One time wrote: ↑December 23rd, 2022, 3:37 pm Ouch!
This is gonna get some people arguing that's for sure!
Here is the situation:
GBTVG (Realistic version) was considered canon (due to comments by Dan Aykroyd that he really considered it the original GB3 and the fact that he and Ramis worked on the script).
Later, Afterlife showed some discrepancies with GBTVG (Realistic version) (with Gozer returning and the whole Shandor thing, I won't spoil anything).
On face value GBTVG (Realistic version) and Afterlife seemed to be (somewhat) incompatible which led to Sony exec Eric Reich saying GBTVG (RV) was no longer canon. MANY fans here (especially those who don't really have an interest in gaming) went with that statement. It was an official statement afterall.
But for people (like me) who were and are deeply in love with GBTVG (RV) we have a hard time letting that go so easily. The fact that it is an official release, having had script input from Aykroyd and Ramis (the original script writers of GB1), is the final release where all 4 Ghostbusters are in an adventure together, is a straight up sequel to GB2 set just 2 years later, is 60 hrs (at least) and has YOU experience it from within, interacting with the actual Ghostbusters, was just too good to be true. Especially being released 20 years after the last movie installment.
It released really out of the blue, as there was nothing Ghostbusters related going on in that time period (2009), featuring almost the entire GB1 cast of actual actors (Murray, Aykroyd, Ramis, Hudson, Potts and Atherton). That was a miracle.
What made it even more miraculous was the quality and fan service in the game. Every little part of it oozed the fact that it was made by real fans of the franchise and not a corporation. It is a benchmark on how to make a videogame out of a movie franchise.
That's the situation. Eventhough officially Sony has (I think still) decanonised it, for those of us that love it, we go by Aykroyds word. And yeah you can kind of make it fit Afterlife with saying that Gozer was fooling Shandor all along and ripped him in half the moment she saw him because of what happened in the video game, the driver of the Ecto1 in the final scene of Afterlife, who drives it into the Firehouse also suspiciously has the Rookie's (Bryan Welsh) look. But the statements from Sony are what they are.
Instead of arguing it those of us that love it really try to get as many people to play it and fall in love with it as we have.
As for Spirits Unleased (while I love that game too) I have no data on that. The game doesn't have a detailed or long story, being a multiplayer action game. On face value it seems to be harder to reconcile it being canon with the upcoming Firehouse unless they reference all the characters (Eddie, Cat, etc) in the new movie, which looks unlikely.
The only reason Aykroyd said the game was canon was because at the time there was no chance we would get a third movie.
But with a third movie it decanonised the game.
The mental gymnastics to get the 2009 game to work in with the canon of the movie is baffling.
Clearly the Rookie never took the Ecto to Chicago since it went to Summerville.
And when Winston said he started his company "with one employee" my mind never even thought of the Rookie and you cannot even see whose driving the Ecto into the firehouse at the end of Afterlife. My first thought was its just the transport driver who trucked Ecto from Summerville.
The way I understand it there's a few canons now.
Film: GB, GBII & GBA
Cartoon: RGB & EGB
Game 1: GBTVG
Game 2: GBSU
And multiple comics. IDW being the main one.
While GBSU has elements carried on from GBA its its own timeline. And offshoot of the main GB Tree.
Its no more canon to the films than the cartoon is.
So GBSU will have no more affect on GB4 than GBTVG had on GBA. They're all seperate timelines and we've had several comments from Ghost Corps to back that up.
What Aykroyd said in '09 can no longer be held as gospel as there has been a third film to continue the official story.