Xbox head Phil Spencer considers PS5 and Nintendo Switch users part of the overarching Xbox community.
18.10.2023 - 14:59 / gamesradar.com / Phil Spencer
Xbox boss Phil Spencer wants to see the classic Hexen series return, and one developer took the opportunity to say they’re “very well suited” to make it happen.
Speaking on the Official Xbox Podcast, Phil Spencer expressed his desire to bring back some dormant series that have been untouched and neglected for years. That back catalog essentially doubled overnight when Microsoft closed the deal on its Activision Blizzard acquisition - and Spencer had one particular series in mind: Hexen.
“When’s Hexen coming back? That's what people want to know,” Spencer quipped during the podcast. Hexen - an indirect sequel to the even older Heretic - was a first-person shooter from 1995 where you’d use finger magic, rather than guns, to blast baddies. The series carried over the tangled level design and bloody style of Doom, but you instead played as one of three magical classes. Think along the lines of Doctor Strange (or maybe this year’s Immortals Of Aveum), but cooler.
@XboxP3 Just letting you know, having a long running history and extensive knowledge with Heretic and Hexen, just want to point out that me and my team are very well suited for the job.Just saying. https://t.co/Z6KsChk16KOctober 18, 2023
Spencer’s throwaway joke attracted the attention of Samuel Villareal, the lead engine developer at Nightdive Studios. “Just letting you know,” Villareal responded on Twitter, “having a long-running history and extensive knowledge with Heretic and Hexen, just want to point out that me and my team are very well suited for the job. Just saying”
Nightdive Studios are the developers behind this year’s incredible System Shock remake, but the team has revived countless PC classics over the years - between Turok, Blade Runner, and the upcoming Star Wars: Dark Forces remaster. Though Nightdive’s most recent project was surprisingly the Quake 2 remaster, which was a joint effort with other Xbox-owned studios, id Software and Machine Games. So there’s at least a history between the two companies.
To make matters even more fitting, Spencer himself namedropped the Quake 2 remaster as an example of how to bring back classics in the right way. “I thought [Quake 2 remaster] was awesome,” he noted. “They did a real good job revisiting a game, making it current, but also not leaving the history behind. So I’d love to see more things like that.
Spencer continued: “I tease about things like Hexen just because I remember playing it as a kid. I have no plan for that, but I do think when you look across all of the franchises that are part of our teams, there’s an opportunity for us to go back, even if it’s just to recognize the moment and what those things meant in gaming’s history.” The stars certainly seem aligned for Hexen’s cursed
Xbox head Phil Spencer considers PS5 and Nintendo Switch users part of the overarching Xbox community.
With Activision Blizzard now officially owned by Microsoft, some pretty major franchises have come under Xbox ownership, and though Call of Duty is obviously getting a great deal of attention in those conversations, one cannot downplay the significance of Xbox now owning major Blizzard properties like Warcraft, StarCraft, Overwatch, and Diablo.
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For gamers, one of the most alluring possibilities created by Microsoft's finally-completed acquisition of Activision Blizzard is the prospect of games like Call of Duty, Diablo, and Overwatch on Game Pass. Microsoft's subscription service is already a hell of a deal, and adding annualized iterations of Call of Duty plus everything Blizzard does makes it even more attractive. And it will no doubt happen eventually, but not anytime soon: Activision said last week that its games won't arrive on Game Pass until 2024 at the earliest, and in a recent interview with the Official Xbox Podcast, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said that timeline is «accurate.»
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NightDive Studios would be a great fit for remasters of Raven Software's Hexen and Heretic, according to the studios's lead engine developer.
Microsoft made several headlines when they unveiled their interest in bringing on another acquisition. After Zenimax Media, Microsoft went after a massive name with Activision Blizzard. The purchase brought in over $68 billion, and it was an uphill battle for Microsoft. They had to go through a series of regulators to ensure that this deal wouldn’t hurt competition. Of course, the significant component that hit the headlines was the fact that Microsoft would own Call of Duty. That made many players worried about a scenario in which Call of Duty would no longer be available on the PlayStation line of consoles. The folks over at Xbox continued to ensure this wouldn’t be the case.