For many of us who grew up watching Transformers cartoons and playing with the action figures, the idea of returning to those digital battlegrounds evokes a nostalgia as powerful as Optimus Prime himself. It’s a thrill that Hasbro, the creator of the Transformers franchise, wants to harness.
In a recent interview conducted by Transformers World 2005 at San Diego Comic-Con on July 28, the company expressed a desire to re-release several Transformers video games published by Activision on modern Xbox consoles via Xbox backward compatibility on the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.
There’s a lot at stake here. The lineup of Transformers games published by Activision Blizzard includes Transformers: War for Cybertron, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, Transformers: Devastation, and many others. These games were more than mere movie tie-ins. War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron, developed by High Moon Studios, garnered critical acclaim for their deep third-person shooter gameplay, authentic renditions of the Transformers origin story, and well-executed multiplayer systems.
Sadly, realizing this ambitious dream may prove more challenging than anticipated. Activision’s archives, where the games are believed to be stored, resemble more of a digital maze than a library.
Hasbro commented, “Sadly, apparently Activision’s not sure what hard drives they’re on in their building. When a company eats a company that eats a company things get lost, and that’s very frustrating.” However, the frustration doesn’t appear to have deterred them.
With Microsoft acquiring Activision, there’s renewed hope the giant may excavate the archives to discover these misplaced treasures and make them a valuable addition to the Xbox Game Pass library.
All these games have a significant fanbase that, understandably, would be overjoyed to see their favorite titles come back to modern Xbox consoles. As Xbox head Phil Spencer has previously shown interest in reviving some of Activision Blizzard’s older IPs, Hasbro’s hope for these games’ resurrection doesn’t seem to be in vain.
The re-release of these titles would not just be a victory for the fans but also a strategic move for Hasbro. The new updated and revived version of these games could attract a new generation of players, breathing life into the franchise once again. It may also synergize well with upcoming Transformers projects like Transformers: Reactivate, currently in development at Splash Damage, as well as Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, which is currently on Paramount+ after a lukewarm reception from audiences at the global box office and a respectable performance among critics.
Yet, one can’t dismiss the reality that, due to a myriad of corporate acquisitions and mergers, the Transformers games are stranded in digital limbo. But if these games manage to re-release on modern Xbox consoles and join the vast library of Xbox Game Pass titles, it would be a cause for celebration for both Transformers and Xbox fans. Until then, the fans will continue to hope that their favorite mechanized heroes will be reactivated in the digital world, just as they have so many times in our imaginations.
Ultimately, the potential revival of the Transformers games hinges on the dedicated search within Activision’s archives and a cooperative effort between Hasbro and Microsoft.
Should they succeed, fans could soon be once more engaged in the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons. As Hasbro poignantly stated, “We want those games back up for people to have a chance to play.” And indeed, so do the fans.
