Phil Spencer recently sat down with The Washington Post for an interview following Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard a few days ago. He discussed his plans for the studios acquired under the Activision Blizzard banner, and plans to revive dormant IPs. “I was looking at the IP list, I mean, let’s go!” Spencer said. “ ‘King’s Quest,’ ‘Guitar Hero,’ … I should know this but I think they got ‘HeXen.’ ” (Activision Blizzard does own Hexen.) Some other notable IP now owned by Microsoft include Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and Geometry Wars.

"We're hoping that we'll be able to work with them when the deal closes to make sure we have resources to work on franchises that I love from my childhood, and that the teams really want to get," Spencer said on the topic of developer Toys for Bob, who made the well-received Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time before being reassigned to work as a support studio on Call of Duty: Warzone last April. "I'm looking forward to these conversations. I really think it's about adding resources and increasing capability."

Meanwhile, Spencer has also addressed the subject of whether or not Activision Blizzard titles would continue to appear on PlayStation. "Had good calls this week with leaders at Sony," began a recent Tweet from him. "I confirmed our intent to honor all existing agreements upon acquisition of Activision Blizzard and our desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. Sony is an important part of our industry, and we value our relationship."

Source

 

[djpannda]

OMG PHIL LOVES MONEY? WHO WOULD OF THOUGHT!

 

[diggeloid]

“I was looking at the IP list, I mean, let’s go!” Spencer said

ok boomer

 

[pwjpssdfvqyuhweuxx]

please, a new Prototype game...or even a remake...

 

[FAST6191]

"Sony is an important part of our industry, and we value our relationship."

Is this like the time they funded apple for a spell to avoid antitrust?

 

[TomRiddle]

View attachment 294666​

Phil Spencer recently sat down with The Washington Post for an interview following Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard a few days ago. He discussed his plans for the studios acquired under the Activision Blizzard banner, and plans to revive dormant IPs. “I was looking at the IP list, I mean, let’s go!” Spencer said. “ ‘King’s Quest,’ ‘Guitar Hero,’ … I should know this but I think they got ‘HeXen.’ ” (Activision Blizzard does own Hexen.) Some other notable IP now owned by Microsoft include Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and Geometry Wars.

"We're hoping that we'll be able to work with them when the deal closes to make sure we have resources to work on franchises that I love from my childhood, and that the teams really want to get," Spencer said on the topic of developer Toys for Bob, who made the well-received Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time before being reassigned to work as a support studio on Call of Duty: Warzone last April. "I'm looking forward to these conversations. I really think it's about adding resources and increasing capability."

Meanwhile, Spencer has also addressed the subject of whether or not Activision Blizzard titles would continue to appear on PlayStation. "Had good calls this week with leaders at Sony," began a recent Tweet from him. "I confirmed our intent to honor all existing agreements upon acquisition of Activision Blizzard and our desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. Sony is an important part of our industry, and we value our relationship."

Source

Coolio, so Microsoft acquired activision/blizzard. Let's hope that microsoft weeds out the bad stuff from activision/blizzard, (toxic work enviorment, anti consumer tactics etc).

As for COD I would also like them to reign in the series so that way it's not always a yearly release, I like the COD series don't get me wrong but having one year to make a new game might make some rushes and compromises, letting the series take a break and releasing it with bigger gaps (ie every 2-5 years or so) so that way the developers have time to work on the quality for the gameplay as better as they could.

 

[CoolMe]

I don't give a shit about COD, but i want to see more of Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, THPS and other IPs not mentioned.. So will see i guess.

 

[AmandaRose]

Would love a new Geometry Wars game especially if it was on the Switch but that ain't gonna happen.

 

[Dr_Faustus]

Coolio, so Microsoft acquired activision/blizzard. Let's hope that microsoft weeds out the bad stuff from activision/blizzard, (toxic work enviorment, anti consumer tactics etc).

As for COD I would also like them to reign in the series so that way it's not always a yearly release, I like the COD series don't get me wrong but having one year to make a new game might make some rushes and compromises, letting the series take a break and releasing it with bigger gaps (ie every 2-5 years or so) so that way the developers have time to work on the quality for the gameplay as better as they could.

I could see this go two ways, either they delay COD releases by a year or 2 between releases to offer more polish and to help generate more hype from fans who are not being assaulted by half baked yearly releases OR they stick to yearly releases but they share resources with their other studio acquisitions allowing these games to be released with far more polish and stability than Activision's current resources can on its own.

MS has plenty of cards to play here, it just depends what they see is a viable release pattern.

 

[Jayinem]

It's a shame they got rid of the True Crime series, maybe they could bring it back because Sleeping Dogs series is also dead.

Do I see a pattern here? No I do not.

 

[The Catboy]

I would honestly like to hear what Microsoft is going to do with the lawsuit more than I would hearing about their generic shooter

 

[Lucaserf]

Oh, they are not removing COD from playstation, that's good, it's my go to video game platform, so, I'd be annoyed if it was removed

 

[Dr_Faustus]

I would honestly like to hear what Microsoft is going to do with the lawsuit more than I would hearing about their generic shooter

Chances are we will not hear anything about it unless court documents of it become open to the public. Its no secret that MS did this during this time because they knew it was the only way it could save/acquire Activision at its current state and the execs there will have a chance to bounce from the company with a nice paycheck. Whether or not that's enough money to evade the law of course is a matter for the courts to decide.


Honestly speaking I do not see how people are so upset with MS buying them out, as it was probably the most merciful thing that could happen for the company since any other option right now would only make situations worse for image, their employees that still are being treated like shit and not getting what they want, and incompetent exectutives at the top that cannot take a hint even when the US justice system is on their collective arses. Any other outcome would have probably resulted in the company falling apart and IP's being scattered to the wind never to be utilized.

 

[The Catboy]

Chances are we will not hear anything about it unless court documents of it become open to the public. Its no secret that MS did this during this time because they knew it was the only way it could save/acquire Activision at its current state and the execs there will have a chance to bounce from the company with a nice paycheck. Whether or not that's enough money to evade the law of course is a matter for the courts to decide.


Honestly speaking I do not see how people are so upset with MS buying them out, as it was probably the most merciful thing that could happen for the company since any other option right now would only make situations worse for image, their employees that still are being treated like shit and not getting what they want, and incompetent exectutives at the top that cannot take a hint even when the US justice system is on their collective arses. Any other outcome would have probably resulted in the company falling apart and IP's being scattered to the wind never to be utilized.

I am going to be honest and say that I am going to always bring up this lawsuit. I am on the boat that I would have preferred seeing the company suffer and hopefully seeing their employees leaving as they lose more workers and money fighting this lawsuit

 

[pwjpssdfvqyuhweuxx]

I am going to be honest and say that I am going to always bring up this lawsuit. I am on the boat that I would have preferred seeing the company suffer and hopefully seeing their employees leaving as they lose more workers and money fighting this lawsuit

>Microsoft
>losing money
I'd argue that Microsoft has an infinite supply of money.

 

[micp_]

As for COD I would also like them to reign in the series so that way it's not always a yearly release

This goes for all those games! Especially the sports ones. They could release a patch after a year with updated teams.

I think a lot of these types of games would benefit massively from the extra development time of a 2-year release cycle.

But then again, people keep buying them yearly and they make money.

 

[The Catboy]

>Microsoft
>losing money
I'd argue that Microsoft has an infinite supply of money.

I am referring to Activision, who have been having issues with since the lawsuit started.

 

[Cris1997XX]

I am going to be honest and say that I am going to always bring up this lawsuit. I am on the boat that I would have preferred seeing the company suffer and hopefully seeing their employees leaving as they lose more workers and money fighting this lawsuit

Don't worry, Microsoft doesn't give one shit about Activision's lawsuit

 

[almmiron]

Let's hope it's gonna be pitfall

 

[FAST6191]

Chances are we will not hear anything about it unless court documents of it become open to the public. Its no secret that MS did this during this time because they knew it was the only way it could save/acquire Activision at its current state and the execs there will have a chance to bounce from the company with a nice paycheck. Whether or not that's enough money to evade the law of course is a matter for the courts to decide.


Honestly speaking I do not see how people are so upset with MS buying them out, as it was probably the most merciful thing that could happen for the company since any other option right now would only make situations worse for image, their employees that still are being treated like shit and not getting what they want, and incompetent exectutives at the top that cannot take a hint even when the US justice system is on their collective arses. Any other outcome would have probably resulted in the company falling apart and IP's being scattered to the wind never to be utilized.

Is it the US Justice System or the California Justice system (though I suppose California are not far behind New York in being circuits/states to pay attention to)? Granted there was the insider trading thing which might mean US but the "workplace culture" stuff most seem concerned with was a fairly weak effort (seriously the document we all saw would probably get a first year lawyer fired if something bulletproof was asked for, more impressive tarting up of a weak case though) from California state level actors. Even a "we did it, we robbed the whole bank, was all us, were giggling all the while" admission (never going to happen unless some monster deal is made) is going to amount to not a great deal for AB as it stood, never mind MS that can gut the remains and build up something new from the wheat while losing the chaff.

As far as workplace culture being better (maybe up there with MS in general which is fairly legendary) then I would be stunned. The games industry is in the enviable position of being sexy so you have an endless supply of young 20 somethings that will work 27 hours a day (insert rest of four yorkshiremen) for a pittance compared to IT at large (creatives always work for nothing which leaves manglement that apparently they can draw from the pittance crowd for) with all the energy and nothing going on in personal life to need funding. I don't even know that it would necessarily improve things as far as quality of output/income (not profits) from games to keep all the people with longer term experience on.