Ghostbusters game delayed to 2009!!
The new “Ghostbusters” game, which was scheduled to come out this fall, may have been delayed.
But beyond a vague statement from a PR rep that the game is “not canceled,” there’s been no indication yet of what will happen to the “Ghostbusters” game. Since it’s so close to completion, surely it won’t just be thrown to oblivion and never published, right?
Sony Pictures, which of course owns the rights to “Ghostbusters” and licensed the IP to Vivendi last year, has said that they are working with Activision Blizzard “to evaluate various options surrounding the release of the ‘Ghostbusters’ video game.” That’s obviously vague, but it does contain an important nugget: it wants the game to be released, one way or another.
Sony goes on to state that “this has presented [Sony Pictures Consumer Products] with an opportunity to reevaluate the game release marketing strategy to potentially coincide with the 25th anniversary of the original film in ’09.”
So the studio’s plan now is to get the game released in 2009. But who will publish it? There’s no official word yet, but my understanding from further reporting is that Activision Blizzard and Sony are talking to other publishers about picking up the game right now. Given the strength of the brand and the marketing that has already gone into the game, I can’t imagine the studio will have any trouble finding multiple interested partners. The only question may be whether that new publisher can reach a deal with Activision Blizzard to pay for the millions already spent on development.
Of course regardless of who releases it, developers Terminal Reality and Red Fly now have an extra year to work on the game. So there’s no reason it shouldn’t be really good.
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