You may remember a few months back when we reported that Spyro was being put on the chopping block. Back during the early days of the Vivendi/Activision merger, Activision planned to re-evaluate the franchises they'd soon have jurisdiction over to see who stayed and who'd get the boot. Well, another report out of Variety says Spyro has made the cut. I believe the cheers on the street were something like "nah nah, nah nah, boo boo".

Who will stick around to entourage with Spyro? Crash Bandicoot, the Ice Age license, Prototype, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, and a secret project.

The CEO of Activision Publishing, Mike Griffith, commented: "

Quote:

We are focused on improving efficiency across the combined organization and are concentrating on businesses where we have leadership positions that are aligned with Activision Publishing's long-term corporate objectives. We have conducted a thorough review of Vivendi Games' brand portfolio and are retaining those franchises and titles that are a strong fit with our long-term product strategy.

Who's leaving Survivor: Activison this week? Brutal Legend, the Ghostbusters license (Ghostbusters: The Video Game), 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, World in Conflict: Soviet Assault, Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, and the the Robert Ludlum estate license (the "Bourne" series).

Also absent from Activision's upcoming release list, but not accounted for, was Wet, Zombie Wranglers and Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust. Several Xbox Live Arcade titles are also unspoken for.

Activision's comment on the matter:

Quote:

The only titles that we're currently dealing with are Crash, Spyro, Prototype and this other (unannounced) title. ...It's business as usual. ... We are reviewing our options regarding those titles that we will not be publishing."

Before the merger, these games were on their way to being published by Sierra.

These games aren't necessarily shelved forever. Activision Blizzard may sell the rights to these titles to other publishers. They have not commented on that either way.

Activision said it's going to "realign" (a soft term for downsize) the number of developers at High Moon Studios and Radical Entertainment. As for Massive Entertainment and Swordfish Studios, they could be sold off or shut down.

They have also spoken for Vivendi Games Mobile and Sierra Online, labeling them "non-strategic business units", sounds like another soft term for closing them. This could mean the future Spyro mobile games are farmed out, or that Dawn of the Dragon will be the last Spyro title with a mobile version.

For now, Spyro will continue to be developed and published under the Activision umbrella. As for the other titles, they'll be shipped off to other publishers or else those franchises will die.

Griffith remarked further:

Quote:

We are very excited to add such recognizable and successful brands as Crash Bandicoot, Ice Age and Spyro, which reinforce our leadership position in movie-based and family entertainment video games.

Spyro fans everywhere can now rest easy that Spyro won't die. Some will probably be angry he wasn't passed onto some other handler who might have taken him in a new direction, but for the diehard fans, some sort of Spyro is better than no Spyro at all.

By Spyro on 2008-07-29 05:27

I'm ok with the direction as it is - we already had a "new direction" two years ago, so it's best to see how it develops from here.

What does surprise me though was that Ghostbusters ended up on the chopping block. A young male cousin was looking forward to it well enough, and how am I supposed to tell him that it might not even come out?

Also, I have great interest in Brutal Legend as well thanks to what Double Line did with Psychonauts, so I'm hoping that will get a new publisher rather than dying out completely. I have all my fingers crossed for that and GB.

Nonetheless, it's still good to see that Crash and Spyro have survived the cuts entirely, so all's wonderful in the Dragon Realms at least. I say we proclaim a toast to the survival. :)

Activision now owns Spyro? Darn, I really wish that Sierra kept it; they did a good job.

Activision merged with Sierra, so they're making the game.

Sierra and Activision are essentially now one in the same.

It sounds as if most of the titles will be sold off. Brutal Legend should be safe.

A Sierra rep stated today Ghostbusters will not be cancelled. Absolutely will not. It may be shipped off to another publisher but it wasn't canned. They had no comments for any of the other orphaned games.

It seems like Sierra is surprised about what happened to Ghostbusters, as well.

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