Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy – Activision calls these remasters, but they’re hardly simple upscalings of the original PS1 games (Picture: Activision)
Before he leaves in 2024, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick suggests that Microsoft can help the company with further remakes.
Now that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is finally complete, everyone can stop debating if it will happen and start discussing what could come next for both companies.
They are already promises to add Activision Blizzard games to Xbox Game Pass and make them more widely available on cloud streaming services and the Nintendo Switch. Plus, both Xbox boss Phil Spencer and Activision CEO Bobby Kotick have teased the possibility of reviving old IPs like Hexen and Guitar Hero.
Kotick has also said that, under Microsoft, Activision will be able to dig through the last 30 years of games and potentially remake some of their other old titles -although he stops short of naming any examples.
‘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,’ Kotick told CNBC right around the time the acquisition was finalised.
Kotick’s statement makes it sound as if Activision was incapable of doing any remakes by itself, which makes no sense considering some of its biggest recent hits, that aren’t Call Of Duty, have been remakes.
The Crash Bandicoot and Spyro trilogies were updated and recreated for modern platforms in 2017 and 2018, respectively, followed by Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled in 2019 and the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater remake in 2020.
The comments seem to make no sense, and are reminiscent of when Microsoft implied only they could help bring Call Of Duty to Switch, despite Activision having been releasing Call Of Duty titles on Nintendo consoles for decades.
Perhaps he meant to say that Activision could help to create remakes of Microsoft first party games, but while his comment could be construed as meaning that it’s very unclear.
Either way, it’s uncertain what games he could be talking about, considering most of Activision and Microsoft’s top titles have already had recent remakes. Maybe he’s been waiting all these years to greenlight a remake of Prototype.
Kotick also mentions how he thinks the implementation of AI will improve video games, saying, ‘It’s going to make the creation of things like art and animation better.’
AI created content remains extremely controversial and its usage in video games has come under fire for already costing people their jobs. Although Kotick is leaving Activision Blizzard in 2024, the company is believed to be at least experimenting with AI to replicate its own artwork, according to a patent.
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In the wake of UK regulator the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) approval of the acquisition, Kotick took some time to praise them for being ‘very thoughtful and very deliberate,’ adding that ‘you can understand why they were really careful and cautious about what the future of gaming and competition would be in their market. … I was incredibly impressed every step of the way.’
This is a notably different tune to the one Kotick was playing after the CMA’s original decision, when he started a conspiracy about it being influenced by the US’s Federal Trade Commission, suggesting that the CMA was being used ‘as a tool.’
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 – maybe Microsoft can uncancel those Pro Skater 3 and 4 remakes? (Picture: Activision Blizzard)
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Before he leaves in 2024, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick suggests that Microsoft can help the company with further remakes.