Ever since Activision Blizzard announced it won't be publishing Double Fine's "Brutal Legend," amongst other Sierra games, the word I've heard most about the game's future is "MTV." The cable conglomerate, which publishes "Rock Band" and is developing games with uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer, seems like a pretty natural publisher for a game about a heavy metal roadie voice by Jack Black. That idea also fits with what I heard from a good industry source who told me "Brutal Legend" was close to a deal with a company that's not a traditional publisher.

However, such a deal is not to be. In a very politic statement, MTV confirmed to me that it won't be publishing "Brutal Legend":

We are big fans of [Double Fine chief] Tim Schafer. We hope the game finds a good home.

That's all they had to say, but my reading of "PR-ese" is that MTV considered publishing "Brutal Legend," talked to Double Fine and its reps, but ultimately decided not to pick the game up and/or couldn't reach a deal.

So where will "Brutal Legend" end up? With MTV out of the picture, I've got no idea for the moment.

Update: Kotaku reports a rumor that EA will publish the game. That doesn't fit with what I previously heard that a non-traditional publisher would be picking up the game, but now that MTV has passed, things do change. However, unlike Kotaku, I don't think the game could be published through EA Partners. Unless Double Fine picks up some new financing, I don't believe it can afford to fund the development costs itself. Somebody probably has to pay back Activision Blizzard for at least a big portion of what Vivendi Games has spend on "Brutal Legend."