Now that the Activision Blizzard deal has officially gone through, we can all look forward to the future - a future where Xbox has total control over ActiBlizz IP. The Call of Duty owner is sitting on a treasure trove of other gaming franchises, and we could even see some of them return in 'remake' form at some stage.
Speaking with CNBC as the deal went through earlier today, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick discussed the benefits of Xbox ownership and what he sees from the future of this acquisition. Here's an interesting tidbit from the discussion:
"I think one of the benefits of this combination is that we can take games that have been in the library for the last 30 years and actually remake them."
Now, we're not entirely sure why Activision couldn't have already done this on its own accord, but we can assume that the financials will have had some say in its desire for remakes - or lack thereof. With Xbox looking to bolster its first party output — and its Game Pass lineup — ActiBlizz remakes could be more likely to happen post-acquisition.
For now we're in the very early stages of these two huge companies merging, as Microsoft gets to work bringing as many Activision Blizzard titles as possible to Xbox Game Pass. Once that's all sorted, we may just see some famous ActiBlizz IP make their grand return on Xbox.
Are there any ActiBlizz games you'd really love to see remade? Drop any ideas down in the comments below.
[source youtu.be]
Comments 59
They will probably have the same issue that they have with Banjo. Which studio do you take off their current project to do this? Studios would rather make their own thing and I don't think Xbox wants to be in the position where they are forcing a studio to work on something they don't want to. If a studio comes up with a cool idea for one of the IP then it would probably make sense but a straight remaster/remake then it would probably be best to hire an outside studio to do that.
Singularity. There, I've said my piece.
How bout Overwtch 2 make.it like was originally planned.
Can't happen because of licensing issues but i would love to see remasters of the various Marvel games they made. Being more realistic how about Pro Skater 3/4 and Underground 1/2 remakes please Phil?
I had an Activision best of game for PS2 with their old arcade and Atari games like Pitfall, Megamania, River Raid. I would love to see that on Gamepass. It had licensed 80s music and retro borders on screen, etc for complete nostalgia trip. I would love to see it redone, and I assume it would be super cheap to do. I also assume it would make almost no money 😂 so probably not going to happen
simple answer. make none of them and instead focus on some new IP's and not the same old ones over and over again.
I mean, it's not as if Activision couldn't do it before-hand, the company just chose to focus on Call of Duty.
@BacklogBrad ABK is in an interesting position because their management (ignore Bobby for a bit) is actually extremely efficient but was working with a limited budget that forced CoD prioritization.
With a [potentially] larger budget they can expand teams significantly, much more efficiently and effectively than MS has done trying to build up The Initiative. There are a lot of studios shutting down and downsizing as of late, so there is a lot of talent out there to pick from, provided they have the budget to hire and expand teams.
I just have say:
It's s great time to be an Xbox gamer!
They couldn't do remakes because that would mean diverting resources from the CoD churn machine.
Prototype 🤗 nough said.
@BrilliantBill For sure, every one of those teams that made fantastic remakes (and in the case of one also made a great sequel in crash 4) got shoved onto activision gaas games (Cod, Crash Rumble, and Diablo).
@Rmg0731 Or articles like Sony treating people not to disclose when they lose their jobs just like with the struggling Last of Us multiplayer project Sony has been losing so much over.
Crash racing needs cross play and a next gen upgrade asap
Activision own the Infocom back catalogue. Let's farm out some preservation work on those to Digital Eclipse!
@Moonglow I don't expect them to "hand" things over to any other studios. Every one of their studios are busy right now. What I expect is MS injecting additional funds to the Activision side of ABK to increase development bandwidth within the company.
Example: It's easier to double the size of Toys for Bob than its to create a brand new Toys for Bob style studio from scratch.
As far as "handing over", at least under Phill, he seems to be of the philosophy that he does not like to assign work, but instead approve/reject pitches brought forward. There was, though, that whole deal with Playground Studios and Fable, where we have heard that they pitched a fantasy game and he simply suggested if that game could simply use the Fable IP instead of trying to be a brand new IP, so its not like he wont encourage using IPs they already own. Just no assignments.
@Tharsman Activision does get the privilege of figuring out all the new versions of Call of Duty now like a Nintendo version. I imagine even more people (and servers) are going to be working on developing and maintaining Call of Duty going forward. So Microsoft will likely need to kick in additional resources and people just to that project.
I'd like to see World of warcraft remade for consoles maybe?
@pepsilover2008 I really wish them gaas games would disappear forever I woudnt touch one with a barge pole
Prototype would be cool. But I’d like a new Spyro game as well as some of those old Transformers games, which I’ve never tried.
I'm more interested in new games, but I'll take a remake here and there.
I'll say it as many times as it's asked - either relistings, remasters, and or collections of licensed games like Spider-Man, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, & Transformers. That's the only thing I'll care about potentially from this deal.
WoW console port for game pass? Extremely unlikely I know but hey that’d be cool.
I'd really like to see another Prototype game, and would love another Singularity, but rather than remakes, I'd love to see sequels for these games. Also, I'd really love to see World of Warcraft on the console, that would be something that would really interest me...
Could the Flash games that got removed from a site, be converted with HTML from Microsoft?
StarCraft, WarCraft, Pitfall, Overwatch 1, THPS Underground…
Can sekiro receive an update for series s? Still runs on sub 800p 30 frame..
@Tharsman maybe they could come on board and help get a halo out the door. I actually loved infinite but I only play the campaigns
@RentedPanda I'd pay for it too! Especially Pitfall!!
@TheSimulator one of my favourite games since ps1 days
Rock N' Roll Racing is the only one that comes to mind.
Modern Warfare 2 the proper one from 2009 which we should already have had a proper remake but only got the single player campaign.
Crash Team Racing / Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is the obvious choice for me, although it would be especially cool if track layouts were procedurally-generated from carefully-made track segments. It would quickly become a favourite for both local and online play, offering near-unlimited new experiences.
Prototype 1 my fav superhero bvillain games
@CutchuSlow I play WoW on my Steamdeck and with an Xbox Controller occasionally with no mods. The game has official controller support since late Shadowlands. It is very doable with only one specific gameplay mechanic that should be fixable...if they wanted. Fishing, or any mini-game that involves mouse targeting like bomb strafing or the odd catapult or cannon firing quest. It's just awkward as hell without a mouse. Raid healing can also be a pain. But it's much easier with a proper layout on Steamdeck using the touch screen.
They could just as easily port WoW to Xbox Series with full mouse/keyboard support in its current state and not even sweat it. WoW could run on a potato at this stage of its life.
How about Banjo Kazooie and ports of the PGR series? Oh wait, Xbox has owned those IP for over ten and twenty years.
@Xbox_Dashboard oh ok. I don't really like wow. But if it was remade with action combat, maybe I might like it.
@Benjamin
I would like to see Banjo Kazooie. But to me, Forza Horizon has everything PGR had and a ton more.
Rather than having just a few tracks Horizon has literally hundreds in its open world with a ton of variety. The style points in Horizon are way better than PGR, and Horizon has way more cars, not to mention the general open world, story mode and a ton of other features.
As for AKB remakes... None. Give me new IPs or new games in series please. I am tired of remakes, remasters, and rehashing.
If for cod’s I would say a black Ops collection and a Modern Warfare collection
@AlexAtwell Umm can you be more specific?
@NeoRatt Microsoft created Worlds Edge to be there RTS studio. They could do the same for there kids IPs with Toys For Bob.
I Could easily see Banjo & Conker turn up in a future Skylander, kart racer, kids brawler, gaas game or a remake/remaster of there older titles.
Project Gotham Racing would be good
@Markatron84 Singularity a classic in the bioshock style,
I would be happy if singularity was just made backwards compatible
First prize for me would be Blackthorne. Second prize, The Lost Vikings.
@Scummbuddy Royal Games the main portal to King, all the games got removed because Flash was ending, would Microsoft’s deal help revive Royal Games and make the rest of the games HTML even though some of the games from the games site were converted to HTML?
Of course MS can now make ANY IP that was owned by ABK as well as remake/remaster any old IP they owned. If MS wanted, they could get Double Fine making a Crash or Spyro game, the Coalition maybe making a Hexen or Prototype game. Those IP's are now owned by Microsoft!
We kind of know why ABK couldn't do it - it was down to their Business model - based on Sales. Why make a new Prototype that won't sell enough to cover any delays to Call of Duty and potential lost sales in that financial year. It became more important to ensure CoD released annually in its usual window to maximise their Sales income and games cost a LOT of money to make, but they can get more money from MTX, DLC, Season Passes etc from just CoD at a 'lower' cost to ABK.
MS has a different business model, not Strictly Sales based but more Service driven. It makes more sense to have much more variety of content, more Studios making different games to put into Game Pass to sell Subscriptions - if they sell as well, bonus - but they'll still have 'extras' to sell as well...
Point is, they bought ABK for its potential, not necessarily for its current state and its business model that was not conducive to its creativity and output. Considering the size of ABK and its MANY Studio's, at most you got 2-3 games released - with one being CoD. Yet people complain about MS with 'less' Studios, certainly a LOT less staff and their output.
@AlexAtwell Why not play the HTML versions on King.Com?
RoyalGames was owned and run by King themselves who decided to SHUT down the site. They have games you can play on King.com - which funnily enough was the former name of RoyalGames.com. Instead of whining about a 'dead' website that no-longer hosts ANY playable games - even the HTML games which they had converted to, they are playable on King.com - the Original branding of RoyalGames.com...
Believe it or not I’d LOVE to see the entire Activision 2600, 5200, Intellivision, Colecovision & 8 bit computer library drop! Many many timeless classics within!
@RentedPanda
I want it!!! Day one purchase! And I think you’d be surprised how many gamers like you and I would agree and would sell better than you realize! Lol see my above post. 👍
@BacklogBrad yea, with all of these studios, i'm surprised they haven't created a "remake" studio kinda like bluepoint.
SKYLANDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SKYLANDERS!!!!
Spiderman 3 LMAO
I'd like a compilation of Atari 2600 (and others from that time) Activision games. And done like how Digital Eclipse does them.
I see potential in combining universes. Prototype and Crackdown would go well together. Maybe a super smash bros clone? Im stoked to see what the next decade brings!
@BacklogBrad id totally agree if it were ANY OTHER acquisition they have made. What could they possibly pull them off of? COD? Or maybe COD again. These guys aren't making anything right now we have the the god forsaken COD about to launch we have support on Diablo 4 Overwatch 2 ect. Nah the best thing MS could do is finally take the focus off of COD split the devs up let Raven finally do something else again. They can offer support to quickly remake some games while others are in pre production. Actually now is literally the best time to do this. Blizzard has been a 9 to 5 mentality they're games have lately have proven that. So I doubt they have even started anything else. They need to focus on finally getting WOW to Xbox that's just good business it would bring a lot of people to Gamepass. It's sad to say but they will actually get more from bringing old IP back right now till things get reorganized.
@NeoRatt They’re very different to me. I prefer street/circuit racing to open world racing, PGR’s driving model feels better and the aesthetic is perfect. Nothing lost by having both franchises available!
Would rather new games and new IP.
But a THPS 3+4 remake would be top of my list of remakes. 1+2 is amazing.
What happened to Conker and Battletoads as a result of lending them to other companies? Microsoft would not be able to control them well with their IP.
@Markatron84
Good call - years since played it but did enjoy Singularity; same release year, I think, as 007 Blood Stone, which was also pretty fun and not a CoD game!
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