Blizzard Activision Acquired by Microsoft

[Tawmis]

I guess Ken was not aware that Phil Spencer specifically named out King's Quest in the list of properties he attained for Xbox that he was excited about.

I mean, he could have been handed a piece of paper to "say these buzz word games" to get people talking.

Somehow I doubt King's Quest (or any Sierra Adventure game) is on a list of noteworthy buzzwords that'll spark interest in the majority of gamers.
It may be difficult for some of us to believe, but the majority of the modern gaming audience — the market most publishers and developers aim to catch and probably grew up on consoles only — wouldn't even know what a true Adventure game is, let alone classic ones from decades ago.

While, normally I'd agree - but I also feel like - not just because of this forum - but nostalgia is a trigger for people (in a positive way).
Like - if people talk, great - if not, you wasted two seconds saying the words "King's Quest" before moving on to other older IPs.
And it could be that perhaps he was a fan of the old - or even the newer King's Quest. So it was sincere.
But that is a far cry from them doing anything with any of the old IPs.
Just someone realizing what great things they now have.

[Rath Darkblade]

I just hope they do something with these great IPs. Wouldn't it be nice if the KQ series was remade to take advantage of up-to-date graphics and sound, while leaving the essential plot and dialogue intact (like AGD Interactive did for KQ1, 2 and 3)? Or maybe they could do that for any of the other series.

Or -- I don't know -- since Microsoft already owns the IPs, then once they discover there's a market for them, maybe they could take the existing IP and write brand new KQ, SQ, PQ, QfG or LSL games!

Yes, yes, I really doubt it too. But it's a fine pipe dream, isn't it?

[DeadPoolX]

I thought Activision Blizzard lost the license to LSL and Codemasters picked it up? If so, that series is probably a no-go as far as this buyout is concerned.

I think the Laura Bow and PQ games could potentially do quite well, especially since there's generally less competition in gaming regarding mysteries and police games.

SQ, KQ, and QFG might have a difficult time given how popular sci-fi, fantasy, and RPGs are today. I know that sounds counter-intuitive because if a genre is popular, it should sell well, but the problem is over-saturation. KQ, SQ, and QFG would be competing against far more games than those series could reasonably take on in today's gaming scene, especially since many gamers would probably misidentify them.

By "misidentify" I mean that there have been some Adventure games released that were attacked by gamers because at first glance those games looked like RPGs, but obviously didn't play like RPGs. Unless the game's engine made it glaringly obvious you were looking at an Adventure game (a task made more difficult by designing it so it works well on both PCs and consoles, so traditional point-and-click Adventures wouldn't be viable), you can bet those games would get review bombed heavily.

Unfortunately, unless you're making an Adventure game that relies on quicktime events or banks on nostalgia by using a point-and-click interface (which again renders them virtually unplayable on consoles and that's what Microsoft cares more about with its gaming division) that has faux-VGA graphics, there isn't much of a market for these games.

I wish that weren't the case because I'd love to see some of those old games remade with modern graphics and sound. I hope I'm wrong and Microsoft does in fact care about those game series, but I just don't see Microsoft spending a bunch of money publishing games that'll only run well on computers, not just because the PC market is still smaller than the console market, but because Microsoft is laser-focused on its Xbox consoles now.

[Collector]

How about a wireless mouse type of controller for Xbox as an accessory?

[Tawmis]

I thought Activision Blizzard lost the license to LSL and Codemasters picked it up? If so, that series is probably a no-go as far as this buyout is concerned.

Correct, Activision sold the LSL license. Ken mentioned it recently.

Some of the better properties were apparently sold off or allowed to slip out of Sierra’s grasp after the company was sold: Nascar Racing, Hoyle’s Card Games, Half-Life, Leisure-Suit Larry.

...

I think the Laura Bow and PQ games could potentially do quite well, especially since there's generally less competition in gaming regarding mysteries and police games.

I am curious where that puts the folks doing Laura Bow and the Mechanical Codex.
It's not like they had full approval from Activision, but they'd approached them.

[Tawmis]

How about a wireless mouse type of controller for Xbox as an accessory?

As an owner of an XBOX, I'd buy it.

[DeadPoolX]

How about a wireless mouse type of controller for Xbox as an accessory?

Add in an Xbox keyboard, and console gamers would be set for point-and-click games, in addition to having FAR greater accuracy and speed in FPS game as well.

I think the Laura Bow and PQ games could potentially do quite well, especially since there's generally less competition in gaming regarding mysteries and police games.

I am curious where that puts the folks doing Laura Bow and the Mechanical Codex.
It's not like they had full approval from Activision, but they'd approached them.

I guess it depends how much Microsoft cares about the IP. If they take a stance of benign neglect then they probably won't notice or care, but if they're going to be defensive of any IP they own — even if they have no plans to use it — then I imagine a cease-and-desist letter, at minimum, would be sent.

[MusicallyInspired]

Would that be the original King's Quest and its sequels, or the new King's Quest released in 2015? I imagine Spencer was talking about the latter, especially since the earlier games would be unplayable with a controller (some of them didn't even have mouse support!) and that wouldn't be conducive to releasing them on a console.

He was specifically referring to "games he grew up with".

That said... Microsoft hasn't completely given up on PC gaming, so maybe the older games will get released on whatever digital platforms they have on the PC. This also makes me wonder if Microsoft would pull the Sierra titles (and in fact, anything currently owned by Activision) from other store fronts, like Steam and GOG.

That's not going to happen. The Xbox/Microsoft of today, especially under Phil's leadership, is very open to partnering with other distribution platforms and he's said as much even since the Activision acquisition. Dollars to donuts nothing will be removed.

I mean, he could have been handed a piece of paper to "say these buzz word games" to get people talking.

If that were true he wouldn't have said in the interview in the same article "and also....I should know this....I think they have Heretic/Hexen too?" You could argue he's going all 4D chess on everyone and pretending he doesn't know to make it seem more believable but...I can't suspend my disbelief that much.

Ironically, despite all this, I hope they leave Sierra IPs alone and just continue offering the current collections as is. I don't want any remakes or sequels. Unless the game devs who would hypothetically be working on it convince me with their pitch.

I thought Activision Blizzard lost the license to LSL and Codemasters picked it up? If so, that series is probably a no-go as far as this buyout is concerned.

Codemasters bought LSL from Vivendi before ActiVision bought Vivendi. Then apparently Assemble Entertainment (a German company) bought it from Codemasters. That's the company that's giving us the current "Wet Dreams Don't Dry" series of games. Though, I still can't really get confirmation that Assembly actually bought the IP from Codemasters though instead of merely licensing it. Everyone I talk to says that they bought it.

Correct, Activision sold the LSL license. Ken mentioned it recently.

Some of the better properties were apparently sold off or allowed to slip out of Sierra’s grasp after the company was sold: Nascar Racing, Hoyle’s Card Games, Half-Life, Leisure-Suit Larry.

...

Ken's not really in the know about this stuff. Sierra lost their Half-Life publishing license shortly after Half-Life 2 came out because Valve sued them for wrongfully distributing Half-Life games to internet cafes and won. And again, Activision never owned LSL.

[Tawmis]

And apparently the deal is now sealed....

https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/13/237 ... -finalized

[Rath Darkblade]

Indeed, and my reply to this (from yesterday) is gone. Sigh.



Anyway, we knew this deal would be coming. I have a few questions about this:

1. Now that this deal is finalised, what would happen to Laura Bow and the Mechanical Codex?

2. Speaking of which, what would happen to Sierra game "remakes" from people like AGDI (KQ and QfG remakes), Infamous Adventures (SQ2 remake), The Odd Gentlemen (new King's Quest), or Crystal Shard (Heroine's Quest, inspired by Hero's Quest)?

I assume Crystal Shard is fine, unless Microsoft want to be jerks about their new IP. (To be optimistic, I assume they'll all be fine, unless Microsoft want to be jerks. After all, all these games -- except the new KQ -- are available for free, so they're not competing with Microsoft).

Does anyone know?

[Tawmis]

1. Now that this deal is finalised, what would happen to Laura Bow and the Mechanical Codex?

Well, they seemed eager for this merger to happen. So they probably hope to have better luck through MS than through Activision.

2. Speaking of which, what would happen to Sierra game "remakes" from people like AGDI (KQ and QfG remakes), Infamous Adventures (SQ2 remake), The Odd Gentlemen (new King's Quest), or Crystal Shard (Heroine's Quest, inspired by Hero's Quest)?
Does anyone know?

Any legally make game (Odd Gentlemen, for example) would be fine under whatever agreement was made.
If MS wanted to be "jerks" they could go after fan games like the unofficial KQ and QFG remakes.
Heroines Quest would be fine, I'd imagine because it's it's own game.

To recently quote Robert Holmes (who you should know)

This is potentially good news for those of us in the Gabriel Knight world. Nice to have the IP owned by anybody but Activision..

And in another post he said...

The most likely scenario might be rather than MS making a GK or Sierra game, they would be open to licensing the IP's to other developers or film makers, etc. Even this would be a real progression over Activision's inaction and inflexibility.