In their quarterly financial Q&A this week, Activision confirmed that they have a strong interest in pursuing more remasters of classic gaming titles. The decision comes after the success of remastered versions PlayStation One era platforming favorites, the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon trilogies.
During the Q&A, President of Activision Robert Kotick advised “stay[ing] tuned for future announcements” for more remasters or other news on Activision’s other current popular properties. He also suggested that brand new games could be made using those IPs, continuing the series for new and returning fans alike.
“When you look at our IP library, we think there’s a lot of IP in there the fans are going to want to experience again,” Kotick said during Activision’s earnings call. “I’d say stay tuned for some future announcements, but just beyond pure remasters, there are also a lot of opportunities now to innovate and think about totally new content within these IPs.”
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy was released in 2017, and the Spyro Reignited trilogy followed the next year. The games were developed by Vicarious Visions and Toys for Bob, respectively, with Activision publishing both properties. The remastered Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled was also released this year to positive reviews.
In line with the current market interest in nostalgia, Activision Blizzard is also getting ready to launch World of Warcraft Classic free to subscribers of the game’s current expansion Battle for Azeroth on August 27, 2019 (a monthly subscription of $15 is required to play Classic on its own). The game is near-exact recreation of World of Warcraft version 1.12, before any expansion content.
During the quarter ending June 30th, Activision generated revenue of $1.4 billion, compared to $1.64 billion during the same quarter a year ago. The adjusted earnings per share for the quarter were $0.43, down from $0.52 this time in 2018.
Earlier this year, Activision split from Bungie, developers of the massively-multiplayer online title Destiny, contributing to dip in monthly active users. This year also saw Activision-Blizzard laying off of approximately 8% of the company’s total workforce.
During the call, Activision executives stated that they’re also growing the teams to continue developing for major franchises like Call of Duty, Candy Crush, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and Diablo.