Xbox’s Phil Spencer wants a return to other Activision properties

It’s been difficult to miss the news of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard in recent days, and unsurprisingly new details and bits of information are still coming to light. Such was the case in a recent Washington Post interview with Xbox head Phil Spencer, who has been one of Microsoft’s primary mouthpieces in the wake of the deal’s reveal.

In a brief but illuminating ten-minute chat with WaPo’s Gene Park, Spencer touched on many elements of the Activision deal and the industry, including Microsoft’s competition in the gaming sector and the concept of the metaverse. One particular detail that stood out was his apparent excitement when discussing the various IPs Microsoft has now acquired. Spencer name-dropped Guitar Hero, King’s Quest, and first-person magic-em-up HeXen in the interview, but other notable names in the Activision Blizzard IP list include Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Starcraft, and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.

Spencer in fact explicitly stated his excitement to encourage developers to work on these other properties. “We’re hoping that we’ll be able to work with them…to work on franchises that I love from my childhood and that the teams really want to get,” he said. Whether this would be in the form of new games or remasters of old ones was not elaborated upon, but they will more than likely contribute to Spencer’s plans for new additions to Xbox Game Pass.