The internet is collectively remembering Guitar Hero today, and working itself up over the possibility that Activision Blizzard CEO and known villain, Bobby Kotick, might have hinted at a franchise revival. It comes via Windows Central, which reported on an internal townhall meeting held between Kotick and Activision Blizzard employees to discuss the future of the company ahead of what looks like it’ll be a successful takeover by Microsoft.
Also, for reasons known only to the people who organised it, this internal company meeting was held by the only person I would immediately name if you asked me “Who’s worse than Bobby Kotick?”, James Corden.
In the talk, Kotick seemingly spent some time talking about new innovations in technology, and how Microsoft’s resources and capabilities in research could help Activision Blizzard explore new (and maybe old) possibilities.
“I talked a little earlier about the physical experience of interacting with something on screen. I think you’ll see things like Neuralink — you’ll actually be able to interact with things on the screen, where there isn’t a controller,” the CEO said, referencing Elon Musk’s in-development brain-computer interface, discussing how Microsoft might help with exploring those new frontiers of interactivity while also name-dropping Guitar Hero in the mix.
“A big part of what I’ve seen in Microsoft is research. And they do development in areas that are extraordinary. And so being able to tap into their AI and machine learning capability, the data analytics, new ways of thinking about graphics — I just see unlimited potential for what we do,” Kotick explained. “We’re uniquely situated as a company because we have the very best franchises in all of video games.”
BREAKING: Activision completed an all-hands meeting today where CEO Bobby Kotick discussed its pending Microsoft partnership, future tech, reviving Guitar Hero, and much more.
EXCLUSIVE: https://t.co/juLf58Bwts ??#Xbox $ATVI #Activision #GuitarHero $MSFT
— Windows Central Gaming (@WinC_Gaming) October 10, 2023
Whether or not you agree with that statement, Kotick believes that one of those franchises is Guitar Hero, and dropped the hint that many are taking as a clue that Activision is already actively thinking about bringing it back, saying “The re-emergence of Guitar Hero and other things would not be possible without the different types of resources. And so, you know, just the endless possibilities for the future that are just incredibly exciting.”
It’s a pretty loose nod overall, but the way it’s been phrased so matter-of-factly could imply that things are already in motion, but time will tell. Activision’s last attempt, Guitar Hero Live, was enough of a failure that it laid off a portion of employees at developer FreeStyleGames and then sold the studio to Ubisoft.
Microsoft’s $69 billion USD bid to acquire Activision Blizzard is widely expected to go through as early as tomorrow, Friday October 13th.
