Xbox boss Phil Spencer wants to work on "franchises that I love from my childhood" with Activision

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"I was looking at the IP list, I mean, let's go!"

King's Quest
(Image credit: Activision)

Xbox boss Phil Spencer is interested in bringing back some of Activision's dormant game franchises after the two companies become one.

The head of Microsoft Gaming opened up about the potential new opportunities made possible by the Microsoft Activision purchase in a new interview with the Washington Post. Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick previously mentioned potential revivals for both Guitar Hero and Skylanders, thanks to the increased production capabilities of joining the Microsoft team, and Spencer pointed out some more prospects he's excited to have under the Microsoft umbrella.

"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." And yes Activision does, in fact, own the rights to Raven Software's 1996 dark fantasy first-person battler.

"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.

It isn't just about getting the rights to cool games, of course - Spencer made sure to note that he thinks the deal is really about "adding resources and increasing capability." If some of those resources grant the capability to make a new HeXen, well, that's just good corporate synergy.

All of these potential collaborations are predicated on the idea that the purchase will go through, but an industry analyst has pointed out the process is "likely to be long and not guaranteed."

Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan
Former GamesRadar+ News Writer

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar+.