It's officially 2024, which means we should – we repeat, should – get a whole lot of Activision Blizzard games on Xbox Game Pass this year. Although the prospect of recent games from the Call of Duty, Diablo, Crash Bandicoot, and Spyro series coming to Game Pass is exciting, we can't help but think Some “lost” versions. Currently owned by the publisher.
There are many old Activision games released on the early Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles that cannot be easily played on today's modern platforms. Many of the publisher's niche releases are not backwards compatible – not to mention the old Crash, Spyro and Tony Hawk games have also fallen into oblivion on older platforms.
Thus, we've rounded up a few Activision games we'd love to see added to Xbox backward compatibility this year. Sure, the software is dead now, but surely it can be downloaded again now that the ActiBlizz deal is officially complete, right? we hope These five games, and many more, Becomes backward compatible in 2024.
Blur (Xbox 360)
We can't start this list without mentioning the dedicated Xbox 360 racing game! From the team previously responsible for the fantastic Project Gotham Racing series on Xbox, Blur is a great mix of arcade racing and kart racing that we'd love to see return via Xbox backwards compatibility.
We get it, the car license probably makes this wish a bit unrealistic, but it's ours nonetheless and we have fond memories of playing this game on Xbox 360. Sadly, the developer is no longer Bizarre Creations (RIP), but as with it as far as it's concerned Respectfully, we know that Activision still owns the rights to the franchise and could bring it back.
We're not expecting much here, but the ability to play Blur through Xbox backwards compatibility would be very nice. Our old physical copy is waiting to be used again, Microsoft!
Call of Duty: Classic (XBLA)
There are plenty of Call of Duty games that can be played on modern Xbox consoles – almost the entire franchise can be easily downloaded, physically or digitally, through backwards compatibility. We're glad we did, as there have been some great Call of Duty releases over the years – however, there's still a strange omission from Xbox CoD in 2024.
Call of duty first – It was initially released for PC in 2003 – and was brought to Xbox 360 as Xbox Live Arcade Edition in 2009. Call of Duty: ClassicThis version of the first CoD is the only way to play the game's original campaign. In the console.
The “Classic” version has cut back on multiplayer features, which is unfortunate, but our OCDs will be happy if Microsoft makes this backwards compatible. So we will have every CoD game playable on Xbox Series
Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of the Cortex (Xbox)
Crash games from this era are somewhat controversial – not everyone liked the direction of the series after Naughty Dog stopped being involved – but we really liked The Wrath of Cortex. The first major Crash game to come to Xbox, The Wrath of Cortex kept things largely in line with previous PS1 releases – for good reason.
We've been playing this game on our OG Xbox console for the past few years and it handles really well, so we'd love to see it fully playable on Xbox Series since Activision has been getting involved in the series again recently. times.
Tony Hawk's Underground
Tony Hawk returned to his roots in 2020, after what seemed like an eternity since the good old days, although the latest entry in the series was merely a reimagining of the first two games in the series. We would love to see a completely new entry in the spirit of the old games, but unfortunately, we are still waiting for that in 2024.
However, the original Xbox era was golden for the series, especially the Underground spin-offs. So we'd love to see a revival of Underground (and perhaps a sequel) through backwards compatibility.
This is another addition that seems like a fairly simple addition to the backward compatibility program. There will likely be music licensing issues to be resolved of course, but Activision is clearly interested in the intellectual property after Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 – which managed to deliver a great, updated soundtrack in 2020. This re-release was great, but please Bring back Underground for Xbox Series
Wolfenstein (2009) (Xbox 360)
We've seen a lot of discussion lately about Raven Software and the possibility of it breaking free from Call of Duty – and we'd love to see that happen. Exclusivity is often touted as the true mark of letting Raven lose, but we wanted to highlight another of the team's Xbox 360 FPS titles.
Wolfenstein (2009) is an underrated entry in the long-running franchise in our eyes. The MachineGames reboot was great, but it always lived in the shadow of the last generation of DOOM's big comeback – and 2009's Wolfenstein seemed to offer a more unique twist on the IP.
These are just a few of the Activision Blizzardo games we'd love to see return to modern consoles in 2024, and we know there are plenty of others we didn't mention on this list. From James Bond to True Crime and maybe even another Simpsons game (rights permitting), We've lost a lot of things here – We will also consider them to be backward compatible add-ons! We're excited to see what 2024 will bring when it comes to Xbox and Activision Blizzard.
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