Stolen Pixels #37: Part One of Infinity

[Shamus Young]

Stolen Pixels #37: Part One of Infinity

If your game can't spawn a franchise, Activision doesn't want it, no matter how good it is.

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[roulette]

Not sure about the others, but Ghostbusters and Riddick were just picked up by Atari a few days ago.

http://www.variety.com/VR1117994909.html

 

[pseudoidiot]

Just letting you know, but the link on your site goes to the post here instead of the actual comic.

 

[teletran3]

I was wondering what happened to the Jack Black game. That's too bad. Effing greedy bastards.

 

[ShadowKirby]

People still play Crash and Spyro ?

 

[DaveMc]

"Schindler's List V: The Schindling"! It is to laugh.

 

[Gahars]

I can't believe they're doing this to Brutal Legend

 

[jamused]

Hm. Let me experiment.

Brutal Legend II: Totally Metal

Brutal Legend 3: This One Goes to 11

Nope, the English language seems to allow for sequels to Brutal Legend.

 

[ima420r]

Awwwww man! I was so looking forward to that game! I hope it gets pick up by someone else like Ghostbusters.

 

[illiterate]

Wow... I remember when Infogrammes was the "bad guy". They dressed themselves in Atari's dead skin and danced around to cleanse their shoddy public image with american gamers.

Now they're picking up Activision's scraps.

If this guy is really so bottom-line oriented (and I don't see this as evil, just short sighted and greedy), what is he going to do about Blizzard's legendarily long development cycles? Blizzard puts out games "when they're ready", and fans are always prepared to wait because they're worth it. Someone who refuses to publish games because he can't resell them the next year may not be so philosophical about it.

 

[SharedProphet]

I'm sure someone else will publish Brutal Legend; it happened with Psychonauts. I just hope it doesn't take too long, because it looks awesome.

 

[Dev Null]

I don't wonder how these people managed to end up running multinational games megacorps, I wonder how they dredge up the requisite synaptic activity to remember to breathe.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

This is the reason why I'm actively boycotting all Activision products... sorry people if you want Brutal Legend, don't buy Call of Duty or Guitar Hero, send a message that they shouldn't be asshats like this.

 

[Robyrt]

Unfortunately, sequels make much more sense for the bottom line. To use a music analogy, a band's bestselling album is often the one AFTER their best album, because everybody was excited for the sequel.

Tim Shafer is good at making interesting, critically approved games, but not at making games that sell millions of copies. Neversoft is good at making games that sell millions of copies. Which one would you can, if you had to cut one game? The choice is obvious from a business perspective.

Of course, a company as big as Activision should be rich enough to fund some original IP development to stay ahead of the curve. Maybe they're not making as much money off of Guitar Hero and Call of Duty as we thought they were.

 

[illiterate]

As someone who owns GH3 and Rockband, I can tell you which one we end up playing now. And I think a lot of people might just be buying rockband(2) now.

 

[Eagle Est1986]

"Schindler's List V: The Schindling"! It is to laugh.

Ditto.

Excellent comic Shamus, although I believe that Ghostbusters and Assualt on Dark Athena have been picked up again.

 

[Shamus Young]

I'm really glad that Ghostbusters lives again.

I really hope Brutal Legend gets another chance as well.

 

[matrix3509]

This is just another example of how originality doesn't sell in the video game market. Franchises sell and publishers are only too happy to give (sell) us a franchise. We can talk about how video games need to evolve as an art form until we are all blue in the face, but until every major publisher goes bankrupt and is replaced by a dozen or so small time publishers, we can all just keep looking forward to Call of Duty 22 and Spyro 200.

 

[shMerker]

When I started seeing lots of developers saying their high-budget new IP was "the beginning of a trilogy" I thought it was a combination of greed and hubris. Now I'm beginning to think it's simply survival instinct.

 

[ccesarano]

People still play Crash and Spyro ?

Yeah, this is partly what got me thinking. Activision releases plenty of games that must barely get the cash back sunk into developing them.

Brutal Legend is a guaranteed seller to anyone that plays Tim Schaffer games, AND to anyone that has ever been a fan of 80's metal and plays video games. I mean, put an ad for it in Heavy Metal Magazine and you got yourself a market. It's already a better destined seller than the latest Spyro or Crash game.

I'm hoping the fact that it is Tim Schaffer, a man that many in the industry have fond memories of, and the fact that it has big names like Jack Black and...well, Ronnie James Dio isn't exactly a big name, but you get the idea.

Interestingly enough, if EA wants to continue trying to look like they've turned over a new leaf (completely disregarding all of this DRM stuff), they'd pick up Brutal Legend and then stay hands-off, allowing it to be just as Schaffer wants it to be.