14 DAY TRIAL // Music games are definitely the latest trend in the gaming industry nowadays as a lot of music fans are getting more and more interested in video games, thus opening a big market for companies to profit from. While fully-fledged games, like Guitar Hero or Rock Band are reaping the profits the most, other titles, which only share the music theme, stand to benefit also.
Such is the case with Double Fine's Brutal Legend video game, which will feature famous actor and rock singer Jack Black as a fan who will embark on an adventure in a world of heavy metal filled with things that any hard rock fan will find dear, from guitars shaped like axes that throw flames to monsters and other enemies.
Set to be published by Electronic Arts in fall, the game has had a very difficult creation process. Double Fine, for those of you who don't know, was owned by Vivendi, which merged with Activision some time ago. During the merger, executives from the newly formed company declined to fund projects from Vivendi which didn't have franchise potential, and thus Brutal Legend was left without a publisher. In December last year EA announced that it had partnered with Double Fine and that the game would be launched, being met with a lot of fan support.
Now, it seems that Activision has awakened and is threatening to sue both Double Fine and EA because it has violated the terms of the contract it had with the developers. But this doesn't mean that the company will be the one that will publish Brutal Legend, as, because it doesn't have the opportunity to see sequels, as opposed to Call of Duty for example, it won't see its logo on the official retail packaging.
Most likely this action has the primary goal to squeeze money out of both Double Fine and EA, which won't happen, according to a press release from the latter company which read: “We doubt that Activision would try to sue. That would be like a husband abandoning his family and then suing after his wife meets a better looking guy.”
All that's left for us to do is to wait and see just what will happen to the future game. Until then we can hope for the best.