by [name redacted]

Originally published in, I believe, the September issue of Play Magazine.

Remember last year, when the newly-merged Activision Blizzard decided to shuck itself of properties unlikely to lead to a major franchise? Suddenly several high-profile one-off projects like Ghostbusters were left without a publisher. Though most quickly found a new host, Tim Schafer and Double Fine’s heavy metal adventure Brütal Legend was left grasping. In December the recently progressive Electronic Arts stepped up, and all seemed back on track.

Or maybe not. On June 4th Activision Blizzard filed to block publication of Brütal Legend, insisting that the game’s release would “seriously harm” the company. They said they had invested millions of dollars, and technically they were still in contract with Double Fine. Plus, they wanted merchandizing.

In July Tim Schafer rolled his eyes and counter-filed against Activision, saying the megapublisher had clearly abandoned the project — though not before bizarrely trying to retrofit it into a Guitar Hero spin-off. Furthermore, unlike Activision, Double Fine’s future rested in this game. Double Fine further claims that Activision has confused the game for a competitor to Guitar Hero, and so has conspired “not only to cancel Brütal Legend, but to kill it completely so that Guitar Hero would not have to face the competition.”

On July 30th, Judge Craig Karlan delayed ruling for another week. His tentative conclusion was to deny Activision’s motion.