Did Sony Europe save Ghostbusters: The Video Game?

Some cried foul over SCEE gaining European publishing rights for Ghostbusters: The Video Game a mere month before its release, but recent events reveal something more telling.

Earlier this month Atari announced that they had passed European publishing rights for Ghostbusters: The Video Game over to Sony Computer Entertainment Europe; the deal ultimately ended up in an exclusive PlayStation deal.

The game, which had previously been announced for the Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS, would become a PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2 exclusive for most of 2009. Since the anticipated game was set for a late-June release, many cried foul over the deal, feeling that they had been cheated in the region.

Furthermore, many were worried that the deal didn't only cover Europe but would make it's way to the US. Atari put this rumour to rest, announcing that they would publish the game in the States, allowing it to be released for all announced platforms.

The question is, why did such an odd region-specific deal happen so late in the game? Atari's CEO Jim Wilson offered this explanation:

"We assessed the situation of the Ghostbusters franchise in Europe and saw that a united partnership with Sony was the best approach to maximise the long-term value of the franchise. We have an opportunity here to have first-party support behind such a significant franchise and the opportunity to then go back and publish the other SKUs later on."

You'd think they would have "assessed the situation" a little earlier... However, recent news starts to put things into context. It's clear that Atari has been a troubled video game publisher, only recently making their journey into this area and acquiring titles like the Ghostbusters video game as best they could (previously held by Activision) in tough financial times.

Now it has been revealed that Atari will become a US-only brand with a European buyout nearing completion. As reported by MCV, Atari's European operation will become no more as Namco Bandai completes its acquisition of the business.

This isn't too worrying for Atari Europe, since it's sales and marketing team will be transferred over to the newly formed Distribution Partners, which will handle all Namco Bandai products in PAL regions, in addition to all Atari-produced titles until 2014, including (you guessed it) Ghostbusters: The Video Game for non-PlayStation platforms.

Namco Bandai bought a 34 per cent stake in Atari Europe in March of last year, with the company expected to pick up the rest of the stake from Infogrames next month. MCV understands that the new outlet will be headed by former Take-Two, THQ, and EA executive John Golloway.

"We believe that DP will become a wholly-owned Namco Bandai games company soon, but this process requires time and we will comment further when we have an anticipated closing date," said Atari’s European marketing boss David Miller this week.

However, Atari's US division will remain active and become the companies sole HQ, with a UK presence only felt by its London studio headed by ex-Sony developer Paulina Bozek.

With the acquisition being so recent and Atari Europe closing down, it was unlikely that Ghostbusters: The Video Game would have a publisher to meet it's June release date - an important date that would align the game with the Blu-ray release of the original Ghostbusters movies.

It's likely that Atari called up Sony Pictures (the folks that own the Ghostbusters movie brand) and revealed their dilemma, who were then put in touch with SCEE. Of course, SCEE would want something out of the money they'd be throwing at the game's marketing, and wouldn't want to meet the bill for other platforms; hence the exclusive PlayStation deal. Tell us what you think about the deal in the comments section.

Patrick Steen