The case has been on everyone’s lips for a few days: Microsoft’s attempt to take over Activision Blizzard risks reshuffling a few cards … and getting back missing licenses?
Because he sometimes struggles to talk about anything other than his compensation, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick spoke to our colleagues VentureBeat about future opportunities. With the entire industry knowing that Microsoft is hoping to buy the studio that owns the licenses for Call of Duty, Warcraft, Candy Crush, Tony Hawk, Diablo, Overwatch, Spyro, Hearthstone, Guitar Hero, Crash Bandicoot and StarCraft, the fly Questions.
we not need another Guitar Hero
Kotick took the opportunity to revisit the ongoing discussions between Activision Blizzard and Microsoft. If many of the surviving licenses are likely to see Redmond’s accounting heyday, amid a storm, the CEO outlines possible comebacks:
Phil Spencer and I began discussing the future. I’ll give you some really compelling examples. There was a time when I wanted to make a new Guitar Hero, but I couldn’t rip teams off to work on the manufacturing and accessory supply chain. Not to mention the chip shortage.
If the Guitar Hero series has practically disappeared since 2015’s live episode, it remains a safe bet in the Activision Blizzard catalog with the trifle 25 million games sold all over the world.
The Skylanders are the frontier
But despite this critical and commercial success, the production of physical accessories remains a handicap for the publisher, who hopes to use Microsoft’s know-how to retune their guitars and go even a bit further:
I had a really cool idea of what the next Guitar Hero would be and I realized we didn’t have the resources to do it. The same goes for Skylanders. One of my big disappointments was that new people came in and offered crappy alternatives and destroyed the market. And so it was with the Skylanders. But what we couldn’t do, Microsoft can.
Will Microsoft resume production of plastic guitars and other NFC figurines? The tension is… total?
Which Activision Blizzard licenses would you like to see reborn? Let us know your shredded thoughts in the comments below!
