Activision may seek payday from rejected Brutal Legend
Who owns the rights to a game can be a tricky question, and in the case of a deal such as the merger of Activision and Blizzard, things can get confusing. Many games were dropped during the merger-even fan favorites such as the Ghostbusters title. Other cancellations amounted to games that seemed destined to become cult favorites at best, such as Brutal Legend by fan-favorite Tim Scafer. That title has landed at EA, but Activision Blizzard now claims it still holds the rights to it and is readying the lawyers. EA's reaction? Bring it on.
Why would Brutal Legend have been dropped? Activision Blizzard has a very public attitude about what games it wants to publish: titles that can fit on every platform and be rehashed once a year to keep interest-and profits-up. The games dropped postmerger may have seemed like sure things to the casual observer, but it seems as if Activision Blizzard simply wasn't interested. That is, until EA got involved.
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