Microsoft Acquire Activision Blizzard: Which Franchises They Might Resurrect

Microsoft began the new year with a significant acquisition. Previously they had added Bethesda to their portfolio and with it the many game series owned by this huge company, from the most famous DOOM, Fallout, and Skyrim, to the yet-to-be-released Starfield. Now Xbox owners were in for another pleasant surprise: Activision-Blizzard joining the family and Phil Spencer’s promise to “add as many games to GamePass as possible”.

The news of the merger was received positively, primarily by the employees of the acquired studios. Gamers also began to plan how the franchises, which are already generating revenue, will look under the new management. For example, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was once an Esport, and many have even been betting using trusted sites from the bookmaker-ratings.com list. Others continue to dream of returning beloved, undeservedly forgotten games.

Ready-made Franchises That Microsoft Can Bring Back:

Guitar Hero

This video game series lived for a decade, from 2005 to 2015, seeing both flourishes and letdowns. To describe it as simply as possible, Guitar Hero is a rhythm game with a massive library of famous songs from Franz Ferdinand, Guns N Roses, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and more.

The main difference from other games of this genre was its own controller: it was shaped like a guitar, and the player had to repeat movements similar to playing it to hit the notes on the screen.

At one point, according to the publisher, the franchise had grown so big it became the world’s third after Mario and Madden NFL. Popularity waned in 2010, following the release of the sixth instalment in the main series. Activision decided to put the development of a sequel on hold, and a new game, Guitar Hero Live, was not released until five years later. The publisher was unsatisfied with the sales figures and finally froze the franchise.

Gamers should understand that the main budget is not spent on development but on purchasing and renewing licenses to use the music. Case in point: the recent GTA trilogy remaster lost about twenty songs because Rockstar didn’t want to pay for extensions. Players won’t hear such tracks as “Killing In The Name” by Rage Against, “Hellraiser” by Ozzy Osbourne, and “The Payback” by James Brown on the in-game radio.

Warcraft

Talented writers using the fantasy world of Azeroth as a base have released many different creative things since 1994. These include the MMORPG World Of Warcraft, the collectable card game Hearthstone, and a feature-length film. The sequel’s fate to the strategy series, which was the beginning of this entire universe, remains limbo.

In 2002 the original Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos was released, and a year later, it received an expansion pack called The Frozen Throne. Since then, Blizzard hasn’t worked on any new strategy instalments, although the niche is pretty much empty and rare releases like Age of Empires IV get a lot of attention.

The developer chose another way, saved time and resources, and ruined its reputation as a result. In 2020, the publisher released Warcraft III: Reforged, a remaster of the third instalment. Players were furious at the quality of the final product: missing parts that Blizzard promised at launch, bugs, removing the original game from the shop, and replacing it with the remaster. On top of that, the user agreement demanded to hand over the rights on player-made content from the in-game editor. This way, Blizzard decided to secure itself if someone came up with a new DOTA or something more interesting.

Franchises That Need A Complete Reboot:

Call of Duty

It would seem that the Call of Duty franchise has nothing to worry about, as the game still has plenty of fans and a steady online following. But sales figures suggest that the latest instalment’s launch has been the worst in the series for fourteen years, with sales of COD: Vanguard being 36% worse than the previous game. All YouTubers have trashed the story component, and it scored less than 4 points from players on Metacritic on all platforms.

Call of Duty is one of the longest-running series that continues to be released today: the first game appeared back in 2003. Making a long-awaited positive change for COD fans would be a big move for Microsoft once they finish the deal. It’s the kind of serious decision expected from a big company that understands games and cares about players.

SWAT

SWAT (Police Quest) is a legendary series of tactical shooters, released when the word “tactical” still had meaning and was a vital gameplay component. The 12 games in the series traversed a considerable span from 1987 to 2008, when the latest instalment, SWAT: Elite Corps, was released.

SWAT: IV was valued by players the most, in which the player is entrusted with the lives of four partners to clean up the slums of New York City in thirteen missions. The difference in setting to Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas, released a year later, was immediately felt. Depressive slums in comparison with lights of the city of gamblers played as an advantage: SWAT looked more realistic and believable.

SWAT’s main rule was to avoid using lethal weapons during operations at all costs. First, the operative should warn the perpetrator to surrender his weapon. Then he could put plastic handcuffs on him. If the hostile makes the shot, then you can fire back. The priority is to take the criminals alive, save all the hostages, not get hurt, and do everything as fast as possible. Since Vivendi released the game in 2005 and Steam achievements didn’t appear until two years later, the successful operation was measured by points, which the player could compare to friends.

After the press and the players’ great success and attention to SWAT IV’s spiritual successor Ready or Not, interest in a similar genre is unmistakable. But after sixteen years that the series has been mothballed, it will take a lot of effort and funding to revive it.

Conclusion

The Microsoft and Activision/Blizzard deal opens up a massive room for imagination because of the company’s gigantic catalogue: whether Prototype will return, what happens to Spyro and Crash, the former Sony mascots, and whether we’ll see a proper reboot of the Tony Hawk series. The answers to these and many other questions will wait for at least another year until the deal is closed. In the meantime, let’s keep dreaming.