Xbox Gamers Want Microsoft to Revive Old-School Activision Open World Series and More
Highlights Microsoft's acquisition of Activision gives Xbox control over all of the company's gaming franchises.
Xbox fans are hopeful that games like True Crime: Streets of LA, Tony Hawk's Underground, and Blur will be brought back, either through backward compatibility, remakes, or remasters.
Licensing issues and Microsoft's disinterest in adding more games to the backward compatibility program make it unlikely that these titles will be available on modern platforms in the near future, unfortunately.
While a deal still needs to be reached in the UK, Microsoft has nearly succeeded in acquiring Activision and will therefore gain control of all the company's gaming franchises - some of which Xbox fans want to see make a comeback. Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard ensures that not only will Xbox have control of future Activision-published games, but will also have access to the back catalog of titles that the company has made over the years.
Activision is primarily known for its blockbuster first-person shooter franchise Call of Duty nowadays, but there once was a time that it released a wider variety of games. This includes all kinds of different titles from classic skateboarding games to platformers to open world crime games clearly inspired by Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto franchise. Microsoft's acquisition of Activision doesn't necessarily mean that these dormant franchises will return, but it does make it at least somewhat more likely.
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Specifically, Xbox gamers have named True Crime: Streets of LA, True Crime: New York City, the Tony Hawk's Underground games, and Blur as older Activision-published titles they'd like to see make a comeback on Xbox Series X. Some fans want to see these games added to the Xbox backward compatibility program, while others would rather see them getting remakes or remasters. But while it's certainly within the realm of possibility that Xbox could potentially bring some of these older Activision games back from the dead, fans shouldn't hold their breath.
Perhaps the biggest roadblock to making this a reality would be licensing issues preventing the games from being sold again. Couple that with the fact that Microsoft has stopped adding games to the Xbox backward compatibility program, and it seems highly unlikely that these titles will be made available on modern platforms any time soon. Remasters or remakes seem more likely, but Activision has seemingly lost interest in reviving the classic Tony Hawk games after releasing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, with Tony Hawk himself saying that plans for Pro Skater 3 and 4 remakes were scrapped.
That being said, Activision itself has expressed interest in Microsoft giving it the ability to bring back some of its abandoned franchises. Two franchises were mentioned specifically: Guitar Hero and Skylanders. There is some evidence to suggest that Skylanders could be making a comeback, albeit without the toys-to-life gimmick, but fans will have to wait and see what happens on that front.
As far as True Crime goes, those who are hungering for a similar experience will want to check out the 2012 open world crime game Sleeping Dogs if they haven't already. Sleeping Dogs actually started out as a True Crime sequel before Activision abandoned the project and Square Enix revived it as an original IP, and it was well-received by fans and critics alike.
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Source: GameRant
