Brutal Legend, Ghostbusters, more dropped by Activision

Publisher passes on a slew of Vivendi Games' in-development titles; 50 Cent, World in Conflict: Soviet Assault, Wet also affected.

Earlier today, Activision Publishing announced a streamlining of its Vivendi Games operations, saying it would be bringing into the fold five of that company's franchises: Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Ice Age, Prototype, and one unannounced game.

An Activision representative later confirmed for GameSpot that those would be the only Vivendi Games franchises coming out of the publisher. That leaves a number of high-profile projects in limbo, including Double Fine Productions' Brutal Legend, as well as Wet, Ghostbusters, Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, World at Conflict: Soviet Assault, 50 Cent Blood on the Sand, Zombie Wranglers, Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust, plus several Xbox Live Arcade titles.

"The only 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," the representative said. "We are reviewing our options regarding those titles that we will not be publishing."

Activision Blizzard has other publishing arms like Blizzard Entertainment and Activision Value that were not covered by the press release and could be among the options being reviewed. As of press time, representatives from those companies did not return requests for comment.

A scheduled Comic-Con International panel on the Ghostbusters game was abruptly cancelled last week, with no explanation given to attendees. However, the game was on the show floor in playable form.

[UPDATE]: A Sierra Games representative told GameSpot he couldn't speak about all the titles on the list in need of a publisher, but stressed that Ghostbusters is not canceled.

591 Comments

  • Raginmar

    Posted Jun 4, 2009 10:19 pm PT

    What the hell was this about...I didn't expect I 'd say that,but Activision just dropped behind EA.

  • gedo

    Posted Apr 9, 2009 3:35 am PT

    my God is wet cancelled? say it isn't so.

  • solidstein

    Posted Mar 16, 2009 7:42 am PT

    im really hoping someone picks up WET maybe ubisoft i mean look you get a game that you has already been produced pretty much so you dont have to pay the extreme production costs therefore they could make a pretty penny off it also activision said they only want games that can produce yearly cycles thats stupid activison is becoming a EA greedy

  • eeStewart

    Posted Feb 23, 2009 3:59 am PT

    "Ghostbusters is not canceled"
    Thank God!

  • SlayerUnas

    Posted Feb 22, 2009 9:21 am PT

    I had hopes for Activision in reality. They usualy bring out a good product. I really hope Wet can get it's highlights on the shelves, maybe Capcom can publish it, they'd make some good dough, so many people are anticipating that game. Ghostbusters looks good, but I'm worried that the game will actualy be a sorded piece of crap when you actualy play it.

  • _AbBaNdOn

    Posted Jan 31, 2009 5:58 am PT

    What a freaking joke.

  • doitkid

    Posted Jan 30, 2009 1:39 pm PT

    This should be the letter Activision releases following this news: Dear Gamers,

    We know that many people may be upset by our recent decision to cut back some of our production and publishing goals. However, we want you to know that we believe that what we are doing is in the best interest of the company. By continuing to actually make decent games that people want to play we will be contributing to the laziness that is dragging down the economy. So therefore Activision has decided to make the worst games possible, because it is in the best interests of everyone. Thank you for playing.

    GAME OVER

  • Wolf_Fox32

    Posted Jan 16, 2009 12:30 am PT

    i hope Wet doesnt get cancelled, i was lookin forward to that game.

  • NI_paolo

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 9:53 am PT

    WiC cancelled for Spyro!?

  • eep002

    Posted Oct 31, 2008 4:18 am PT

    'Despite 40% jump in quarterly revenue, losses lead megapublisher to pink-slip more than 500 employees; Madden sells 4.5 million' I think we have all had enough of this crap.
    Hey! I have an Idea. Lets cut all of the CEO/CFO salaries by 90 percent, recover the last 3 years of bonus $ from them and then give 50 percent of the people their jobs back and publish all of the games! Or is it FINALLY time for all of us to GET OFF the COUCH and kick some REAL BUTT off the screen!!

  • S-Wade

    Posted Oct 27, 2008 11:41 am PT

    *crosses his fingers* Wet needs a publisher, was looking forward to that game! As well as Ghostbusters!

  • FrankieDooSpace

    Posted Oct 23, 2008 4:34 pm PT

    I was also looking forward to Ghostbusters for Halloween! Damn companies!

  • FrankieDooSpace

    Posted Oct 23, 2008 4:33 pm PT

    GHOSTBUSTERS! We want it!

  • zacattack214

    Posted Oct 19, 2008 8:21 pm PT

    Well I hope Wet gets a publisher, I think it could do very well.

  • SaintAjora

    Posted Oct 18, 2008 11:40 am PT

    Those people need to die a peasants death! =O I can't belive they would do that! I was so excited about Soviet Assault and Ghostbusters! This is laaame!
    From now on I'm thinking twice about buying a Activison game -_-

  • MrGordons

    Posted Oct 3, 2008 7:54 am PT

    Wet...

  • lop890

    Posted Sep 27, 2008 4:25 pm PT

    good games cancelled for garbage games wt**** people spyro the dragon ice age has thw world gone mad! i know where this is going some1 buying a company so cancelled games are coming up worse only trash game coming out

  • surppo

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 5:40 pm PT

    man somebody needs to pick up brutal legend and at least riddick how could they pick ice age over them i guess all about a dolla who ever picks up brutal legend is gonna see crack money

  • metroidhunterx

    Posted Sep 3, 2008 11:48 pm PT

    Supperdude9,
    The game isn't coming out because it was dropped by Activision as the publisher. This does not mean that they won't be picked up by another one. Generally, GameStop won't allow the reserve of a title that hasn't got a relatively solid release date, and being that they haven't gotten a new publisher yet, there's no guarantee of its future existance. Once they pick up a new publisher, however, you can rest assured that the title will be available for reserve once more. Let's just hope that Ghostbusters won't be dropped again by another publisher.

  • adamalton

    Posted Sep 2, 2008 7:00 pm PT

    Seriously, putting a bunch of pretty no-name titles over ghostbusters? Even if it isn't cancelled, it puts it's release date past halloween easily, and I really was looking forward to getting it this christmas!

  • Sumbelina

    Posted Sep 2, 2008 6:12 am PT

    I was so excited to read about Brutal Legend and Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena in Game Informer last year. This sucks!

  • Supperdude9

    Posted Aug 30, 2008 3:05 pm PT

    Forgive my double...ehm...Triple post (stupid double click). I just came back from Gamestop. One of the guys there says they got an email last night saying that GAMESTOP would not be carrying Ghostbusters. So...maybe there IS a chance that this game can come out, but not through Gamestop. He cited that the same thing happened to Chibi Robo...that they got an email saying that they would not sell it, but it sold at other stores....it may have been the DS version of Chibi that he was talking about, I don't know. BUT! There is a chance that this game can still come out. Again, just not through Gamestop.

  • Supperdude9

    Posted Aug 30, 2008 1:52 pm PT

    Oh man. I just got a call from Gamestop saying that Ghostbusters won't be published or something like that. I believe the words were "the publisher has decided not to publish Ghostbusters". And they were telling me if I wanted to tranfer my pre-order credits to anything else that I should come in and do so. Gamestop has cancelled my pre-order of Ghostbusters. This ticks me off.

    And guys, I'm just telling you the phone call I just got. This was like 5 minutes ago.

  • Supperdude9

    Posted Aug 30, 2008 1:52 pm PT

    Oh man. I just got a call from Gamestop saying that Ghostbusters won't be published or something like that. I believe the words were "the publisher has decided not to publish Ghostbusters". And they were telling me if I wanted to tranfer my pre-order credits to anything else that I should come in and do so. Gamestop has cancelled my pre-order of Ghostbusters. This ticks me off.

    And guys, I'm just telling you the phone call I just got. This was like 5 minutes ago.

  • goobyman

    Posted Aug 28, 2008 8:21 am PT

    Man, if Ghostbusters doesn't come out. I'll cry like a little baby in my mothers sweet arms! Like I do each and every day

  • ShadowJake

    Posted Aug 23, 2008 2:59 pm PT

    what the f***?!? They are going to put out a f***ing ice age movie over the new chronicles of riddick? Are they out of their damn minds? Do they not remember the other riddick game being one of if not the best XBOX game? What a group of damn fools. I will be pissed if the drop riddick, ghostbusters, world in conflict, and wet.

  • mohfrontline

    Posted Aug 23, 2008 12:34 pm PT

    assault on dark athena canceled??? Or are they thinking about canceling it??? Dear Lord, they're gonna develop a Spyro game over a Riddick game. oh well.....

  • The_Dude1212

    Posted Aug 23, 2008 8:00 am PT

    Okay...had a bit of a panic attack that Ghostbusters was cancelled...but we're okay...

    Excellent. Now, what about Starcraft?!

  • ElmoKajaky

    Posted Aug 23, 2008 2:18 am PT

    They better not cancel Leisure Suit Larry and Ghostbusters! The market needs more games with a sense of humor!

  • Hicks_1

    Posted Aug 18, 2008 7:42 pm PT

    Spyro the F***ing dragon? Are these people serious? Does anyone remember lair? the people at Activison must think there is a market for little kid spyro and crash. There isn't, most gamers today are not little children. I would have loved ghostbusters but not spyro or Ice Age, something hasto be done about the management at Activison. They have gone soft.

  • clintbrew

    Posted Aug 18, 2008 6:30 pm PT

    Actionvision are going to lose out on Money if they passover Ghostbusters

  • Gretzky1106

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 7:23 pm PT

    Wet would probably be picked up by THQ.
    Brutal Legend would probably be published by Midway.
    Riddick should be picked up by Atari but Starbreeze Studios should continue working on it, finish it, give reviewers the final game, if there are any bugs, Starbreeze will correct them, this would continue until the final build will be universally acclaimed, hire Atari to publish it, and release it. HoHowever, due to Atari's fiancial issues, Starbreeze will instead spend money on marketing it,

  • Space_Godzillla

    Posted Aug 5, 2008 7:30 pm PT

    Hopefully no one is stupid enough to pick up publishing rights for 15 cents game.

  • Damnation_6

    Posted Aug 3, 2008 8:13 am PT

    Hmmm hearing this I'm beginning to doubt if this deal was good to begin with......

  • sonicpsycho13

    Posted Aug 3, 2008 6:30 am PT

    Why did Activision choose to keep bad franchises: a dead platformer, dead platformer, movie tie-in, crippled game. Brutal Legend sounds great, if only because it's developed by Tim Schafer.

  • pure_desi

    Posted Aug 2, 2008 5:08 pm PT

    wts brutal legends????? fforgive em if its new!!!!!

  • nappan

    Posted Aug 2, 2008 12:34 am PT

    Jesus, how stupid would Vivendi be to pass up on Riddick. The movies were nothing special, but the game was stunning. I'd also take half of Brutal Legend over the whole of the next two CoD's.. and I LIKE CoD.

  • Absolutezerr

    Posted Aug 1, 2008 9:25 pm PT

    NO BRUTAL LEGEND? I really hope this report is just a gross exaggeration, I wanted to play that game very badly.

  • YoJim8obaJoe

    Posted Aug 1, 2008 8:07 pm PT

    how can riddick be cancelled?the films and game kicked ass,and now the game and movie sequels are both canceled.NOOOOOOOO.
    Also the guy who played ray in ghostbusters said they are making a part 3 and it will be CGI so the characters wont look like they need a zimaframe

  • -HaloHitman-

    Posted Aug 1, 2008 4:55 pm PT

    I want to play brutal legend.

  • cwhas2godhands

    Posted Aug 1, 2008 2:21 pm PT

    i didn't think the e3 demos of ghostbusters looked very good, the library book monster level looked boring. Think a new ghostbusters movie would be a better idea. They better hury though, the original ghostbusters are getting very old, if you no what i mean.

  • fredwv

    Posted Aug 1, 2008 1:47 pm PT

    not ghostbusters!!! noooo

  • residentzombie2

    Posted Aug 1, 2008 1:10 pm PT

    The fact that Activision is dropping publishing the game doesn't mean the game won't come out. The devs on the game already said the games IS going to come out, several websites confirm this. Gamespot is relying on Media sensationalism to keep readers coming back to this site. More hits on Gamespot equals higher revenue from advertisers ala Gerstmann Gate

  • TristanH12

    Posted Aug 1, 2008 11:24 am PT

    It seems dreadfully late to drop Ghostbusters especially after all the hype it has.

    At least Crash and Spyro are safe, but I though Crash was Naughty Dog, are they still around?

  • dj_c4

    Posted Aug 1, 2008 10:03 am PT

    There's no way they will drop Ghost Busters after all the voice acting, modelling and what not. Christ, you can already watch game play clips. Will it be delayed? probably. But I cant imagine the production money they would be wasting by pulling the plug at this point.

  • Jshaw71

    Posted Aug 1, 2008 6:26 am PT

    very, very stupid of activion to drop ghostbusters, it'll find another publisher and make a lot of money, hopefully actvision will see the error of their ways

  • shaun_mcwayne

    Posted Aug 1, 2008 3:47 am PT

    i have went right off ea games so much i refuse to buy there titles anymore due to there severs being rubbish, have had problems with most of my ea games connecting to servers, just when ur in the mood to play a certain game, cannot connect to ea sever comes up, put me right off them, this happened with lotr battle for middle earth, army of 2, and c and c, also it happens on battlefield bc.

  • ElectrolightSH

    Posted Jul 31, 2008 11:09 pm PT

    Riddick: Dark Athena and Wet look like they would be really great games and a huge hit, I don't know why Activision would cancel them.

  • Ek-Andy

    Posted Jul 31, 2008 8:00 pm PT

    "Thanks for making me look like a fool Activision by believing you wouldn't turn into what we hate most about EA."

    Just to point this out, Activison are just as bad for milking games as EA ever was. Infact save for EA sports, EA games are almost allways of a consitently higher quality that Activision. Activision are brilliant at spending as little money as possible, and making as much of it back. Think im wrong? Why don't you have a look at both EA's and Activisons titles for the past 3 years.

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