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Today on an episode of the Official Xbox Podcast, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer talked about the possibility of reviving some old franchises from Activision Blizzard and other Xbox studios.
During the podcast, Spencer noted that when you consider Activision, Blizzard, Bethesda and Xbox, the number of franchises that Microsoft currently has in its portfolio is “somewhat inspiring” but also scary.
He believes the company should be a “great custodian” of this content because it’s a memory for people, and he wants to make sure that when Microsoft comes back to something, it does it with full dedication – a motivated team that wants to work on it. something and change something.
He doesn’t want it to be something created purely for financial gain or PR that won’t come to fruition.
I’m going to start with the teams and what they’re passionate about. That is why I enjoy visiting these places. And then we’ll look at it. I think we did a good job on Xbox. I don’t think we’ve done an A+ job of looking at our franchises and redefining them. I think with Game Pass we have the ability to pick a couple of franchises every year and almost do something like A revisited – I just made up that term, so it’s not a brand.
Spencer believes that, looking at all the franchises that Microsoft currently controls, there is an opportunity to go back, even if it’s just to “recognize the moment and what these things have meant in the history of gaming, and do something right with them.” Make it available to people through Game Pass.”
I think there is such a possibility. There is no plan for this, but there is a possibility. If teams want to go back and look at some of the things we have and really focus on them, I’m all for it because I think there’s just an amazing treasure trove of things that we can touch on again.”
As an example, Spencer cited the recent remaster of Quake 2. He thought it was great because id Software did a really good job of revisiting the game and making it relevant while still keeping the story in mind, and he would like to see more things like that.
When asked if there were any franchises that he personally would like to revisit, he mentioned some old Infocom or Sierra games like Zork or King’s Quest, simply because those were the moments in his gaming experience that were really something meant.
He also noted that Blizzard has some great franchises, such as Starcraft, but the most important thing is that they are treated with respect and not as a means of PR.
During the same podcast, Spencer also promised parity (as much as possible) for Call of Duty fans on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles.
