Sony Buys ‘GhostBusters’ and make it their own. [Updated]
A brief search on Xboxic will show you that we have made over 6 reports on the upcoming game ‘Ghostbusters’ since January 2007. In short, the title was dropped by Activision, picked up by Atari and now in an unexpected move - sold to Sony Computer Entertainment. The game was due to be released on the Xbox360 19th June to tie in with the new movie release, but in this new move to Sony it will now remain a PS3 exclusive for the time being!
So it seems that in a move to please Atari’s investors whilst the company is struggling in todays current economic crisis; they decided to sell their distribution business earlier this year and now the Ghostbusters deal to Sony. Atari have stated however that with Sony publishing the title, the game will reach a wider audience on release.
With Sony Computer Entertainment, the proud new owners of ‘Ghostbusters’ the game will remain PS3 exclusive for time being with a PSP release to follow. It is currently unknown what will happen to the Xbox360, Wii & DS versions, but Atari may publish them some time in the near future.
Whilst the scheduled release for the Xbox360 version was only next month! Did you have this on pre-order, are you disappointed or maybe you just couldn’t care? Share your thoughts below.
[Updated]
Following this story, it was later announced due to the confusion surrounding the Ghostbusters deal with Sony that it is only European Territories that will be affected. Ghostbusters will be released on all formats (Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2) in the US on June 16th, as originally planned. As Sony has exclusive rights to the European release the game will only be released on PS3, PS2 in June with a PSP version in the Autumn. The title for all other consoles in Europe will see a release later in the year.
Original Source: GamesIndustry
Update Source: Gamezine
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this is good news for sony and bad news for x-box 360 sony should make it reamin a ps3 exclusive and it should never arrive on x-box 360 unless microsoft give halo 3 and beyond and gears and beyond franchise a release on ps3 this sounds fantastic news although sony should have choosen a more mature title then ghostbusters
Yeah I guess it’s not like they taken something huge from us! But what I don’t understand is that I think making it only available on 1 console would lose money instead of making more…
“Atari have stated however that with Sony publishing the title, the game will reach a wider audience on release.”
What Audience? The PS3 has the smallest audience of the three consoles, everyone knows this, unless you’ve been living under a rock with a PS3.
It’s simple -
Sony own the Ghostbusters franchise;
and now Sony own the Ghostbusters game.
If Sony had got there act together sooner it would have been like this from the start!
It also points to exclusive DLC and game features for the PS3 version of the game in the future too (developed and published internally by Sony).
Microsoft have to pay millions to nab timed-exclusivity - Sony just need to talk to each other! It makes sense for them to do this.
True Sony Pictures may lose some revenue from a game cash in, but at the same time Sony Computer Entertainment gain some revenue from an exclusive and anticipated game - overall Sony wins…
Taken straight from x360a:
“It isn’t all doom and gloom however for 360 owners, MCV are reporting that Atari are still planning to publish the title in PAL territories, but have stated it will be “later this year,” rather than the originally planned June 19th.
No official word on the NTSC versions as of yet, but as soon as we hear, we’ll update the story.
[Update:] We’ve spoke to Atari, and as suspected, this shift in publishing only affects the PAL territories. The NTSC release date will be as normal.”
It’s such a weird move isn’t it over whats probably a load of old crap.
How much do you wanna bet that the game sells like garbage and it puts Sony in a hole financially and makes them the butt of jokes for years to come….lol
The game itself would have sold very well on the 360…..also, if they wanted to get into a buying game with MS, and now Apple *looking at EA*, they might have inadvertently got the ball rolling down hill for MS and Apple to pick up many other devs and might have gotten in way over their head financially.
Firstly I highly doubt that this local publishing change will trigger any kind of response from the competition at all, let alone a bidding war. The move is tame compared to some of MS’s recent money throwing antics.
Secondly I highly doubt this cost Sony anything at all - when you think about the people involved in this decision they are all in Sony’s corner - the rights owner is Sony Pictures and the other Publisher is headed up by Phil Harrison!
Thirdly if you want to talk about financial decisions that make a company a butt of jokes for years to come look no further than Microsoft’s ludicrous decision to pay $50M+ for two exclusive bits of DLC for GTAIV. That will probably go down as the most ineffective ‘investment’ of this generation…
“Microsoft’s ludicrous decision to pay $50M+ for two exclusive bits of DLC for GTAIV.”
Now no one could argue over the stupidity of that!
Wasn’t it three bits of DLC?
Three for Fallout, two for GTA.
I was hesitant to buy the TLAD expansion but it was worth it for me. I had every bit of fun playing it, a wise move on MS’s part.
As far as PS3, Ghostbusters the game might be shit, and Sony would end up being the butt of the joke considering the waves that went through the gaming community due to their buying the franchise. It’s a coin toss right now but let’s see what the initial reports are following the release of the game.
I’m sure they’ve had alot more time than the game compared to the public, so they would have had some idea. It is getting released in June so it is nearly finished anyway.
surely this is the sort of news that you could put in both xboxic and playstaic?
I may be wrong, but would it really take that much effort?
I dont have access to the other sites to even be able to put it there…I am locked to xboxic only
ahhh, thats ok then. I didn’t know that…they shouldn’t really lock you though I fail to see the point. But it’s out of your control, my apologies.
Aha, Europe gets fucked again.
I wonder if it’s region free?
Screw Gostbusters, no one gives a shit about it anyway. Make a game based on the Alien movies in a Cross between RE5(make is scary though) and L4D. That would sell 10 million copies in the first week!!!
Ghostbusters is looking very good, and in the build up to the release has proven popular. That’s probebly why Sony Bought it.
Also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w.../Aliens:_Colonial_Marines
Copy and paste that because the link is meant to be the whole line, not just the first bit.
fixed.
Surely they could have bought something… uh, more renowned? Modern Warfare 2, for example…
…just the thought alone makes my blood boil
Mine too.
They could buy Treyarch…that would be fine with me
maybe you missed the part where COD: WaW over took Modern Warfare? or that the first map pack reached 2 million downloads? treyarch did a great job and it’s only gonna get better
Yeah, but the chances of that happening when Call of duty are making so much money, Imagine how much they would lose it they went to playstaion only. It would cost sony a fortune to make up all that money and then they’ve got to pay extra otherwise what would be the point of them moving just to sony in the first place.
If CoD went to the PS3 - them Im sorry, my poor xbox would have to take 2nd place for a bit…until I’ve done Veteran at least!
Man you’re totally out of touch with your movies. Ghostbusters is a great flick. Here’s hoping the game will be just as good. With the original cast doing the voices AND working on the game, I know that it will turn out good.
“tk chillin” you,ve pretty much described that colonial marines game.
ghostbusters was a good film 4 its day but spending money on stopping xbox players in europe getting it is dumb. as for the gta4 downloads it probably made some sence as ppl trying to decide if to get an xbox or ps may get xbox solely on the strength of gta4. they musta been so gutted when realising it was a $hit game lol
GTA 4 a shit game? It broke sales records in a week and TLAD broke download records for all time, I don’t think it was shit.
It was disapointing compared to the other games in the GTA series, so therefore many believe it was shit when it wasnt.
although Im not a fan of game of that style - I have heard good things said about Saints Row 2 on the other hand - like it is how GTA IV should have been done…
Yeah I heard the same, followed up by SR2 being cartoony whereas GTA4 is more realistic.
What I have played of GTA IV I did enjoy - it’s easy to get lost in the moment.
I still play GTA IV with people on my FL once in a while. Not as much replay value as I had hoped for. As for goastbusters, I just can’t see this game selling well on 360 at all. Same for the new movie. It was a hit back in the day, but those days are long gone. When I asked my nephews(7, 10, and 14) about the new goastbusters, They thought I was talking about Halo 3. Only the oldest one Thinks he has seen the movies but he was little. They got their marketing work cut out for them, as this just isn’t on peoples radar at all!!!
So does anyone know what this means for australia, we usually go the same way as europe…
Then it will maybe go the same way as Europe.
it only affects the PAL locations in Europe so I think Australia will still get all console release.