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Ghostbusters Developer Frustrated With Alternating Publishers

You know, we often hear stories of developers who are at the mercy of the publisher for their project. In some ways, this makes sense; the publisher has agreed to produce your game for you, so yes, you should kinda do what they say (to some extent). However, as we can see, things can get awfully muddled sometimes.

According to GamesIndustry.biz , Terminal Reality isn't too happy about the "merry-go-round" of publishers surrounding Ghostbusters: The Video Game . It started with Activision, dropped to Atari, and then most recently, shifted to Sony in Europe. And as the developer said, they really had "no say in publishing or distribution decisions." Said Brendon Goss, executive producer at Terminal Reality:

"It is not the ideal situation for a developer like Terminal Reality as we really enjoy a collaborative relationship when we work with publishers, so that has had to be rebooted every time the game changes hands. As an independent developer that has been in business for 15 years, Terminal Reality has learned the importance of making good partnership decisions when we take a look at what projects we will do. If you would have told me the roller coaster ride we were in for on this project three years ago I would have said that you are crazy and yet here we are."

As we now know, North American gamers will have their choice of numerous versions in June, but European consumers will only get the PS3 version (the others will come later in the year). Goss says the team hopes that this "last-minute exclusivity deal with Sony won't spoil consumers' reaction to the game when the multiformat titles are released further down the line." Of course, there's no way of knowing how this will play out, but we could look at other examples of timed exclusives in the past. Goss added that he doesn't want "the consumer to be confused," but we're hoping things have been cleared up by now.

Yeah, developers and publishers are sometimes at odds, and when a team's game goes through three different publishers, we can understand there's a certain level of frustration involved.

Related Game(s): Ghostbusters: The Video Game

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fatelementality
fatelementality
14 years ago

Checked out the feature in the new episode of Qore. This looks to be a decent game. A good blast from the past if nothing else. I was in love with the cartoon show. They include the entire song from Ray Parker Jr. in the menu screen of the feature. Awesomeness. I'm 27, so to hell with you youngsters!!! 🙂 So when are they gonna do a decent Back to the Future game? You know you want it. Michael J. Fox has his own travel show on ABC. How long has this been going on?


Last edited by fatelementality on 5/7/2009 10:31:47 PM

556pineapple
556pineapple
14 years ago

I heard this will basically be Ghost Busters 3, even written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. Sounds very promising. As long as it gets published that is.


Last edited by 556pineapple on 5/7/2009 11:22:16 PM

TheUglyBassist
TheUglyBassist
14 years ago

Yea, I watched some videos on this game and it looks pretty good to me. But I'm a pretty big Ghostbusters junkie so needless to say I can't wait.

Jordahn
Jordahn
14 years ago

I gotta admit, I'm not interested in this game. So I'm assuming that SONY of Europe came to Atari for a deal instead of Terminal Reality, right?

Robochic
Robochic
14 years ago

I'm looking forward to this game it looks like it has promise. Looks like it's difficult time though with no say in the publishing thats got to be frustrating.

Cuetes
Cuetes
14 years ago

Love me some Ghostbusters!!

NoSmokingBandit
NoSmokingBandit
14 years ago

I refuse to buy this game. i recall reading once that the developers said they could have twice as many objects on screen for the ps3 version but they had to make the game identical for some stupid reason. I dont want my ps3 to run at the level of a 360. Thats like putting a governer on a Mustang so the Sentra doesnt feel bad losing the race.
Devs should make the best game for each platform, if one ends up being better then perhaps the other company should think more about its hardware design next time.

BikerSaint
BikerSaint
14 years ago

@NoSmokingBandit
AMEN TO THAT!!!!!!

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
14 years ago

who busts who now?

Blaiyan
Blaiyan
14 years ago

I think they should be glad their game is still coming out. Anyway i'm looking forward to it. The game is looking good now.

I also agree NSB.


Last edited by Blaiyan on 5/10/2009 3:17:56 AM

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