Activision Blizzard CEO thinks Guitar Hero and Skylanders could be revived by Microsoft

techradar.com:

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has said the publisher’s acquisition by Microsoft could see the revival of the classic rhythm game series Guitar Hero.

Speaking to VentureBeat about the new possibilities that would be available to Activision after its deal with Microsoft is finalized, Kotick said a new Guitar Hero game could be possible, with the company afforded greater opportunities to pursue more logistically-demanding projects that wouldn’t be feasible without Microsoft’s backing.

“I wanted to make a new Guitar Hero for a while, but I don’t want to add teams to do manufacturing and supply chain and QA for manufacturing,” Kotick said. “And the chip shortages are enormous.

“We didn’t really have the ability to do that. I had a really cool vision for what the next Guitar Hero would be, and realized we don’t have the resources to do that.”

Kotick goes on to make a similar point about the self-styled toys-to-life game Skylanders, which first came about as a Spyro spin-off and received regular releases until 2016.

“One of the great disappointments of my career is that other people came in and they came out with crappy alternatives,” he said about Skylanders. 

“And they dumped all of these crappy alternatives in the market, and basically destroyed the market for what was a really cool future opportunity.

“If you look at Skylanders, with its hardware and manufacturing and supply chain, there are the same kinds of things that we can’t do but Microsoft can.”

It’s not hugely surprising that a Guitar Hero revival is back on the table. After the Microsoft-Activision acquisition was announced earlier this week, we reckoned the wannabe-rockstar rhythm game had a good chance of sticking its head above the parapet and reclaiming the love