I really hope they see this, even if they do nothing about it. I posted this on the former Sierra/current Activision Boards at the Ghostbusters site:

Dear Activision,

I've supported your company for about 28 years now, since the 2600 days. I loved your VCS and computer games from this time period because there was a lot of care and originality was put into your games, one of which was David Crane's Ghostbusters. I was also glad you survived the gaming crash of ‘83 when so many companies didn’t.

In the late ‘90’s/early 2000's, you again caught me with your Tony Hawk and Spider-Man franchises. How lucky you were for Neversoft. When you bought out the Guitar Hero franchise, I was glad the series was going to continue.

Your company gets bigger and bigger becoming the “New EA” of gaming, reaching Borg-like sizes with the amount of companies you assimilate. I don't see the creativity as much, nor do I see those charming, original titles the company was known for, but hey, there's still a few notable titles worthy of purchase at times. I always liked “rewarding” such a long-lived company with my money for a solidly produced game.

And then you assimilated Blizzard/Vivendi/Sierra, because resistance was futile.

I probably wouldn't have cared as much, save for your hackneyed “evaluation” of what properties are key to keep. Spyro and Crash Bandicoot haven't been relevant to gaming in ages, but I guess someone out there must buy them. I didn't realize Ice Age had such a following, but whatever. Don't even get me started on the probability of never seeing King's Quest, Space Quest or Leisure Suit Larry again. But of all things, you decide not to publish Ghostbusters.

This is probably the most ridiculous thing to try and comprehend, seeing how that apparently, Ghostbusters is not a viable enough property to have under the Activision banner, when the same company published dozens of Ghostbusters games for dozens of consoles in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s. Are any of your current corporate people aware of this, or was that knowledge simply “before your time”?

How you could not want to publish such a highly prolific game that Activision already has a history with is beyond me. It's like Tecmo not wanting to do Ninja Gaiden or Konami not wanting to do Metal Gear.

Of course, there's talk of wanting to delay an almost finished game until next year as some great “marketing strategy” (which is all it is) to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Ghostbusters, which is laughable because the Ghostbusters fanbase is a dedicated community who also happens to get the continual short end of the stick when it comes to related merchandise, not that Columbia/Sony really cares. It's disgusting that a company as big as yours with the financial resources you have available suddenly can't find a high profile title like Ghostbusters as “worthy” enough for publication under the Activision banner.

At any rate, I think I'm going to stop being an Activision customer. I understand that it's a business, and money is the bottom line, but when you can't and won't give back to the people who have supported you over the years, then I no longer can justify “rewarding” you with my money. I guess that means future Guitar Hero and Spider-Man titles are out for me as well now, but that's your loss in the long run. Oh, and just to let you know, I actually bought an Xbox 360 with the primary intent of purchasing Ghostbusters, and if the Wii and DS title turn out to be decent, I'd be picking those up as well. Three immediate sales lost from me. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

It's a shame that your loyal customer base is not a part of your overall expansion plans. I really do miss the days of David Crane, Alan White, Steve Cartwright, Robert Whitehead and Larry Kaplan who made the Activision name a sign of quality. Now, it's just a name.

Sincerely,

GuyCC

ouch! But good for you for saying it though I hope they get the letter so that they know how angry all the ghostheads are.

Ouch… Thats gonna hit them where it hurts.













Their wallets! (*peter) :p

And the award for most epic letter goes to…

Honestly, awesome, couldn't have put it better… Mind you mine would be full of swear words, but nonetheless, epic to say the least.

Wow… good for you, I guess?

Hope it made you feel better, cuz it won't do a thing.

Everyone's got to find their way to vent on this, one way or another.

You should be congratulating him for not swearing.

You know Activision already made their decision and I doubt they will change it, they may, but they probably will not. Instead why not write a letter to Terminal Reality, these guys just got something that they worked on for a very long time, some times for 24 to 36 hours a day, pushed back. Not to mention we would not have a game, or atleast get such a amazing product with out them. So instead of yelling at Activision in which they will just shred the letter, why not thank Terminal Reality.

Thats a great letter, to bad you'll probably get a form reply back.

Thanks for the responses. I've nothing against Red Fly or Terminal Reality by any means. I'm sure some of their people read these forums, and if so, great job on putting out some awesome looking titles. Whoever puts them out publishing-wise will be getting my money regardless.

It's stupid to not want to publish such a highly touted game of this year.

It's stupid to not see the viability in a licensed title that has had multiple games published over the years by the very company that just turned it down as a release option.

We get a billion Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk, Spider-Man, and Call of Duty titles (and even obscure games like “Puppy Luv”, “Pimp My Ride”, or “Spanish For Everyone”, which they somehow could bring themselves to publish), but they get a game that has the fan support and full input of the creators and actors of the original project for a potential new series, and they just pass it up for two gaming mascots who are past their prime, and Ice Age, which, is it HONESTLY that popular?

To be honest, these new “Super Borg” companies are starting to worry me as a gamer. They snatch up everything in their path, so who knows? Maybe in a few years, we're only going to have 3-4 of these super publishers instead of 30-40 companies to choose from.

Activision can become as big as it wants to, but it's still a shell of its former self.

Whatever, I am sure GuyCC has taken all of this into consideration, and I know that he knows that there really is no point in these emails other than the fact that we are venting, and possibly showing Activision that a little fanboyism goes a long way.

I support this endeavor. As for Terminal Reality and Redfly studios, I too feel bad for them, though Ghostbusters was not there first choice or design they have stuck true to it, and like any artist, they most likely cant wait to unveil it.