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Although the most prominent questions were regarding what games would be coming to Game Pass, the future of the Call of Duty series, and whether Activision Blizzard games would now be exclusive to Xbox and PC, many people were also interested to know whether Microsoft planned to revitalize any of Activision’s forgotten IPs.
Activision owns a huge range of notable IPs, but many of them have fallen through the cracks due to the company’s intent on focusing on their key money-making titles like Call of Duty and Candy Crush. Hopefully, once the acquisition is finalized, we will see some of the following fan-favorite franchises make a welcome return.
5 Spyro The Dragon
Along with Crash Bandicoot, Spyro The Dragon was an unofficial mascot of sorts for PlayStation in their PS1 era - which is one of the many bizarre outcomes of the acquisition deal, as Spyro and Crash may now be Xbox and PC exclusives. Another similarity between the pair is that they both had their classic PlayStation 1 trilogies remade in the late-2010s.
Unfortunately for Spyro fans, the IPs have had different fortunes since then. Crash Bandicoot fans were treated to a remake of Crash Team Racing, a mobile game, and even a brand new main series game that followed on from Crash 3: Warped. Meanwhile, Spyro fans are still waiting for the purple dragon’s next adventure. There were a handful of references to Spyro in Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, which gave fans hope that an announcement was on the way, though there has been no word since.
An announcement of a brand new Spyro the Dragon adventure could be the perfect way for Microsoft to hit the ground running once the acquisition is complete, with Toys for Bob being ideally suited for the project.
4 Guitar Hero
It’s easy to forget now, considering how rare rhythm games are today, but in the late-2000s, the genre took the gaming industry by storm and was one of the most commercially successful video game genres. Guitar Hero spearheaded this sharp rise in prominence when the series released its first game on the PlayStation 2, which introduced players to the now-iconic guitar controller.
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Guitar Hero was originally published by RedOctane, who was acquired by Activision in June 2006 for a reported fee of $100m. For some, Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock from Activision and developers Neversoft is where rhythm games peaked. This title was released on PC, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii in October 2007, and many people sunk hundreds of hours into trying to perfect their favorite tracks.
Given how sharply the rhythm genre fell out of prominence, there is some risk attached to Microsoft trying to bring the series back. However, if the game was marketed well, had an exciting tracklist, and featured an exciting new take on the guitar controller, then a new Xbox-exclusive Guitar Hero release could result in a spike in console sales.
3 SWAT
The SWAT series began in 1995 with Daryl F. Gates’ Police Quest: SWAT, a graphic adventure game from Sierra On-Line. The series received numerous entries in the ’90s and 2000s, with the 2005 tactical shooter SWAT 4 being considered as the peak by many fans and critics. The game tasked players with leading a SWAT unit and dropped them in situational missions where tactical precision was essential to saving a hostage, taking down a dangerous person of interest, or other intense objectives.
With high-quality tactical shooters being few and far between today, a new entry in the SWAT series would be a tantalizing prospect. Although a new single-player SWAT game would be fantastic, Microsoft could use the SWAT IP to create a tactical multiplayer game to compete with Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege.
2 King’s Quest
From one Sierra On-Line creation to another, King’s Quest is one of the most iconic names in the graphic adventure genre. The first King’s Quest game was released all the way back in 1984, four years after Wizard and the Princess, which Sierra has officially recognized as a prelude to the series.
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Including Wizard and the Princess, the King’s Quest series consisted of eight games between 1980 and 1998. The classic series was a key figure in the golden age of adventure games, featuring some of the most memorable stories and puzzles, particularly the infamous gnome puzzle from King’s Quest 1.
In 2015, the series made an unexpected but welcome comeback with an episodic video game series that reimagined the classic games. The episodic series was well-received, though there hasn’t been a follow-up as yet. Graphic adventure games may not be anywhere near as popular as they once were in the ’90s, but a return of the King’s Quest series could be exactly what the genre needs to spark it back into life, which is why a new entry in the franchise would be so exciting.
1 Geometry Wars
The Geometry Wars series had an odd start to life, appearing as little more than a mini-game in 2003’s critically-acclaimed racer Project Gotham Racing 2. However, when some players began playing Project Gotham Racing 2 just to play Geometry Wars, it was clear that a standalone game was needed.
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved was released in 2003 before several other games in the series were hit stores up until Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions in 2016. As is often the case with simplistic arcade-style games, developers will try to reinvent the gameplay in attempts to make it bigger and better, though it almost always fails to impress, as players just want the classic experience.
This, in theory, makes Microsoft’s task simple with Geometry Wars, as a reboot of the original game with just a visually improved version of the classic gameplay wouldn’t be too tricky to make, and it would be a great pick-up-and-play addition to Game Pass.
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