Activision Acting All Brutal Over EA's Publishing Deal

Just when you thought that the saga of Brutal Legend's twisted path to retail shelves was nice and calm, Variety has filed a report claiming that Activision still hasn't let go of Double Fine's game. The company became the publisher of the game after merging with Vivendi Games last year, but subsequently dropped it, seemingly because it wasn't the sort of game that could be "exploited" on an annual basis. After dropping the game, EA picked it up through its EA Partners program, and the company is currently planning on releasing the Tim Schafer/Jack Black opus this fall.

According to the original article, Activision dropped a letter on Double Fine and Electronic Arts "informing them of its legal concerns." EA responded with this fantastic quote:

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.

Nice. Ben Fritz speculated in his Variety piece that Activision is looking for a payoff for the publishing rights, which seems reasonable. But considering how much time Activision probably spent last year preventing other publishing deals from going through--especially with companies it considers to be actual competition--this just sounds like one more step in a long-running process designed to keep Brutal Legend off shelves for as long as possible.