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Shock horror! 03 Dec, 2007, 10:23 / 8 comments

By The Tingler


In what can only be described as shocking news, everybody, the two publishing giants Vivendi and Activision have announced that they are to merge, creating a serious competitor to the all-dominating Electronic Arts.

No news as yet how this will affect games slated to be published by either company, such as Ghostbusters or Br?tal Legend. CVG however are optimistic that this merger will persuade both the new Activision Blizzard (adios Sierra, we'll miss you) and EA to focus more on original titles then rely on games they release every sodding year.

Update: This FAQ from CVG makes it seem like we've got nothing to worry about. Specifically:
Q: Will the release schedules for any Blizzard games be impacted?
A: No, the transaction will not have any impact on our games, our day-to-day operations, or our release timelines.
Although a lot of the FAQ seems to focus on Blizzard, it looks likely that no games will be affected by the move. Let's hope that it will give Br?tal Legend
more of a chance at being successful... and coming out on PC.
8

8 Comments

  • VSTM on 05 Dec, 2007, 19:41…
    Next in the pipeline, Brutal Legend 2009, Brutal Legend 2010, and Brutal Legend MMO...
  • VSTM on 05 Dec, 2007, 19:40…
    http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/12/05

    Apparently the line from the CEO in the first panel is actually a quote. I don't know if it's a direct quote, but that's still pretty scary. I just keep thinking of Ultima and Origin.

    If Brutal Legend gets dropped because of "current market place realities and underlying economic considerations", I'll snap. I doubt that will happen though, just because of the Musical talent signed on. I mean, that has to be pretty tempting to the fat cats, no matter what the market considerations are.

    Publisher influence would be another problem though. I mean, I hope they don't try to get pushy, like trying to include pop music or alter games for a lower esrb rating, etc.
  • PirateKingChris on 04 Dec, 2007, 01:57…
    Did you say Ghostbusters?!
  • clone2727 on 04 Dec, 2007, 02:24…
    I am the gate keeper...
  • The Tingler on 04 Dec, 2007, 11:46…
    Yeah, I thought I'd add that one as it almost as important as Brutal Legend.
  • VSTM on 03 Dec, 2007, 16:43…
    The games they show on their activision blizzard website doesn't promote a lot of confidence for me. They're not all bad games, but they're pretty much all either sequels or new Movie spinoffs. No mention of Brutal Legend.
  • VSTM on 03 Dec, 2007, 16:24…
    I wonder if this means that Activision Blizzard(which is kind of silly name if you ask me), is part of the huge NBC Universal Mega Conglomerate. Maybe Activision Blizzard will start putting funny clips from Walker Texas Ranger in its games like Conan O'Brien.

    Brutal Legend PC would be really nice. I might have to get a CPU with SSE2 support, but I plan on doing that anyway.
  • itchythesamurai on 04 Dec, 2007, 03:12…
    Yeah, I'd appreciate Brutal Legend coming out on PC so that I don't force myself to get a non-Wii next gen console.