Well, this pretty much came out of nowhere. In a surprise move, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe have announced that they’re publishing Ghostbusters: The Video Game in Europe instead of Atari, essentially making the game a timed exclusive – in European territories at least – until some time later this year.

Shock! Horror! Awe! A sprinkling of info, and some confusion, await over the jump.

UPDATE: The story on EU and worldwide releases over the jump.

The word goes, according to TheSixthAxis, that SCEE have scooped the rights to publish the PS3 and PS2 versions of Ghostbusters in European territories (ie: Europe and Australia) and will release the game on June the 19th, to coincide with the release of the original movie on Blu-ray.

SCEE will retain the publishing rights – I think - for the PSP version which hits shelves in the Fall at which point Atari would be free to publish all other versions of the game for other formats. At least, I think this is how it’s going.

The press release isn’t brilliant at spelling things out clearly; I’m unsure whether it’s Sony Computer Entertainment Europe alone who have publishing rights – leaving Atari free to publish the game elsewhere – although common sense would dictate that Sony as a whole has the timed exclusive rights to the game across the world.

The story, it now seems, is that SCEE have done a deal to acquire exclusive rights to the game in Europe alone. In the States and elsewhere, Atari will be publishing the game on June 16th on all formats.

If it were merely a European exclusivity deal – “Ghostbusters: The Video Game will launch in Europe and PAL regions on June 19th 2009 exclusively for PS3 and PlayStation 2,” reads the press release I have – then it would be sorta pointless and merely frustrating for European 360 and Wii owners, who would need to sit tight and wait for the game to come out while their American cousins sit and play the game on their own console of choice.

Until it becomes a little clearer all we can do is ponder, I suppose. Still, in Europe at the very least, Ghostbusters: The Video Game is a timed exclusive on the PS3 and PS2. Perhaps Atari simply doesn’t have the money to publish the game for now, and will perhaps receive a dividend from SCEE?

The boost this may generate for Sony and the ailing PS3 could prove vital; short of a price cut, this is the next best thing (well, anything’s better than, say, Haze) the company could hope for and it could sell a good few consoles. Now all we need is a PS3 done up like Slimer and Sony have a sure-fire hit on their hands with this deal.

So then, EU 360, PC and Wii owners: how pissed are you at having to wait longer? Did you even care about Ghostbusters? Sound off in the comments!

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