Well, it seems that my usual unbridled optimism has proven incredibly misguided. As Nappi pointed out in his comment to the previous post, Gamespot has posted an update on the Activision/Vivendi situation, and it is unfortunately not good:
"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."This leaves Brütal Legend without a publisher, and in an uncertain situation at the moment, as far as I'd know. Let's hope this news isn't as bad as it seems, and that Double Fine will have little trouble finding a new publisher for this game.
:~
Update by Tingler: Sierra have given a quote to gaming blog Destructoid about the Ghostbusters game, which reads simply:
"It is not cancelled and will not be cancelled."They sound very sure of that. This means that there's definitely hope for all the other games, including The Rockin' Game Brütal Legend. Don't lose hope yet!
Update #2 by Jason: "Brütal Legend is fine," says DFAN.
Update #3 by Thrik:
Variety has provided some more details which imply that Brutal Legend has been completely dropped by Activision Blizzard, and not simply forgotten about or sold under another Activision Blizzard brand as many have speculated:
"Double Fine ... 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."That's all we've got, but I'm going to go ahead and guess that digital distribution is on the cards here. The most likely candidate would be Valve's Steam, which has been burning off plenty of copies of Psychonauts for some time now.
Hopefully an actual in-store release will still occur though, because clearly this is a big game that deserves more than to be exclusively distributed via downloads.
There is no PC version of Brutal Legend at least as part of their last deal though they did say it could happen one day (decoded as if the game was a success you could see a PC version some months later). The delay & change of publisher could see a PC version but I would not get your hopes up.
Also the PC market would be a drop in the bucket even with digital distribution in order to recoup the millions poured into development.
I really hope Double Fine sign up with someone like EA or Ubisoft because without their support the game will get great reviews but no-one in large numbers will buy it & two retail duds in a row would be very damaging for Double Fines future prospects.
Blaze that trail Schafer!
Pity, they also did LucasArts budget games.
Maybe I should be happy that the game's existence is apparently not in danger, and that a PC version might come out, but you know, damn. We've already been through this.
The reason I suspected Gamecock is because they're intentionally trying to grab people's attention through silly stunts, and have gotten quite a bit of a reputation for it (not all good).
On the flip side of the silliness, they do seem very committed to quality games, giving developers freedom, and apparently obscure their own information on the box so the developers get as much limelight as possible. Mental actions for a publisher these days!
As far as publishers go they're definitely out of the norm, which is why 'unique' made me think of them. ;
Personally I hope Brutal Legend is published by a much bigger entity with much more experience, as although Gamecock could work out well IMO it's a clear risk. Could be MTV, as someone suggested. ;
Has Gamecock ever published a hit? Yeah, Brutal Legend is a game that ought to be easy to sell, much more so than something like Insecticide anyways, but Gamecock hasn't shown much competence in the area of marketing. After the Psychonauts debacle, Gamecock would look suspiciously like another Majesco to me.
You've just got to look at Insecticide to see how Gamecock can screw things over royally. Both the DS and the PC version (first part anyway) appeared months late and with no fanfare, with the first part turning up on one website several days in advance and for twice the price.
And let us not forget, the guy in charge once helped Daikatana to glory and brought about the great Gathering of Developers publisher, the artist-driven dream, which then got sold off to Take 2. And retaliated to criticism about his "jackass marketing stunts" made by John Romero by publicly slamming Romero's personal life.
I mean, great; if it gets released as a download only for the 360 or whatever, then that's awesome. I wouldn't have to go to the store or open a package or anything, and that appeals to the lazy side of me.
I didn't think you could even get downloads as big as Brutal Legend via the 360 and PS3 digital distribution systems, which is most likely going to top multiple gigabytes. Last I checked Microsoft cap games at 350mb.
Other than digital distribution I can't really think what else the quote could mean. But digital distribution on the consoles isn't really in its prime time when it comes to full AAA games... :~
I'm not gonna say for certain what cap MSFT put on downloads (though 350mb sounds small to me; I've downloaded larger demos than that,) although if we *really* were to speculate here, I suppose they could release the game episodically.
I created a petition but the stupid website had an error and I lost it all. ARGH.
Does Thrik's new info mean a PC release? Yay! But yes, I want a proper boxed copy in shops too - with decent enough marketing it could really sell well.
Move the mouse and you'll miss it.
Telltale got more of the puzzley goodness, DoubleFine - I'm being perhaps quite controversial here - got more of the general awesomeness, or at least got Tim.
I think it would be nice to see it all reunited - on paper, at least.
I don't think I'd like to see a Telltale/Double Fine merger.
There're obviously the facts that Brutal Legend is likely to resonate with more people due to its themes, as well as it having received a healthy dose of PR and being in people's minds.
But also, the other licenses that Activision Blizzard is dropping are very big. They're not just going to let IPs such as 50 Cent, Jason Bourne, Ghostbusters, and World in Conflict sit in limbo, especially after all the marketing they've received — they'll be actively making deals to sell them before people forget about them.
Brutal Legend is probably quite an attractive buy, and I think a publisher more significant than Majesco will be interested this time around.
:~
This is the first time I've ever seen EA with a more original and attractive upcoming release list than Activision!
Seems a bit backwards, but I guess they can afford to do this type of thing seeing as they now own properties like World of Warcraft — revenue is almost certainly not an issue. Although you'd think if they were trying to drill down to a number of key quality titles, Brutal Legend would be one of them...
This sucks. Royally.
But yeah, I didn't think a publisher could go from 'I quite like them' to 'most hated lying bastard publisher on the planet' with one news post. Arguably the two games I was most looking forward to being kicked out? Where's me effigy-building kit...
Of course a company can go from being liked to being hated with one news post. Sam and Max cancellation anyone?
Funny enough, I was thinking about it in comparison to this story. A game the entire gaming press is clamouring for, massive audience, lots of hype building... then cancelled because some bureaucratic bookworm didn't like it.