Gaming is abuzz with the news of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. The joint company was under fire last year for poor working conditions, but few could have predicted the story ending this way. (This continues Microsoft's recent tactic of buyouts, such as their purchase of Bethesda a few years ago.)
The list of studios and publishers Microsoft has bought now includes Activision-Blizzard, Zenimax, Rare, among others. This gives Microsoft an impressive catalogue of classic and legacy titles. Some of the games that were acquired, such as Doom and Crash Bandicoot, are obvious. But other titles, some gamers may be surprised to learn are now under Microsoft ownership.
Zork
Zork is one of the oldest and perhaps most romantic video games of all time. Just looking at the text parser and white type on black background reminds one of a simpler time. Gaming in its earliest form, before the time of graphics. Imagination ruled and players could just find themselves lost in a magical land of Grues.
Playing Zork nowadays is perhaps one of the greatest challenges to a modern gamer. But even tougher was bringing the franchise out of its era. When Activision purchased it, they released a series of games in the 90's to try and resurrect the brand. But Zork eventually settled into its place as a bygone legend (albeit that sometimes cameos in games like Call of Duty Cold War).
Commander Keen
Doom is a franchise known for its brutality. The devastating weapons and elements in the Doom franchise are some of the most hardcore things in gaming. That makes it somewhat surprising to learn that prior to their hellish masterpiece, the team worked on a family-friendly shooting franchise. Commander Keen was some of Id's earliest, but still very enjoyable, work.
The story of the kid genius fighting aliens is just as exciting behind the scenes, though. Keen was created entirely on MS-DOS computers in order to create scrolling on hardware not thought capable of doing it. It was this innovation that foreshadowed Id's later technical achievements in 3D space. Keen is set to get a mobile reboot, but it's been years since that project was announced.
King's Quest
King's Quest was the spiritual follow up to games like Zork. Sierra released several adventure games in this vein. The Police Quest and Space Quest series were also quite popular, although prone to more jokes. But for gamers who wanted epic fantasy, nothing fit the bill like King's Quest.
King's Quest followed the adventures of King Graham and his family. This created a cast of characters that each got an opportunity to play the part of the lead in various sequels. A reboot was attempted by Activision a few years ago, but it didn't revive the brand. King Graham and his family remain one of gaming's best and oldest families.
Candy Crush Saga
Candy Crush Saga may seem to young to call a "classic." It is the only game on this list to launch on Facebook and spend most of its life on mobile, after all. But it's also one of the most profitable games of all time. This match-three puzzle game was considered the pioneer for the freemium style of game.
Its developer, King, has released a few related titles and follow-ups, but Saga remains the King. Speaking of King, they were bought up by Activision in 2015. Candy Crush Saga's addictive gameplay loop and influence as the first freemium game makes it a classic for sure. Saga alone would be worth Microsoft's purchase, similar to when they bought Minecraft.
Tenchu
2019's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was an excellent game full of tough bosses. Oddly for being a Soulsbourne game, it was published by Activision. But Sekiro isn't being discussed here, but rather what it began life as. Tenchu was a series of stealth action games that Sekiro was originally conceived as belonging to.
Similar to Sekiro, the game puts the player in feudal Japan in the role of a shinobi. Interestingly, Activision actually bought the rights to this franchise from Sony and then sold the rights to FromSoftware. This doesn't mean the developer of Sekiro owns the entire series, though. Activision retains distribution rights for all games from before FromSoft's purchase.
Pitfall!
Activision is actually one of the oldest publishers in the gaming space. Unlike other old names like Atari, Activision has mostly retained its identity over the fifty years of gaming, That means they were around to start some of gaming's oldest trends. Their game Pitfall! was responsible for creating a lot of cliches of the platformer genre.
Pitfall! released on the Atari 2600 and is considered on of the earliest platformer games. The simple journey of the protagonist from left to right earned it a spot on many "best games" lists. The sense of adventure it created made it one of the most references games from this era. While it might not have became a massive juggernaut of a franchise, it still holds its own place in time.
Battletoads
Beat-Em-Ups were a classic part of video games in the 80's and 90's. If a game was an "action game" or a "fighting game," there was a 50% chance it was or has something to owe to beat-em-ups. Another classic of that time were ripoffs of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Combining the two gave the world Battletoads.
Battletoads isn't a forgotten franchise at all. They've even had a new game somewhat recently. But they're never really counted alongside the other alumni like Banjo-Kazooie and Joanna Dark when it comes to Rareware mascots. Maybe it's because they first appeared much earlier than the rest of Rare's big name characters.
Hexen
Hexen and Heretic were a series of games made using the DOOM engine. They were published by Id Software and even featured creative input from creator John Romero. It was a necessary step toward games like Quake, adding both the ability to look vertically and gib effects to killed enemies. But perhaps its most unique feature now is its setting.
Heretic, its sequel, and Hexen took place in a world of dark fantasy. It featured dark, interesting environmental storytelling and many playable classes to choose from. This has earned the game retroactive comparisons to Dark Souls. Microsoft earned this franchise from Actvision, and has even commented on its possible return.
Geometry Wars
Geometry Wars perhaps has the strangest story on the list. Many gamers perhaps believed that Geometry Wars was owned and made by Microsoft. And indeed, that is true; the first game in the series was published by them, for them. But they didn't hold on to the license forever as no platform exclusivity deal was made.
Instead the license and Bizarre Creations, the developer, were dealt with by Activision. This saw Geometry Wars, primarily known as an XBox franchise, release on other platforms. But now it seems a full loop has occurred. Now the twin-stick shooter classic Geometry Wars finds itself owned by XBox yet again.
Blast Corps
Microsoft's purchase of Nintendo partner Rare has happened decades ago at this point. But there's still plenty of games to discover. Blast Corps was an interesting Nintendo 64 game that featured building and customization as its major themes. These would go on to be major themes in future Rare titles for Microsoft, like Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts and Sea of Thieves.
But despite Microsoft owning the rights to Blast Corps, most still think of it as a Nintendo game. In fact, according to The Cutting Room Floor, it seems Nintendo themselves also thought they owned it. This is despite Blast Corps appearing on the Rare Replay collection only a few years earlier. But Blast Corps is a classic and incredibly fun game that might not be as popular as Rare's other offerings, but is perhaps one of their best aged.