Activision has made many beloved licensed games over the years, most of which have been lost to time. With Microsoft now set to acquire Activision this year, there is some hope that we'll see some classic games return. Hasbro seems to be particularly keen to bring back Activision's old Transformers games.
Due to licenses expiring, Activision's old Transformers games like Fall of Cybertron, Rise of the Dark Spark, War for Cybertron and Transformers: Devastation are all unavailable to purchase and aren't playable on the latest consoles through backwards compatibility. In a recent interview, Hasbro expressed a desire to see those games return in some form if the Microsoft-Activision deal goes through.
Speaking with Transformers World in an interview at SDCC, a Hasbro spokesperson said that with the deal now moving forward, they hope that Xbox will “go through all of the archives and every hard drive” to find all of Activision's lost games, including the Transformers titles. They also note that they'd be good additions for the Game Pass library, so clearly Hasbro as the license holder is keen to make this happen, the only thing Microsoft really needs to do is call them up and hammer out the details, although they'll need to complete the acquisition of Activision first.
Phil Spencer has previously said that he would like to bring back a number of older Activision franchises after the acquisition. Aside from a myriad of old licensed games, Microsoft could also bring back franchises like Guitar Hero, Prototype and a slew of others.
Microsoft recently extended the deadline for its deal with Activision to mid October, giving the company a chance to reach an agreement with the UK's CMA, the only regulator in the world that has actually blocked the deal. Over in the US, the FTC tried to block the deal but were denied an injunction in court after a 5-day hearing. An appeal of that ruling was also denied, giving Microsoft clearance to complete the deal in the US. Right now, the UK is the only hangup stopping the deal going through after the EU approved with conditions in place to ensure cloud gaming companies get equal access to Activision and rival console makers get equal access to titles like Call of Duty.
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KitGuru Says: Are there any dormant Activision franchises you'd like to see return post-acquisition?