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Activision fears the Legend 30 Oct, 2008, 22:33 / 8 comments

By Jason


A rather interesting article in Variety yesterday suggests that the delay in Brütal Legend getting a new publisher may be the result of intentional tomfoolery on the part of Activision:
While doing my reporting on "Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena" and "Ghostbusters" (info here), I checked in on everyone's favorite heavy metal action game starring Jack Black and, well, the news isn't great.

Sources close to the process confirmed that "Brutal Legend" hasn't been set up at a new publisher since, as I reported back in August, negotiations with MTV fell through.

Whatever the exact reasons, it seems that tensions are running high between Double Fine and Activision Blizzard as they try to make a deal with a new publisher.

I spoke to some sources on the Double Fine side and they said the problem isn't that other publishers aren't interested. They say it's that Activision Blizzard has been "an impediment" and that they're "blocking the process."
What the hell? It'd be nice of Double Fine and "good news" could be synonymous with each other some day. Read the rest here.
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8 Comments

  • PirateKingChris on 02 Nov, 2008, 21:40…
    Major companies are good at sucking the ass of late.
  • ThunderPeel2001 on 01 Nov, 2008, 16:38…
    FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!!
  • MarioColbert on 31 Oct, 2008, 19:08…
    A buddy sent me this:

    When I went to GameStop to pick up Fallout 3 and Red Alert 3, they said I had $5 credit at the store. It turns out Brutal Legend had been removed from the system there and they just kept the cash from my BL preorder in my account. :-(

    So... yeah.
  • jp-30 on 31 Oct, 2008, 07:38…
    Fucking, fucking fuck.
  • black_sheep on 31 Oct, 2008, 10:47…
    this
  • Kroms on 31 Oct, 2008, 00:10…
    If that's the case, then why are they asking for a Tim Schafer game if they don't want it to be a Tim Schafer game?
  • Udvarnoky on 30 Oct, 2008, 22:49…
    The fact that Activision is somehow hampering Double Fine's efforts probably means that they want the game, but under conditions different from what Tim was willing to agree.

    Way back when it was noted that unlike the case with most games, Double Fine insists on retaining the IP to its titles, which may have been the bone of contention. I would be interested to know how exactly Acitvision is fucking up Double Fine's relationship with other publishers though.

    Yay, gaming industry,
  • neon_git on 30 Oct, 2008, 23:50…
    Ah yes, that makes sense now. I was scratching my head for bit wondering why they'd be dicking about when they could just publish themselves if that's what they wanted.