ACTIVSION: Ghostbusters Game not Cancelled.

[NR1]

Some of you guys don’t realize how much more work and polish can go into a game thanks to a delay. I can tell you that ALL developers must feel a huge sigh of relief when a publisher or other financial backer allows them more time to bake a game in the oven. They hate nothing more than to have to rush an incomplete product to market and then feel the wrath of diehard fans and cynical critics for not delivering. I have read several interviews with Ubisoft designers that have publicly apologized for less than stellar quality on their software due to short development times that were aimed at getting product to market despite whether its was ready or not. Executive director Alain Corre is just the latest to apologize for Red Steel and aims to correct this perception with Red Steel 2 next year. They constantly have their reputation on the line with these games. One game can have the power to make or break a studio.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Atari 2600) led to the destruction of Atari and is considered by many to be partly blamed for the crash of the video game industry in the early 1980s.

Metroid Prime (GameCube) was the first title ever released by Retro Studios in 2002, this coming off the cancellation of at least 4 major titles and considerable shifting of key personnel at the company. Retro Studios was instantly put on the map with Metroid Prime and helped keep the GameCube alive until Wii was released in 2006.

Delays are very common in the videogame industry. This is not like making a movie, where a director can either edit a scene or use one of several cuts of a scene that were filmed. I was watching the bonus Blu-ray that I got with my copy of Metal Gear Solid 4 (Limited Edition), and Hideo Kojima mentioned that his team would cringe every time he would request a change (even a small one like replacing an audio clip with a new one), because the code in the game is such a delicate balancing act. One of the programmers mentioned that by just adjusting one line of code, the game can become unstable and start crashing, thus resulting in teams of programmers searching out and eliminating bugs in the system. Games have to take into account so much more than movies. Remember, this is an interactive media where players create their own experience…

The occurrence of bugs is a part of game development. Every time a correction is made, another bug rears its head. The elimination of bugs is essential to finishing up the game.

On the disc, Hindo Kojima and lead programmer Yaji Korekndo are fighting with each other over the direction of the game’s development during a February 18th meeting. Kojima wants to polish the game, but Korekndo wants to stabilize the existing game so that they are able to still make release. This is only 4 months away from release!

According to Kojima, developers that can raise quality but keep a release date are the real pros. True enough. However, this delay is clearly not Terminal Reality or Red Fly’s fault. It’s the publisher’s. Now they (Terminal Reality and Red Fly) are presented with this fantastic opportunity that Konami’s team wasn’t. Let Sony and Activision work this mess out, while they polish the game off and make it better than what it would have been otherwise.

We have to wrap up development in the next few months. These months amount to about 50% of the entire game. How well we hold it together here will determine how good or bad the end product terns out.” -Hindo Kajima, 2-3 months before release date

Take a look at this quote from an interview I conducted myself in Orlando, FL in the summer of 2005 for N-Sider.com:

Q: Geist was originally unveiled to the public for the first time at E3 2003. In the press release that was issued jointly between n-Space and Nintendo, it states that Geist was positioned to be part of Nintendos 2003 holiday line up. Why has Geist been delayed for over 2-years?

■■■■: The Geist that was shown at that E3 was the early experimental version that we had done with Nintendo. Actually, multiplayer was playable in that version, but it required a second controller that never got plugged in, which is kind of an interesting back-story. That was a product that was on schedule based on it being a FPS with a possession mechanic. Nintendo thought this was a first-person adventure based on possession, and we thought it was a first-person shooter with a possession mechanic. It took us a lot of months to even realize the game that each other thought we were making. If you go back to that first E3 demo, it was very much a shooter-combat oriented game, whereas it has evolved into something very different from that. That’s the process it took, and we are very fortunate enough to work with NCL, who believes in us and believes in the idea and continued to work with us to create the shared vision between our two studios.

As clearly demonstrated by the quote above by n-Space, Nintendo tends to be the worst when it comes to delays. But, guess what? Nintendo games are also widely considered to be the best and most polished titles in the industry! There is a reason why Nintendo software constantly burns up the sales charts month after month…

Super Smash Bros. Brawl- 1 year delay

Super Mario Galxey- 1 year delay

LOZ: Twilight Princess- 1 year delay (plus added content to the Wii version over the GameCube version)

Metroid Prime(s)- all three saw long delays…

The list goes on and on… and not just with Nintendo either. Valve delayed Half-Life 2 for over a year too. The end result? One of the best games EVER made that happens to be the sequel to the greatest PC FPS of all time.

There is a fantastic and VERY looooooong article on the development of HL2 at Game Spot:

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6112889/index.html

[StormRyder]

Yeah Raven, i did a crazy google search to see what i could find and just breezed through articles, but i went back and reread some, it’s definitley getting pushed back, they rumors flying around that if they can’t get it out by at least christmas then it would definitely be between january and june 2009 for the 25th anniversary. that’s my guess peiced together from the loads of online articles, blogs, and forums i’ve breezed through. so the date to when it’s pushed back to is still undecided. French still wants to release it in October if possible

[RavenEffect]

See, if it got delayed just to where it comes out just in time for this Christmas season, I wouldn’t really mind. Hell, I think I could even live with it being delayed until January, because that isn’t TOO long. Anything beyond that is getting to be too much.

NR1, let me be one of the first to say that I really do appreicate your trying to help. You went to great trouble to show how this kind of thing happens all the time. I really appreciate that you wanted to help cheer us up. The thing is, most of us knew that already anyway. The difference here was that this doesn’t seem to be the case this time around. Obviously we could be wrong, but the game was three months from its targeted release and was reportedly about 95% finished. Doesn’t sound like it was an issue of needing more time to get the game ready.

Of course, that could be the case, but with all the backlash this has caused, I’d think they’d have said something about that by now. They’ve come out and clarified things a bit since the $h*t first hit the fan, so to speak. I would think they would have volunteered the information if they actually had a good reason.

Like I’ve said over and over, I am of course just elated that at least it seems we will get the game no matter what. No matter when it comes out, I will be EXTREMELY happy to finally get it. That doesn’t change the fact that it is VERY infuriating that they delay it for so long, especially after we were so close. Still, I guess we should all star to look on the bright side, because if it is going to be delayed, we might as well at least get used to it. :angryvigo:

[joeghostbuster]

“This Fall - Who You Gonna Call?”

it’s in the trailer! it rhymes! it’s perfect! they need to keep the October 08 release date!

[RavenEffect]

@joeghostbuster

“This Fall - Who You Gonna Call?”

it’s in the trailer! it rhymes! it’s perfect! they need to keep the October 08 release date!

LOL! Hey, that sounds like a good enough reason to me.

[kingpin]

The extra ten months of development time are only a benefit to them if they can secure additional budget to carry on work, if they aren’t given any more money then had been previously arranged then they’ll likely still be finishing production in the fall and then the game will be shelved.

Being able to use the delay time to give the game more ‘polish’ isn’t guarenteed. And in addition to that, some people may have to move onto other projects once October comes along so even if they do get more funding, they won’t necessarily have the whole team by the time the game is released.

[RavenEffect]

@Kingpin

The extra ten months of development time are only a benefit to them if they can secure additional budget to carry on work, if they aren’t given any more money then had been previously arranged then they’ll likely still be finishing production in the fall and then the game will be shelved.

Being able to use the delay time to give the game more ‘polish’ isn’t guarenteed. And in addition to that, some people may have to move onto other projects once October comes along so even if they do get more funding, they won’t necessarily have the whole team by the time the game is released.

From what we have heard so far, though, the game seems to be pretty much done now, and there have been no rumors of it possibly NEEDING any polishing. If the game is good to go, I’d much rather them not hold off just for the sake of polishing it if there really is no polishing to be done. No game can ever be perfect no matter how long they take. Hell, NOTHING can ever be perfect. If the game actually needs some polishing, then I’d be a bit more accepting of the delay.

If, though, the game doesn’t really need any publishing, then I’d rather them just release it. I mean, I’m sure every game could be just a little better if they delay it and take more time. There comes a time, though, when “just a little better” isn’t worth the delay because the improvements aren’t big enough. If the game is this close to conclusion already, I almost wonder if that is the case, and if it is, the game shouldn’t be delayed.

[Dan_AKA]

What makes me nervouse is that a big company like Activision wouldn’t want to publish this game. After all Ghostbusters would be the first Colombia/Tri-Star video game that they would have released. I’m not even sure weather or not to put any kind of stock in the rumor that a certain actor wants 50% of the profits of the game, which is just insane to ask.

The thing that really worries me, as I think has happened before, is for the game to not find a publisher and to stay shelved in a limbo state forever, essentially cancelling it.

[OAOSwartz]

I was at work last nite and i went through the paperwork for game and movies releases and it says on the papers that its coming out but when i checked the website it says “no items found for ghostbusters: the video game”, but just 2 weeks ago when i brought it up for a customer it was listed.

[aj-quick]

@OAOSwartz

I was at work last nite and i went through the paperwork for game and movies releases and it says on the papers that its coming out but when i checked the website it says “no items found for ghostbusters: the video game”, but just 2 weeks ago when i brought it up for a customer it was listed.

Where do you work?

[butch02]

is their any way we can contact Activision Blizzard as wish they were covered wis goo? this is fucking ridiculous! somebody finally makes a great ghostbusters, something they could never do and now they shit all over it. i hope they get sucked down into the tenth level of HELL!!!

[aj-quick]

@butch02

is their any way we can contact Activision Blizzard as wish they were covered wis goo? this is f****g ridiculous! somebody finally makes a great ghostbusters, something they could never do and now they s**t all over it. i hope they get sucked down into the tenth level of HELL!!!

Actually.. don’t…

Too many fans are in contact with Activision and Vivendi.. that it actually gets people who have a need to contact them delayed or un-answered. I mean.. I have been surprised on how many people have been contacting me because they talked with Activision (only ofcourse to say the same thing everyone else has been saying).

But let the professionals like Dan Amrich deal with them.. they will ultimately get a better scoop than random fans like us.

[NR1]

@RavenEffect

NR1, let me be one of the first to say that I really do appreicate your trying to help. You went to great trouble to show how this kind of thing happens all the time. I really appreciate that you wanted to help cheer us up. The thing is, most of us knew that already anyway. The difference here was that this doesn’t seem to be the case this time around. Obviously we could be wrong, but the game was three months from its targeted release and was reportedly about 95% finished. Doesn’t sound like it was an issue of needing more time to get the game ready.

Thanks. Yea, like I said, this is clearly not a problem with either Terminal Reality or Red Fly. This is a publisher problem. What I was attempting to illustrate is that game design is not exactly like movie making and that the final months of a games development are critical to success. These guys find themselves in an interesting situation of being allowed more time to polish at the very end because of the the publisher.

By the way, according to Kojima’s opinion, no, the game is not 95% complete. The last last 50% of the game is made in the final 3 to 4 months of development. Oddly enough, this is the same way with movies too. You can spend a year filming a movie, but at the end of that year, none of that means anything until someone edits, cuts, cleans, and polishes it.

Crazy how just a moment ago I was looking at this in one light, and now I’m looking at the exact same thing in a different light and finding myself arguing with myself. LOL.

@Kingpin

The extra ten months of development time are only a benefit to them if they can secure additional budget to carry on work, if they aren’t given any more money then had been previously arranged then they’ll likely still be finishing production in the fall and then the game will be shelved.

Oh yes, I completely agree. In fact, n-Space faced this same problem MANY years ago with one of their titles…

@N-sider.com Interview with n-Space

The shakeup Ted [Newman] is referring to was the merger and shuffling of several departments at Sony in the later half of 1995. When the dust had finally settled, Sony found itself with the unfortunate problem of having two titles by two separate teams that were unnervingly similar. One of these titles was Razor Wing, the other was developer Singletrac’s Warhawk. The call came down to terminate one of the projects and, unfortunately, Razor Wing got the axe, even though it was barely three months shy of completion. For those confused as to how Sony had the power to cancel development of a title they were not developing internally, it has to do with the fact that Sony funded both Warhawk and Razor Wings production. Once the money stopped flowing, development stopped moving.

http://www.n-sider.com/contentview.php?contentid=321

Ouch… man, that whole story is unsettling similar to this situation… :sigh:

Now, we are just assuming that because of this situation, all the money has dried up and gone away. This many not be the case at all. Activision may be contractually obligated by Sony to deliver a video game by a certain date or face a stiff penalty for failing to up hold to the agreement. Then again, the agreement could simply state “Use it or lose it.” Meaning, they either use the movie property by this date or lose ownership. Either case, I think we can all agree that angering Sony is not in Activision’s best interests (Playstation brand, MGM movies, Sony Pictures, Sony Music, ect…).

Having just said that, keep in mind that even if they don’t get the same volume of funding as they once did, they still have some of their own funds that they can happily throw at the project if they want. Terminal Reality and Red Fly are not completely dependent on publishers for funding. They make money of the sales of their products too and they invest that into internal development and future products.

Remember how they secured the Ghostbusters property in the first place? They were shopping around their own original game design using a physics engine they developed. Geist from n-Space was also a self-funded prototype that was then shopped around to publishers until Nintendo picked it up.

From my perspective, I would assume it would make good business sense to invest into a game that has huge growth potential than to let it sit and wait for a new publisher. The game will be released sooner or later. That much is for sure based on what these guys have said thus far. Its just a question of what they plan to do with the game in the time between now and then.

I think its better to have a small team working on the game than no one at all. Besides, like others have already said, much of the “heavy lifting” has been done up until this point. Now its just a matter of polishing without messing up the code too much. I wouldn’t expect that they would be able to add or modify the basic design of the game though. This mainly has to do with the structure of developer-publisher relationships and the approval process, not to mention the recklessness of creating a buggy game by jacking with the code this late in the game.

[butch02]

i just think it’s ridiculous that they don’t seem to have enough faith in the game to publish it themselves. why put the hold in it now? it’s already gotten tons of attention from various sources. seriously, how retarded do they have to be? 2 months away. damn them!

[downsouthgb]

if activsion is not gonna publish the game then how come they still have the ghostbustersgame.com site still up and running under the activsion name?

[aj-quick]

@downsouthgb

if activsion is not gonna publish the game then how come they still have the ghostbustersgame.com site still up and running under the activsion name?

Don’t worry about it.

It isn’t like they are going to immediately take it down. It costs nothing to keep up, and actually is a good way to meter how many people are visiting the site.

You may notice they have it as Activision instead of Sierra like the site used to have. Since all the sites share the same header, that’s probably also just a simple automatic change.

[dr_logan]

thus far, the wilipedia says the game’s release date has yet to be established, officially, however there is a hint that they are pushing for a halloweenr elease of 2008 still, and most of the other game information sites seem to be going with that, and also, on myspace they have one of those ads advertising the game with that “shock the monkey and win something” setup.

So I’m wondering maybe it is closer than we think… I’m hoping… I’ve been waiting a long time. and after hearing the real ghostbusters on DVD got pushed back to november… not a long wait, but still… I’m looking to see some goods.

[kingpin]

If it’s on Wikipedia, then it must be true.

[aj-quick]

@dr_logan

So I’m wondering maybe it is closer than we think… I’m hoping… I’ve been waiting a long time. and after hearing the real ghostbusters on DVD got pushed back to november… not a long wait, but still… I’m looking to see some goods.

Umm.

The release date has always been November 15th.

[JediChris1138]

You know… I’m over all the announcement hoopla. I have seen SO MANY posts saying there’s going to be an imminent announcement… if the first time I’d heard that, it’d been true, I would have known something two months ago.

When will ‘imminent’ be ‘look for a big announcement on our website TOMORROW!’

When that happens, I might perk my ears up a tad.

/jcs