Last week, Sony shelled out US$200 million for for the rights to release 10 new posthumous Michael Jackson albums, DVDs and video games between now and 2017 reports The Independent.
This is the largest advanced sum ever paid to a musician.
The "new" material was recorded by Jackson over three decades and includes never before released remixes, plus totally new tracks. According to The Independent, an album is scheduled for November. And after that, the newspaper states that anniversary editions of Bad and Thriller as well as an updated take on Off the Wall, a DVD compilation and a Michael Jackson video game.
Jackson, who passed away last year, had his own video game, Michael Jackson's Moonwalker from Sega and also appeared in music games Space Channel 5, its sequel and Midway's fighting games Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2.
The King of Pop was reportedly working on a video game at the time of his death. MJJ Productions, Jackson's production company, has been working on this unannounced home console title for "several months". Word has it that the game features both Jackson's likeness and his recorded speech as well as many of his hit songs.
"I am sure it will still be released," a MJJ Productions rep was quoted as saying. "Michael loved games."
In Japan, Sony released a PS3 bundle with a Blu-ray copy of documentary This Is It.
$200m Jackson deal is the most lucrative in music history [The Independent via CVG]