Activision trims Vivendi game portfolio

American video game developer and publisher Activison Blizzard has announced that it will continue developing just five of Vivendi Games' game franchises.

To date four of the franchises that will be continued have been announced - Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Ice Age and Prototype. The name of the fifth franchise will be announced at a later date. Most of the game series are console only titles and target younger gamers.

Projects that have been set aside include the highly anticipated Ghostbusters, World In Conflict: Soviet Assault, Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust, Brutal Legend, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand and Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. Most of the titles - now in limbo - were set to launch on PC and console and were being developed for older gamers with some scheduled for release before the end of the year.

Vivendi Games also owns rights to titles such as Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo and World of Warcraft, all of which have been developed by Blizzard Entertainment. Blizzard Entertainment is a division of Activision Blizzard.