It has been known for some time that PC gamers were getting the short end of the stick with  Terminal Reality’s new Ghostbusters game, seeing as both multiplayer and additional content has been cut completely from the PC version.

A statement has since been issued by the game’s developer adressing the lack of multiplayer, and it seems like  the multiplayer was cut from the #1 online gaming platform so that the console versions could be “the best that they could be.”

“Multiplayer for the PC version of Ghostbusters is something that Threewave and Terminal Reality always wanted to do. However, our focus was on making the console version the best that they could be - an experience that allows multiple players to re-live and re-fight many of the themes from the movies. When we looked at the resources necessary to pull off multiplayer on the consoles and the PC, it became a question of what could we do and still be excellent in our execution. We couldn’t do all versions with multiplayer simultaneously with the resources that we had available - there was simply too much to do. Something would have to suffer. Therefore, we kept our focus on making the console versions deliver on the promise of being an integral player on the Ghostbusters team.”

To me, this seems strange. Yes we all know that every part of a game’s development requires resources (time and money), but with platforms like Games for Windows LIVE on the PC, which is the same platform as Xbox Live, why is it that the 360 version of the game can have multiplayer and not the PC version? We can’t be talking about a lot of resources here.

PC gamers are compensated by the fact that Ghostbusters on the PC is a budget priced title, at $30. Compensation aside, it is never a good idea to cut content from any version of a multiplatform game as it will anger consumers, and only gives pirates a way to justify downloading the game for free as well as providing extra seeding for others to do the same. Sony’s decision to hog the publishing rights for Ghostbusters in Europe instead of leaving it in Atari’s hands has delayed the 360 and PC versions of the game until November, and  has almost certainly already ensured rampant piracy of Ghostbusters across both platforms.

On a happier note it does look like a fun-to-play game, which I will be sure to play through at some point.

-Daniel Lindberg

Quote source: Bigdownload

Tags: atari, Ghostbusters, PC, piracy, PS3, Sony, Terminal Reality, Xbox 360

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