Report: Radical working on Spider-Man

Radical Entertainment is finishing up its open-world action game Prototype for a June 9 release, but the developer is doubtlessly looking forward to its next projects as well. In addition to a potential Prototype sequel, Variety is citing "several sources" in reporting today that Radical parent company Activision has the studio working on a new game in the Spider-Man franchise.

If Radical has been assigned to Marvel's webheaded wonder, it would see the studio come full circle in a way. Radical's current project, Prototype, has drawn comparisons to its previous open-world action game, 2005's highly regarded The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. That game in turn bore more than a passing resemblance to Activision's 2004 Spider-Man 2 movie game.

The Variety article also mentions Radical's fellow Activision subsidiary, High Moon Studios. Having yet to create a game for its new parent compnay, the former Vivendi outfit has only two titles to its credit: the vampire-Western shooter Darkwatch and the James Bond rival Bourne Conspiracy. With Treyarch already handling the Bond series for Activision, Variety indicates that High Moon has been tasked with the Transformers franchise.

However, High Moon's first project for the giant robots won't be this summer's movie tie-in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. That game is deep in development at Luxoflux, meaning High Moon would be working on a Transformers title for next year or later and, according to the trade magazine, one not tied directly to a major film release.

While High Moon and Radical were kept by Activision after the Vivendi merger, they were not left untouched. Last year both studios reportedly underwent significant layoffs.

As of press time, an Activision representative had not returned GameSpot's requests for comment.