Ghostbusters the Game in Jeopardy?

Ghostbusters 3 in the Works CREDIT: View full size image

With a new movie now announced, reviving the Ghostbusters franchise, there’s a level of uncertainty surrounding the Ghostbusters video game.

The Activision and Blizzard merger a couple months ago made one of the largest gaming companies in the world. With Blizzard came other Vivendi properties, including Sierra games, who earned their fame in PC point-and-click adventure series about a decade and a half ago. As part of the fold-in, Sierra dropped into the cracks, along with their scheduled games. They, of course, were going to be publishing the Ghostbusters video game. Since, Mark Randel, the head of developer Terminal Reality has assured fans the game is still on the way. Unfortunately, other signs are still against the game’s positive future.

Retailer Gamestop recently cancelled all pre-orders for every version of the game, offering customers a full refund or transfer to a different pre-order. The game is in fact no longer on their website or their list of upcoming games at all. It was scheduled to come out Halloween 2008, but had been reported as delayed to 2009 shortly after the merger.

While the new movie will reportedly be a reboot of the franchise, the game takes place about 2 years after Ghostbusters 2. All four original ‘Busters have been deeply involved in the game, from writing the story and script, to lending their likenesses and voices. The timeless quality of animation allowed Aykroyd and team to live as younger versions of themselves, and make a special effects laden mega-sequel to the now two-decade-old films. The script is said to be approximately three times as long as the script for either of the movies, allowing for a whole lot of ectoplasm to be splattered around.

Realistically, with a near complete game in a popular franchise that’s now getting more media attention, if Activision chooses not to publish the game, someone else is nearly sure to snatch it up. The website is still up, and curiously has the Activision logo (as well as a Vivendi copyright) emblazoned to it. With the media spotlight shining brightly, I’d imagine we’ll find out who Terminal Reality’s gonna call for publishing duties soon.