the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube versions of the Movies. When asked about the non-PC versions of the game last fall, an Activision rep bobbed and weaved, saying, "We haven't made any announcements about the Movies for consoles in a while."
Activision's obfuscation ended yesterday, when, during a conference call with analysts, the company revealed that all console versions of the Movies had been canned. Activision chief financial officer Thomas Tippl didn't mince words about the game's fate. "We canceled The Movies slated for consoles in fiscal '07 due to underperformance on the PC," he said. Despite receiving mostly positive reviews, the game did middling business and was only the 15th-best-selling PC game of November 2005, the month it went on sale.
Featured Game
Developer: Lionhead Studios
Genre: Business Strategy
Platform: PS2
Release Date: Canceled
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65 Comments
maybe if they made it for xbox 360 or ps3 that would be sweeet have movies in really good graphics,
now that's a idea to think about.
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sucks
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NOO you ...how can you... I mean... bite me
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Wasnt really much of a console game anyway.
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It's understandable. Dont want to put anymore money into a game that won't sell.
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Would've been a mess on current gen consoles. The RAM needed....I mean they'd have to reduce the quality of the assets (textures and such) to repugnant levels to achieve the flexibility of the PC version.
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Wait... the movies WAS going to come out on consoles.....aw....this stinks. Oh well. It woulda been hard to pull off on consoles anyway.
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According to www.worthplaying.com lionhead have said they havnt canned movies for consoles. (dont know how reliable worthplaying is though)
A few days ago Activision's financial results made no mention of the console iterations for Lionhead's movie studio sim, leading us to believe the projects were cancelled. Today Lionhead issued a brief statement that this is not true, they are still in the works, and even an expansion pack for the PC edition is in development.
"Activision will not be publishing the console version of The Movies but that does not mean the project is dead.
I'd like to add that PC sales for 2005 have been dissapointing (especially during Christmas) for everyone in this industry.
Rest assured that the team at Lionhead Studios are as dedicated to The Movies as they've ever been; an expansion pack is currently in development (which will be announced very shortly) and we are continuing to support The Movies Online!"
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damn they cancelled BC that is gay
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Wow, I'm surprised that it didn't sell better. This game had a lot of Sims like qualities written all over it, with enough added twists to make it a unique alternative to that juggernaut. Don't think this game could ever have been ported to consoles without a significant loss of performance and gameplay. You know though, if you can afford an Xbox360 premium, chances are you can afford a computer capable of running this game at decent levels of performance.
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I was really looking forward to playing the game - there loss.
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Is this a good game? I was looking into buying it but didn't know if I would like it.
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Oh well now I'm curious what new games Lionhead will show E3 or maybe GDC 2006. Fable 2 maybe BC for the Xbox 360 or a console version of Black and White for the Nintendo Revolutions, or maybe that project Dimitri for most likely the PC.
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Its Lionhead announced that its NOT cancelled! they just need to find a new publisher at this point because Activision wont do it because of its low sales.
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It would never have worked out with games consoles anyway, The Movies really requires a mouse and keyboard.
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i dont think it would have been that good for the consoles any way
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This suck I was really looking forward to playing this game on my Xbox. I don't have a computer so I probably will never get a chance to play the movies.
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thats to bad I was holding off on getting it for the PC I really wanted it for my Xbox.I guess I will just have to get the one for the PC.
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I really hope they do more with PC games then
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Sims 2 didn't work well on a console so it may be better not to port this one over, at least not to the Xbox, PS2 and GCN. Maybe it could work with the 360, but it may be better to just keep these kinds of games on the PC since simulations just work out better on the PC.
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darn that sucks....whell good thing i got a new computer for this game. now i got it for PC.
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But part of the problems that I see with The Movies is you need a high end top of the line computer that can move satlelites. It's quite the resource hog.
It's one of the reasons I wasn't sure that a console port would be any good.
I still hope for an expansion pack though. The game could really use more scenes and sets.
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i think this sucks and blows because some people dont wanna buy a high end top of the line computer that can move satlelites
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thats jus silly
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The controls for Such Game in Consoles Is difficult to Transfer so It is better off without Making one.
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I don't know how they would have pulled it off on consoles anyways
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What a shame! I wanted to get if for PS2!
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It figures....but they would rather put out a sequel to a sequel than something kinda' fresh.
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I'm really disappointed in pc gamers. This game is one of the most ambitious, creative, and addictive games I have ever played. I don't understand why more people haven't bought this game. From what I recall, there was a big amount of hype associated with it when it was in development. I guess gamers really don't care about originality anymore--it seems that all the casual gamer wants to do is blow crap up in rehash FPS's. I hope this trend changes, but I doubt it will. Congratulations, casual gamers, you have missed one of the best games of 2005. Way to go.
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Well hey i love this game but i never really saw it working thta well on the consoles, it's like the sims in that respect. But hey maybe after my ape madness anthology is released...
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anyone surprised? has this game even sold 50k yet?
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I agree that it would have been a really hard one to pull off successfully on the consoles. Would've been cool though!
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the pc game wasn't that great, so its underperformance in sales was not surprising. it could be addictive, but that was mainly due to the repetitive style of gameplay, not that it was a lot of fun to play. it had a great concept, but didn't quite flesh it out. a console version would have been awkward.
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i knew it wouldn't happen for the consoles
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It was fun on the console, but it had some issues as well. I know I could never connect to the online section without the whole game crashing. Bah. Oh well, I guess stuff happens... Now if they'd only make a new patch for my problem.
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cry cry cry....
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I was going to buy the movies on consoles....that just sucks that they canned it.
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Well that's totally lame.
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Not too dissapointed. It seems that simulation games don't turn out too well on consoles. *cough* The Sims *cough* lol
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I was always under the impression it was going to be PC-exclusive from the beginning anyway, so it means little to me personally. Most sim games should stay on the PC, anyway, but it's disappointing the only reason Activision have decided not to port it is because it under-performed.
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Meh...I expected it to happen.
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This really sucks. I got it for Christmas and have been hyping it up for a co-worker who doesn't have a PC, just a PS2. He's gonna be pissed. This truly is a great game.
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It is an awesome game, yes, but it's best played on the PC.
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too bad
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this stinks but sim games hardly worked on console games
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Too bad, The Movies is an awesome game.
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Now they can concentrate on Fable 2...
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Meh. While I'm surprised it didn't sell that well (every review I read was glowing about it), I'm sort of glad it won't go to consoles. This is one of those genres that best suits the PC. You have to admit, consoles have their share of fair suited titles and the PC has its own. I have it on PC anyway so I'm not really affected, but if you want to play it so bad play it on the platform it was meant to be played on.
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NO!!!!!!!!!!! I was saving up some money for that! Oh well, I'll just buy Smackdown! VS RAW 2006
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Oh man, I'm so disappointed...I was so looking forward to this!
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