With Microsoft finalizing their purchase of Activision Blizzard King they now own a metric ton of valuable IP they’ll need to leverage well in the future to engage gamers. Lets theorycraft and dream up some ideas for games that we’d like to see as a result of this IP and games development empire Microsoft has accumulated. I’ll go first:
Crimson Skies x Blood Wake x Vigilante 8 Vehicle Combat Game by Asobo Studio
Why it could work: Total vehicular combat mayhem across Land, Sea, and Air. I think there is room in the market for the Vehicular Combat genre to come back and Microsoft is now well positioned to take advantage of that with a “Greatest Hits” style mashup using the newly acquired Vigilante 8 IP and others historically associated with Xbox.
Crash Bandicoot x Spyro x Banjo & Kazooie Action Platformer by Toys For Bob
Why it could work: Three well known and recognizable platforming mascots team up, enabling dynamic gameplay utilizing mechanics from all three franchises to create a modern action platformer that feels fresh while remaining rooted to the things that make these characters unique.
That’s all I could think of for now. Let me know what you think, and if you have any ideas go ahead an pitch them here!
I validate the game bringing together Crash, Banjo, Spyro and the Rare icons, and perhaps Sonic if SEGA is next.
Otherwise I would naturally say Killer Instinct but with characters who correspond to the mature universe of the series. Marcus, Doom Guy, FO Armor, Blazcowitz, Major 117, Lich King, Lilith, Ghost, Warcraft Orc, StarCraft Character…
Mario Party with every dev team making one mini game, based on their next game, and each Brand (XGS, Bethesda, Blizzard, Activision, King) making one board. Would be completely Insane.
An Obsidian RPG based around the brand of Xbox (think Kingdom Hearts with Xbox characters).
During one night of intense gaming your character is mysteriously transported to the Worlds of Xbox.
Throughout your journey you will visit familiar worlds from Halo, Fallout, Fable, Elder Scrolls, Doom, Hi-Fi Rush and more, where you will meet popular Xbox characters like Master Chief, Doom Guy, Marcus Fenix, Chai, Tracer, Joanna Dark, and Conker. You would be able to recruit these characters and build a team to help you make it home.
Side Note: I doubt Xbox would do this, but I think it would be hilarious if one of the worlds was the Land of Forgotten characters where we would meet Blinx, Drew + Thuban (Scalebound), Pitfall Harry, Nathan (Crimson Skies), Voodoo Vince and the entire Brute Force team.
A Keen Eye:
A sniper sci-fi game starring Commander Keen, set in the StarCraft universe. Suggest it’s the spiritual successor to the cancelled StarCraft Ghost for extra buzz.
Gears of Thorne:
A co-op game set in the combined universes of Gears of War and BlackThorne. The twist is that for the player controlling Kyle from BlackThorne it’s a side-scrolling shooter, and for the player controlling Marcus it’s 3rd person Gears-style. Would also be cool as a BlackThorne/Doom mash-up, but the slower, cover-based gameplay of BlackThorne probably suits Gears better.
Space Quest: The Next Generation:
A reboot of the Space Quest franchise, but set in the Starfield universe. I’m slightly torn on how well the humour from Space Quest would work in the Starfield universe, but I’d certainly be willing to play it.
Honestly with the massive roster of IPs and studios under them it feels like Microsoft could make some pretty crazy kid friendly crossover titles. Let’s see Beenox use the framework of CTR: Nitro Fueled to make an Xbox crossover kart racer, or get a team making a Smash clone, or a party game. They’ve got the entire roster of Activison (including Crash and Spyro), they’ve got the back catalogues of Rare and Double Fine and they’ve got god damn Minecraft and they’ve got some great studios to take advantage of them.
I’d also like to see Halo Infinite take advantage of all the IP under one roof - let’s see some fracture cores for Gears, or Doom, Fallout, Starcraft and more.
