With the latest Activision Blizzard acquisition, XBOX now has access to two high-tier platformers to bolster their family offerings.
The two punch combo of Crash Bandicoot & Spyro the Dragon
The recent Acitvision Blizzard acquisition by Microsoft reaffirms what we already knew about Phil Spencer's strategy: acquire previously established studios and publishers while building out XBOX's in-house development studios to make Game Pass and off you can't refuse. As with the Zenimax/Bethesda acquisition, the recent 87 million dollar Activision Blizzard deal brings in a slew of new Intellectual Properties at XBOX's disposal. And with this brings two massive heavy hitters when it comes to classic 3D platformers: Crash Bandicoot & Spyro the Dragon.
The classic Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon respective trilogies defined early 3D platformers in the mid to late 90's, but more importantly gave an iconic image for the original PlayStation console. In a way, Crash Bandicoot was the character mascot for the original PlayStation, at the helm of Naughty Dog Studios, Crash Bandicoot was the premier "family" friendly icon for Sony. However, with the transition into the sixth generation of consoles, Crash Bandicoot and & Spyro the Dragon now found themselves on multi-platform consoles...to varying levels of success.
So...there's no denying that Crash and Spyro has had some rough times after leaving Sony exclusively. Whether it is mediocre games like 2007's Crash of the Titans or 2008's Spyro the Dragon: Dawn of the Dragon, Spyro being held captive in the Skylanders sub-series, or just out-right critically panned games like Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy or Crash Boom Bang!, these formally beloved PlayStation Icons presence in the gaming industry has dimmed. That was the case until 2017's Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy.
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy not only took 3 stellar (and extremely hard) classic platformers and lovingly modernized them in graphical fidelity, controls, ease of use and quality of life improvements, but more importantly it gave long time fans hope for the return of the beloved marsupial. Vicarious Visions' work was lauded both critically and commercially as fans highly supported the return of Crash Bandicoot, which also led to the same remake treatment by Vicarious Visions with the classic Spyro trilogy with Spyro Reignited Trilogy and Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2. This even led to the release of 2020's Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, handled by the excellent studio, Toys for Bob.
It was a great time for both Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon franchises. Stellar remakes of classic games, a brand new Crash Bandicoot game in-tune with the original Trilogy and the seemingly new found love and care for the series. And then 2021 hit, and the news broke that Vicarious Visions would be absorbed into Blizzard as a support studio and Toys for Bob would function as a support studio for the ever popular Call of Duty franchise. The small hope for the resurgence of these franchises were soon diminished, seemingly overnight.
The future of Crash Bandicoot & Spyro the Dragon under XBOX.
Undoubtedly the biggest pull from the Activision Blizzard acquisition was the absolutely massive Call of Duty franchise. The franchise alone pulled the TWO top selling games of all 2021 with Call of Duty: Vanguard and Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War respectively taking the number one and number two spots. In recent years Activision Blizzard has solely focused on Call of Duty, Overwatch and World of Warcraft has their biggest earners and most profitable franchises for the company. With this however, other Activision Blizzard franchises like Crash Bandicoot, Spyro and Tony Hawk have been indefinitely sidelined.
However, Phil Spencer, CEO of XBOX, could be the spark of hope that fans need for the continuation of Crash and Spyro. Activision Blizzard as a publicly traded company and Activision Blizzard under Microsoft share completely different goals. As an independent entity, Activision Blizzard, as it's share holders for that matter, were focused on the biggest releases and the constant stream of income that those games could bring. Let's be honest, despite how much fan and critic reception there was for Crash and Spyro, they were no where near brining in Call of Duty numbers, but as a Microsoft and XBOX exclusive title, the end result is vastly different.
XBOX's biggest pull as of late was to make Game Pass the best deal in gaming. With this, this needs a constant and diverse set of games coming onto the service monthly. Every game doesn't need to be break-out hits, they just need to be good games. This was evident with XBOX Studios funded titles like Grounded, Tell Me Why and Battletoads. All games of smaller scale that other XBOX titles like Halo: Infinite, Gears 5 and Forza Horizon 5, but still are valuable to XBOX and the Game Pass initiative. And while the term "AA" game has gone out of favor and sometimes is seen as a negative, these games are excellent for Game Pass.
XBOX and Game Pass has effectively created a true range of "A" to "AAA" environments for gamers. For the sake of argument, let's label "A" games like indie and small scale titles on Game Pass like Twelve Minutes and the Falconeer, "AA" games like New Super Lucky's Tale and Ori and the Will of the Wisps and "AAA" games like Starfield and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. With this mindset, Crash Bandicoot & Sypro the Dragon fit PERFECTLY into that "AA" sphere.
Let's be clear, "AA" doesn't mean lack of quality at all, it just refers more to scope and scale of the projects. XBOX's core franchises of Halo, Forza, and Gears has fulfilled the "AAA" space for Microsoft for years. But with "AAA" game development, a lot of time and development is needed to gives these games the level of quality they need for such large projects. But these large projects can't keep the value of Gamepass, especially when it's multiple years between releases, and that's where Crash and Spyro fall into place.
XBOX is willing to put money and resources down for games of a smaller scope and scale, while giving the teams the respect they need to fulfil their vision and goals for their games. We've seen this recently with stellar, but smaller games like Psychonauts 2 and State of Decay 2. As a sign of goodwill for fans, and to continue to diversity the XBOX Game Pass offerings, Spyro and Crash with new releases will feel right at home under XBOX leadership.
How Microsoft can strike and redefine the Family Market for a modern XBOX.
For many years XBOX has suffered through the stigma that is was the console for shooters. This was largely because of the popularity of the XBOX 360, which consistently had the marketing rights for Call of Duty and had plenty of First Party releases with Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo Reach, Halo 4, Gears of War, Gears of War 2, Gears of War 3, Gears of War Judgement, Crackdown and Crackdown 2. Needless to say, it was hard to move away from this image of serious brown and gray shooters that was extremely common on the console.
As the Seventh generation of consoles loomed on, the success of the Wii was something that neither Microsoft or Sony could ignore. Microsoft's attempt at the booming family and casual market was the ill-fated Kinect, which offered hands-free gaming to compete with Nintendo Wii's motion controls. With this a slew of Kinect exclusive titles aimed at families were produced many to middling reviews and lack-luster impressions.
With these Kinect titles, some were handled by the legendary RARE studio, in an attempt to bolster First Party support for the Kinect to the dismay of many fans. This often lead to many discussions asking "What happened to RARE?", as the former producer of hits like Banjo-Kazooie seemingly let their IP laid to rest forever. However under Phil Spencer's leadership, the XBOX brand started to slowly turn around.
When we look at the output of games from Microsoft during the XBOX One life-span, we see a lot of new directions for the XBOX brand, that's aimed for more family friendly gamers, without the use of gimmicky hardware. Titles like Super Lucky's Tale, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Rare Replay, Screamride, Zoo Tycoon, Battletoads, Sea of Thieves, and ReCore were all rated T for Teen or lower, and most of which strayed away from XBOX's shooter roots. There was a deliberate push for this content, but it just hasn't been fully realized...yet.
Fans for years have asked for a new title in the Banjo-Kazooie franchise. What better time than now? With Vicarious Visions under XBOX, we could see a remake of the original N64 classics brought to modern standards like Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Spyro Reignited Trilogy. Toys for Bob could take the lead on a sequel to Banjo Kazooie 2, or perhaps focus on a new Spyro game. And let's not forget that with Crash Team Racing, XBOX could finally have a Kart Racer with tons of Microsoft IPs represented.
Maybe we could see some other Rare IP come back like Jet Force Gemini, Viva Piñata, or Kameo? Or we could see the return of older mascot platformers from XBOX's past like Blinx the Time Sweeper or Voodoo Vince. What about party games? Why not bring back Fusion Frenzy? Or you know what? Let's pull out a deep cut, what about a Commander Keen game developed by Way Forward? Maybe an even deeper cut, Pitfall! And let's not overlook the amazing team under Tim Schafer with Double Fine Productions.
And all of this can be possible even with the constant support of already established family friendly titles like Minecraft, Grounded, and Sea of Thieves. Point being, Microsoft has a ton of content and possibilities to carve into the family niche through XBOX and Gamepass, and with this being at the start of a console generation, now is the best time to jump in and establish themselves as such. Now obviously Microsoft wouldn't be able to compete with Nintendo with the market, but they don't need to. They need to market Gamepass as a cost-efficient platform for ALL ages to satisfy all needs and markets, which is something that it can have an advantage of over Nintendo and Sony.
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