“Dibs on Europe (and much of Africa and Asia as well)!” That was apparently the rallying cry at Sony headquarters Tuesday as the company announced a deal for exclusive rights to distribute the eagerly awaited video-game version of Ghostbusters outside North America.
The game is scheduled to hit the streets June 19 alongside the Blu-Ray edition of the classic movie.
“We’re committed to bringing the PlayStation family the biggest and best gaming experiences first,” said Mark Hardy, European product marketing manager for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), “and it doesn’t get any bigger and better than this blockbuster title.”
The game features the images and voices of original Ghostbusters stars Dan Ackroyd, Bill Murray, and Harold Ramis along with third-party game play throughout a supernaturally infected New York City.
Sony Gets an Advantage
The news was clearly frustrating to Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360 owners outside North America, who flooded video-game sites to express disapproval. As publisher Atari made clear in a hastily issued press release, the game will be released in North America on June 16 on all major platforms: Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3, PC and Nintendo DS.
“Ghostbusters: The Video Game is one of our most significant worldwide releases this summer,” said Jim Wilson, CEO of Atari. “Through Atari’s North America publishing business and alongside our partners at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, we have a strategically diversified approach to maximize a title of this magnitude on a global basis.”
There is a Cinderella provision in the arrangement — at some unspecified time, Sony’s exclusivity will end and Atari will be able to release the game to other gaming platforms outside North America. ABI Research analyst Zippy Aima, who follows the gaming industry, said she thinks Sony’s exclusive rights will stop sometime before the end of the year.
However, she added, the deal will give…