Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Sekiro, and Elsewhere: Activision Unveils 'Emerging Franchises,' Its Internal Team Built Beyond Call of Duty

While the annual Call of Duty juggernaut commands the lion's share of Activision's production resources, a far smaller internal unit has spent the past decade quietly orchestrating the publisher's classic mascot revivals and incubating brand-new intellectual properties. Following the digital release of the official Xbox 25th Anniversary Magazine, first distributed in print at Xbox FanFest in Seattle to mark a quarter-century since the original console launched on November 15, 2001, Activision has formally pulled back the curtain on its Emerging Franchises division. Written by Activision's Valerie Lee across pages 106 and 107, the feature details the origins, three-pillar strategy, and future ambitions of what the company calls a "small, but mighty group."

From Skylanders Collaborations to Aku Aku's 2016 Roar

According to Activision, Emerging Franchises grew out of a straightforward realization during the Skylanders era: every time a classic character appeared in a crossover collaboration, player enthusiasm surged. That response prompted leadership to assemble a dedicated internal team tasked with evaluating opportunities across Activision's historic library, combining market research and community feedback to determine which dormant worlds deserved a comeback or a modern evolution.

Those early efforts culminated in June 2016 with the stage reveal of Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, when Aku Aku's trademark "OOGA BOOGAH" echoed over the speakers before Crash Bandicoot's silhouette lit up the screen. Michelle Bresaw, currently Activision's Vice President of Live Services for Call of Duty and the leader of Emerging Franchises at the time, recalls the electric reaction in the room: "The hairs on my arms still stand up when I re-tell the story. It was one of those incredible moments where you could physically feel what a game meant to people."

Rather than merely repackaging old code, Bresaw notes that the team set out to connect both with younger newcomers and with "kidults," longtime players whose attachment to childhood mascots never faded. "The real challenge was understanding what is sacred: the feel, the characters, the humor, the memories that people have attached to [the franchises] and then deciding very deliberately where modernization can make the experience better for players today," Bresaw explains.

Three Pillars, One Goal: From Crash and Tony Hawk to Sekiro and Elsewhere

To organize its portfolio outside Call of Duty, Emerging Franchises structures its ten highlighted projects around three distinct strategic pillars:

• Revivals & remasters: bringing classic titles back for modern hardware while preserving what players loved most, encompassing Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4.
• Franchise growth: evolving established characters and worlds through new entries, including Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, Crash Team Rumble, and the upcoming Spyro: A Realm Beyond.
• New opportunities: shepherding completely original experiences, represented by FromSoftware's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and the upcoming narrative-driven AAA franchise in development at Elsewhere Entertainment.

Activision Chief Operating Officer Joshua Taub emphasizes that the unit thrives on a collaborative "yes, and..." mindset, pursuing unconventional concepts that larger production pipelines could rarely accommodate. That attitude extended to marketing stunts as well, ranging from giant promotional statues to delivering a copy of Spyro Reignited Trilogy to Snoop Dogg via a life-sized, fire-breathing Spyro the Dragon drone.

Crucially, the division's remit goes well beyond 1990s platformers. In 2019, Emerging Franchises partnered with FromSoftware to publish Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, a standalone action IP that sold over 2 million copies in its first 10 days and secured Activision's first-ever Game of the Year trophy at The Game Awards. "We understood the rigor it took to take things from good to great," says Kelly Patt, Senior Director of Brand Marketing, Live Services for Call of Duty and one of the founding leaders of Emerging Franchises in 2016.

Spyro: A Realm Beyond in Spring 2027 and More Familiar Worlds Teased

Elsewhere in the same anniversary issue, which also revealed how Lead Designer Ryan Whitaker prototyped the 101g Xbox Nano Controller on his home 3D printer, Xbox and Activision spotlight the next major release under the Emerging Franchises banner: Spyro: A Realm Beyond. Revealed during the 2026 Xbox Games Showcase and scheduled for Spring 2027 across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Game Pass, Xbox Play Anywhere, Steam, Nintendo Switch 2, and PlayStation 5, the project marks the purple dragon's first completely original mainline adventure since 2008.

Helmed by Toys for Bob Studio Head Paul Yan and Creative Director Lou Studdert, Spyro: A Realm Beyond introduces true free-flight mechanics right from its opening biome, Painted Plains (dubbed the team's "Wright Brothers area"), pairs aerial movement with a new ranged fireball attack, and brings back original voice actor Tom Kenny. Looking ahead beyond Spyro's return and Elsewhere Entertainment's new AAA IP, Valerie Lee closes the feature with an explicit promise to fans of Activision's broader catalog: "There are plenty more expansions, stories, and adventures in the making. Some will return us to familiar worlds. Some will introduce entirely new worlds. Some are still waiting to be discovered."

Written by Bastien "Orion"

🌎 Gaming News & Culture Writer ⚜️ Quebec City

Originally from Lyon, France, gaming journalist Bastien "Orion" relocated nearly a decade ago to Quebec City's Saint-Roch district, right in the heart of eastern Canada's development studio hub. Before crossing the Atlantic, he honed his versatile reporting style across classic French gaming web portals and specialist television outlets in the 2000s and 2010s, notably with JeuxVideo.fr and JeuxNews. Equally passionate about AAA blockbusters, North American studio culture, retro preservation, and community modding projects, he anchors Pro-Gamer's transatlantic desk and real-time coverage of US and Japanese industry announcements.

Focus: 🌎 North America Desk, AAA & Preservation @JeuxNewscom @orion.pg

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