UbiSoft goes Ape
Signs Planet-wide publishing deal with Fox
UbiSoft last week announced that they will be publishing an action-adventure game based on the Planet of the Apes series. Developed by Visiware and Fox Interacctive, the game was originally due out last year and has had a low profile in recent months, perhaps not surprising given that the game is based on the original movies rather than the new Tim Burton effort, prompting fears that it had been cancelled entirely. As it turns out though the PC Ape game is now scheduled for release this month, with GameBoy Color and Advance versions in November. The Dreamcast and PlayStation ports seem to have been dropped though, as no mention is made of them in UbiSoft's press release.
This continues Fox's new policy of focusing on game development and production while leaving actual distribution to other companies. Earlier in the year it announced publishing deals with both Electronic Arts and Sierra, covering a host of titles such as Aliens vs Predator 2, Aliens : Colonial Marines and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Planet of the Apes seems to be the proverbial red-headed step-child of Fox Interactive though, with neither hide nor hair seen of the game recently, and we will have to wait and see whether it can live up to its initial promise a year after it was originally planned for release.