Vivendi confirms Riddick PC; franchise in the making?

Publisher Vivendi Universal Games has finally confirmed the existence of a PC version of its critically acclaimed Xbox first person shooter, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay.

Admittedly, the simple confirmation - which came in the form of a statement admitting the existence of a PC version but giving no further details - arrives after a week which has seen cats leaping out of bags all over the place.

First US retailer EB Games listed a PC version of the game for November 15th - although this listing was hastily pulled from its site - and then media industry magazine Variety published an article about the game which made a direct reference to the PC version.

The Variety article also raised an interesting prospect - namely the possibility that despite the relatively disappointing performance of the Chronicles of Riddick movie at the box office, the Starbreeze-developed game could end up becoming a major franchise for Vivendi.

The Riddick movie received mixed critical reaction and low box office takings in the USA, and swiftly disappeared from most cinemas (it's due to launch in Europe in August, along with the game), but the game has been another story entirely - becoming one of the most popular Xbox-exclusive titles out there, with sales of over 110,000 in its first three weeks and eventual sales expected to top a quarter of a million units.

This success has apparently prompted a look at developing the game into a franchise - an extremely rare circumstance where the "spin off" game could end up significantly outperforming the movie it was designed to support.