The real reason why Activision dropped Ghostbusters...
 

No not because the game sucks...

Hahaha wow.

In other words, kill creativity, dumb it down and rehash it for all it's worth. God damn. :(

I'm pretty sure people already knew that was the reason, but it's odd to hear it from an official source.

MONEY. MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY.

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I miss the Coach.

Yeah, I heard this a while ago, but still a kick in the nuts hearing it officially. Douche bags.

He appears to be switched on.

Yeah, read that some time ago.

Activisions loss is definately Atari's gain!

They're stupid if they think they couldn't make Ghostbusters 2K9.

Seriously though, they could have made ghostbusters a a series with ease. It seems to me that it would fill the comedy/horror genre void. There would be very little real competition.

They probably approached them about it but refused because they didn't want to lose control of the rights.

Honestly, it COULD be a series, but it'd probably get cheap and lazy after the third or so installment.

But that's the Activision way

Ghostbusters III: Ghostbusters I

Go into business! Manage finance! Battle the EPA! With the all-new, ultra-realistic PKE Meter Add-on!

Pffft, I just finished Dangeresque 3 and that's not lost it's sheen

They could have, but they don't want to take the time or effort. Tossing out new sports titles requires little more than updated rosters, the occasional graphical update, etc.

A Ghostbusters game requires things like a plot, characters, and suspense/comedy. Those aren't as sure moneymakers. Even their other movie-based IPs are based on ongoing current series.

So it would probably be scrapped or simply dvolve into a CoD-esque sort of "story light" deal.

You kidding? By the third game, they'd be tossing in unrelated shits like tagging territory, a love subplot between slimer and Gozer, and an innovative "strut" system.

Hell if they wanted, I'm sure they could make a game based on The Real Ghostbusters cartoon series.

"It's the same game, but it looks like a REAL CARTOON!"

"And you can play as SLIMER!"

Screw that. I want to play as Louis Tully.

I want a level where you can play as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

I want a "Hot Slime" mod where Vego and Gozer fuck.

I didn't know Activision merged with Blizzard? I can kind of see why they made these moves. I have never seen Blizzard put out a poor game. Everything is quality. The only game that you have to pay monthly is World of Warcraft, and they constantly add content and other things that keep the game worth the price you pay. Anyone who thinks its not about the money is simply daft.

LOL

I don't know whats so funny. Blizzard doesn't put out a poor game. Activision may, but I don't really play many games. I've played every one of Blizzard's games and they're solid through and through. May not be everyones flavor but, so be it. I don't get why this is news to anyone? A company in it for the money? Go figure.

No and no. Death & Return of Superman sucked. Blackthorne was poorly thought out and had crap hit detection. Justice League Task Force was terrible, though pretty.

That's part of what makes it funny.

It's funny because you think everything Blizzard puts out is quality, and then follow it up with 'they're in it for money'.

Blizzard is shit. Their games have polish.. but, they lack originality (past a certain point.. they're obviously original IPs, but the ideas -in- the games are unoriginal), technology (their tech sucks compared to other companies), etc.. They create games for a certain group of people who has followed them since the original Warcraft/Starcraft/Diablo days.. and guess what IPs they're still going with. Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo.

It's called milking the series'. They only come out with a certain degree of quality because they have the money to pay people to work long enough on the games to make them feel polished, where other companies simply don't have those kinds of resources.

I guess maybe my standards aren't just as high then. I enjoyed Diablo 2, Warcraft 3, Starcraft and WoW. Do they lack originality after multiple installments? Yeah, but I was still entertained. :shrug:

They need to put out a Lost Vikings sequel FFS

Not only with sequels, but Warcraft is just a rip off of Warhammer anyway...

Ghostbusters has gotten disrespect as a franchise for years. Columbia treated it like shit for years and now activision has, in a much smaller way, but still.

I think these suits who are out of touch with the pulse of american pop culture and the consumer are oblivious to the magnitude of Ghostbusters as a name brand. Especially among 20-30 year olds who grew up on it.
I've been frustrated for years on how under-realized the whole thing is. Its a classic and there still hasn't been any kind of special edition dvd with respectable features on it. There's the first gen print and thats it.
Every other movie has gotten a 2 disc special edition treatment and Ghostbusters hasn't.
It's been ignored by Columbia for development as a franchise.
Universal Studios canned it's attraction years ago thinking it was passe' and attendance of the attraction that replaced it (Twister) was far less. Now there's talk about making a new one.
The animated series took years to get on DVD and it's only available through True Life.

It's frustrating. Especially in an industry where they have over merchandising for everything, including FAR less popular and less marketable things.
Just the past year they've begun to wake up but the suits are CLUELESS to how much my generation loves it, and how much potential it has to connect with current and future generations of kids/teens/adults.

Well, I'm sort of glad they haven't completely over-whored the franchise (in the last fifteen years, anyway). Yeah, I'd like to see more love for it, but I also don't want to see it treated like shit just for a few bucks.

Your standards must be pretty low if you think all their games are "solid through and though."

And yes, it's amazing that Activision isn't a not-for-profit organization. Really. I'm not just mocking a strawman.

They don't just lack originality after multiple installments.. they lack originality on gameplay mechanics. WoW is one of the worst things, and the best things to happen to the MMO industry since it started. It is a good thing, because it introduced millions to the genre. It's a bad thing, because it did -nothing- new. Its gameplay mechanics are all taken from other games, and they put them together and made the graphics easy to run. They had a steady following from battle.net, and that made them successful.

The game is a piece of shit, and because of its popularity, companies all over the place saw the money potential and are churning out clone after clone of it. It's absolutely horrible for the industry. Of course, they don't care, because they've made billions off of it.

Fuck, even adding those millions of players to the genre wasn't really that great of a thing, because it added a lot of complete idiots to the MMO world. It might sound elitist, but as someone who has played MMOs since the first Big 3, I -hate- the group of people that WoW introduced. Bunch of immature kids with no attention span who cling to internet trends and want their games to be spoonfed to them. It has ruined the genre for people who actually liked the way things were, and could have been when developers gave a shit.

Seriously. Fuck Blizzard.

I know pretty much nothing about MMOs. What are those big 3 you alluded to?

Everquest, Ultima Online, Asheron's Call.

Meridian 59 doesn't really count because it wasn't mainstream, so those three games are often referred to as the Big 3. WoW pretty much has taken an assortment of ideas from games, applied the gameplay mechanics to their Warcraft IP, and made a game with simple cartoony graphics in order to make it easily accessible to everyone.

Seriously don't hate any game more than I hate World of Warcraft.

Sweet Jesus, I remember when people were all arguing over which was better...Everquest or UO. Do they even still run? I could probably just google them I guess, but...

I guess Blizzard is kind of like Apple. They didn't make the first MP3 player, but they make them shiny enough to saturate the market.

I don't know. I can't hate Warcraft or WoW, because I don't care enough about MMOs to bother. But this Blizzard/Activision mentality is poison to gaming, and eventually will come back to bite even them. Even WoW will almost certainly falter eventually, and at that point, the lack of new titles and ideas to prop them up will be disasterous.