Xbox head is “all in” on reviving old franchises if devs want to

With Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision-Blizzard-King finally complete, the Xbox console manufacturer has started to open up about their plans for the publisher. With so many IPs and franchises now under Microsoft’s belt, Xbox head Phil Spencer spoke on their plans for ABK claiming that “If teams want to go back and revisit some of the things that we have – and do a full focus on it – I'm going to be all in.”

During the latest episode of the official Xbox podcast, Phil Spencer made a guest appearance in which he discussed the finalisation of the acquisition of ABK, and what plans he has for the publisher moving forward.

Activision has been notorious in recent years for their shift towards going all-in on Call of Duty, with the likes of Vicarious Visions and Toys For Bob being reduced to mere support teams. According to Spencer, under Microsoft, studios will be given the opportunity to work on older or dormant franchises if they so wish, saying:

“There's not a plan for that, but there's an opportunity. If people want to – if teams want to go back and revisit some of the things that we have and do a full focus on it, I'm going to be all in on that. Because I think there's just an amazing trove of things that we can go and touch again.”

He continued, “It doesn't have to just be about Activision and Blizzard. Like I said, when you look across all the portfolio. I think about things like the Quake II remaster. It just came out from ID. I thought that was awesome. They did a real good job revisiting a game, making it current, but also not leaving the history behind. So I'd love to see more things like that.”

In the eyes of many, Activision has been underutilising a number of their studios, and so to see that they might now be given the opportunity to work on something new (or old) is exciting.

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KitGuru says: What do you think of the acquisition? Will this be good for Activision Blizzard? What about the industry as a whole? Let us know down below.

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