Phil Spencer wants to bring back dormant Activision IP, plans to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation

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Phil Spencer recently sat down with The Washington Post for an interview following Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard a few days ago. He discussed his plans for the studios acquired under the Activision Blizzard banner, and plans to revive dormant IPs. “I was looking at the IP list, I mean, let’s go!” Spencer said. “ ‘King’s Quest,’ ‘Guitar Hero,’ … I should know this but I think they got ‘HeXen.’ ” (Activision Blizzard does own Hexen.) Some other notable IP now owned by Microsoft include Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and Geometry Wars.

"We're hoping that we'll be able to work with them when the deal closes to make sure we have resources to work on franchises that I love from my childhood, and that the teams really want to get," Spencer said on the topic of developer Toys for Bob, who made the well-received Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time before being reassigned to work as a support studio on Call of Duty: Warzone last April. "I'm looking forward to these conversations. I really think it's about adding resources and increasing capability."

Meanwhile, Spencer has also addressed the subject of whether or not Activision Blizzard titles would continue to appear on PlayStation. "Had good calls this week with leaders at Sony," began a recent Tweet from him. "I confirmed our intent to honor all existing agreements upon acquisition of Activision Blizzard and our desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. Sony is an important part of our industry, and we value our relationship."

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FAST6191

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Rock bottom prices in controllers?
In my country they are very hard to come by these days... Especially for PS4 (Rock Band 4)
I will give PS4 might be more of a niche thing (the death of plastic guitar happening late PS360 more than anything else so PS4 stuff is a bit more of an oddity). Here though charity shops throw things away as they just sit on the shelf, no game shop will give more than a pittance, any car boot sale/table sale/garage sale/yard sale/flea market I care to visit the only game related peripheral I am more likely to encounter is skylanders (maybe wii fit boards depending upon the day), I can't say I check facebook marketplace and the like but if comments at the aforementioned car boot sales are anything to go by then people can't shift them there either.
 

RedoLane

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Oh, if Phil already mentioned HeXen, that gives me some hope for a Heretic remaster/re-release down the line.
Activision owns both IPs, since they own Raven Software, and Zenimax/Bethesda can help out with the development through id software or Night Dive Studios(or both).
Regardless, I'm very curious.
 

kevin corms

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Keep in mind he will say anything to make sure the deal goes through, wouldn’t want a judge to block it over monopoly concerns.
 

sarkwalvein

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I remember playing Heretic back in 1994, it was a nice game. Well, back then it was. Never played Hexen though. I didn't know those games still had a following.
 

omgcat

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yeah i would beleive that but then i remenber Rare... they did no supporting and no guidance or if they did it was very bad since they never made anything good or with significance again has they bought them over 20 years ago.
the problem with RARE was that all the devs/managers worth their salt jumped shit after rare was sold to microsoft unilaterally by the stamper brothers. it was a miracle that any games came out of rare after that to begin with. MS literally only tried to buy RARE because they thought they'd get the donkey kong IP in the exchange. it was stupid on basically all sides (except the stamper brothers who made out like bandits crapping all over their former co-workers/employees)
 

omgcat

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People actually belive they gona keep it on PlayStations after the contract ends lol
it would be pants on head stupid for them to take COD off PS. it'd lower the already crappy userbase and do nothing but shut off their money printer while pissing off both user bases at the same time. it's much more likely that PS users will have to cough up 69.99 while xbox users get it free with gamepass. it honestly seems like MS has some reasonable management for the first time since like 2009.
 
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pedro702

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the problem with RARE was that all the devs/managers worth their salt jumped shit after rare was sold to microsoft unilaterally by the stamper brothers. it was a miracle that any games came out of rare after that to begin with. MS literally only tried to buy RARE because they thought they'd get the donkey kong IP in the exchange. it was stupid on basically all sides (except the stamper brothers who made out like bandits crapping all over their former co-workers/employees)
that could even be true but in 20+ years they havent hired anyone that could do anything with rare ips? heck battletoads was released in 2020 and that game was a mess, if your telling me that microsoft cant afford to hire new good developers in over 20 years something is off.

Even if the original devs left they had 20 years to rebuild the studio...
 
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Foxi4

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If we’re doing any reviving, this guy right here would like the Gears of War guys to finish what Blizzard started - make StarCraft: Ghost already. Lots of source material to work with, including a playable build. I’d love to see it.
 

pedro702

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If we’re doing any reviving, this guy right here would like the Gears of War guys to finish what Blizzard started - make StarCraft: Ghost already. Lots of source material to work with, including a playable build. I’d love to see it.
i would like to see Protype 3 and pitfall being revived too.
 
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PatrickD85

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While in the long run this means lots will come to Xbox and more sluggish (as in later, or slower) perhaps to Sony's console ... It is good to see them not trying to break communities from the get go. Microsoft is going all out with their endgame,. not a console at all but lets make everything a Game Pass device. Smart play really.
 

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