Sony Buys the Rights to Ghostbusters Game in Europe and PAL Region

Hollywood has a very fruitful relationship with the gaming industry, as the two branches of the entertainment industry have collaborated on several occasions, either on game-based movies or on movie-based games.

The latest big franchise to get a video game adaptation is Ghostbusters, the classic movie series that has entertained people ever since it was first released, 25 years ago. Set to be launched on the franchise's 25th anniversary by Atari, the title has now seen a major change in its release schedule, as Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has bought the publishing rights for the whole PAL region.

Sony will now bring the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2 versions of the video game to Europe on June 19, just in time for the Blu-ray release of the original movie, and will also handle the procedures due for the launch of a PlayStation Portable version of the very anticipated title.

For those of you in the North American and other non-PAL regions, Atari will handle the publishing there on all of the platforms, but the title has been pushed back later this year, without a concrete release date or information of whether the PSP version will appear in these other territories.

“We’re committed to bringing the PlayStation family the biggest and best gaming experiences first,” Mark Hardy, European Product Marketing director at SCEE, says, “and it doesn’t get any bigger and better than this blockbuster title. This summer, PlayStation owners will be the first to grab their proton packs and fight the spirit world. We’d like to wish them the best of luck in their ghostbusting endeavours and, of course, to remind them not to cross the streams!”

This seems like a very awkward move by Sony, which has single-handedly alienated a lot of North American fans, because it chose to bring the Ghostbusters video game early only to European users. No one knows what feedback this move will generate, but all we can do for now is hope that things will get cleared up by either Sony or Atari.