Hasbro has apologized for claiming that Activision has lost their copies of their Transformers video games.
We had reported yesterday on Hasbro’s comments in the San Diego Comic Con 2023 Transformers panel. Hasbro’s representatives glibly shared that Activision is looking for their masters of the games in their hard drives.
As reported by Video Games Chronicle, Hasbro shares this statement today:
“To clarify, comments that suggest Transformers games have been lost were made in error.
We apologise to Activision and regret any confusion – they’ve been great partners, and we look forward to future opportunities to work together.”
This seems more about having the companies saving face. After all we hadn’t been notified by Hasbro or Activision that they have already retrieved their masters of the Transformers video games.
Still, what’s also interesting is that Hasbro’s statement does not include a disclaimer of the other things Hasbro’s representative said.
So, it’s reasonable to believe that once Activision does get everything set up, they will be republishing their Transformers games on the Xbox store and immediately putting those games up as part of Game Pass.
Hasbro’s statement at the time did not include any claim that the games would be exclusive to Xbox. In spite of the pending Microsoft – Activision deal, Hasbro also revealed yesterday that they own the rights to their Transformers games. This is the reason that they can make toys based on how the Transformers looked in those old games.
Still, if those games do get republished on Steam and PlayStation, and if Hasbro also clears the Nintendo Transformers games to be republished as well, Xbox will still have the edge. That’s because those games will be immediately available to Game Pass subscribers.
The most recent Transformers Activision games that could come to Xbox are PlatinumGames’ action game Transformers: Devastation, and the High Moon Studios Transformers: Cybertron trilogy, namely, Transformers: War for Cybertron, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, and Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark. But, Activision can actually dip deeper than that.
For example, Hasbro’s partnership with Activision also includes the Transformers games based on the Michael Bay movies. So, Hasbro, Activision, and Microsoft can work things out to bring back 2007’s Transformers: The Game from Xbox 360.
Hasbro also commissioned Transformers video games exclusive to Nintendo platforms, for their cartoons Transformers: Animated and Transformers Prime.
This would really be more of Hasbro’s call than anyone else. But with the changed business situation as their partner Activision is set to be owned by Microsoft, Hasbro could ride the hype train from it by working with Microsoft to relicense those games, and make some good money without having to pay for new projects.
