It is very possible, with the new figures coming out, and Hasbro talking about it at SDCC.
Delisted Transformers Games coming to Game Pass?
- Thread starter The Predaking
- Start date
The excuse of "They can't find it on the hard drives" is kind of BS becuase if you own those game digitally, you can download them right now, meaning putting them onto gamepass would be trivial (and Micosoft was fully offering to do the work to make sure they work on the current hardware). Same thing with the games on Steam. Playstation is a bit of a different story given PS3's architecture made making the games backwards compatible more trouble than they were worth.
The real issue, as it always has been, is that activision are cheapskates and aren't going to pay the license for Transformers unless they think they can make money on it and the value proposition likely wasn't there, at least for a company as penny-pinching as Activision.
When the Microsoft acquisition goes though, which is all but a certainty at this point, only the CMA in the UK has obstacles left in their place, then that definitely might change. MS is more interested in making Gamepass look like a good value, so they might be willing to relicense the games. Might even show up on Steam as well.
The real issue, as it always has been, is that activision are cheapskates and aren't going to pay the license for Transformers unless they think they can make money on it and the value proposition likely wasn't there, at least for a company as penny-pinching as Activision.
When the Microsoft acquisition goes though, which is all but a certainty at this point, only the CMA in the UK has obstacles left in their place, then that definitely might change. MS is more interested in making Gamepass look like a good value, so they might be willing to relicense the games. Might even show up on Steam as well.
No fan of Activision, me, but I think it makes some sense to not invest in a license that you don't think is going to make you money. The whole point of value propositions. Now, they might be wrong about that, but prior to the last few years of nostalgia for that era/gameplay idk how much they would've made either way.
Even the motive you (accurately, I feel) cite for Microsoft makes more sense financially -- they just have to pay for a license and host the games, building up the library like all the streaming services do/did, and it's more of a sure thing that the money would be made.
Even the motive you (accurately, I feel) cite for Microsoft makes more sense financially -- they just have to pay for a license and host the games, building up the library like all the streaming services do/did, and it's more of a sure thing that the money would be made.
Sure, a BC compatible rerelease of these games can easily be released as-is on Xbox and Steam, especially considering 360 games on modern Xbox consoles are just emulated and not actually being ported to run on Xbox Series S/X hardware.
But what about port/remaster to other consoles, like the Switch? I mean obviously they could do what Bluepoint Games does with their remakes/remasters, where they actually reverse engineer the games from the original discs, rather than relying on the source code, to make sure that their remakes are 100% the same was what was actually shipped on the disc.
But Activision is cheap and I'd imagine they'd not want to put the effort into doing that, although that would certainly be the best option if they can't find the source code at all (and again, Activision is cheap and they're probably like 'Well it's not worth the time or money to dig through our old hard drives to find these Transformers games, we need to make more Call of Duty instead' lmao), considering I'd imagine that Hasbro would want these games available on as many platforms as possible and not just Xbox and PC.
I was talking about specifically Gamepass (with a little bit of Steam) and acknowledged that Playstation is in a different boat. Obviously platforms that never saw release wouldn't be included in that.
However, it appears I'm incorrect and Microsoft does need source files to make a game backwards compatible that wasn't before.
That said, I still imagine it's less of a "we don't know where the files are" and more of a "you want us to dig up those files so we can pay you more money for a license for old games? Yeah, we "can't" find them."
However, it appears I'm incorrect and Microsoft does need source files to make a game backwards compatible that wasn't before.
That said, I still imagine it's less of a "we don't know where the files are" and more of a "you want us to dig up those files so we can pay you more money for a license for old games? Yeah, we "can't" find them."
I would imagine that Hasbro would be more inclined to give Microsoft a better deal with the Gamer figures coming out.
Sounds like the hope is that once the acquisition comes through, Microsoft will send someone through to find the games, since Activision won't. They stand to have more to gain, especially if it's exclusive to their consoles and Game Pass.
I have both of the games on 360 still, but I would love a chance to get them on Steam again.
Activision employee says they know where the code is, so it was either a miscommunication or a lie that they didn't. (I'm guessing the fault lies with Activision, because it was easier to go "we can't find it" than to go "we're not interested in putting the games out again."
Tweeter is Chief Commercial Officer and Executive VP of Corporate Affairs at Activision.
Tweeter is Chief Commercial Officer and Executive VP of Corporate Affairs at Activision.
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These games must have been more popular than I realized, because it seems like every news blog on the entire internet is posting about this.
Woot! Digging this news!
Once upon a time, Hasbro themselves were pushing these games to be considered on the same level of importance as other mainstream TF media. For the year 2010, even, War For Cybertron was considered the primary Transformers fiction of that year.
From the front page!
www.allspark.com
Hasbro Releases An Official Statement On The Supposed Lost Transformers Games
To follow up on our previous article about the Delisted Transformers Games, we have an update from Hasbro
www.allspark.com
No really. We have a statement from Hasbro about this.
Yup. They were legitimately concerned about this rumor that was going around.
Hasbro has a long and very silly history of trying to get into videogames. They really want a good relationship with a publisher, and they see Activision's changing ownership as an opportunity.
This feels like some manufactured controversy in order to drum up interest to me.