After confirming Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, XboxCEO Phil Spencer hinted at remakes and revitalizations of some forgotten titles.
In an interview for the official Xbox YouTube channel on Oct. 18, Spencer talked about the plans for the company, the recent takeover, and whether we will see some pieces of gaming history brought back.
After completing the long-awaited ABK takeover, players wonder what’s next in store for the new conglomerate. Fans might find themselves in for a pleasant surprise, as Spencer said that there is a possibility of “picking up a couple of franchises every year and almost do a revisited version. When you look across the franchises that are part of our teams, there’s an opportunity to go back.”
He is open to possibilities and suggestions from the developers’ teams, which, if they wish, can go back and revisit older fan favorites. “If teams wanna go back and revisit some of the things we have and focus fully on it, I’m gonna be all in. I think there’s an amazing trove of titles we can go and touch on again,” Spencer said.
He gave the example of Quake 2, which, according to him, is a perfectly-done remaster, praising the developers that revisited the game, made it current, and didn’t leave history behind.
Players are already compiling their wishlists of games they would love to see remastered properly. Banjo Kazooie, Dungeon Siege, and Crimson Skies are already at the top of everybody’s list. Personally, I want to see a reboot of Banjoo Kazooie, one of the first games I played on my old Nintendo 64.
Whether these words will come to fruition remains to be seen, but it is nice to see the willingness to bring back to life some great titles that have been unfairly abandoned in the past. Given this industry’s failure to preserve its history, this can give us a small sliver of hope.
