Hasbro wants to bring back Activision’s Transformers titles via Xbox Game Pass

Transformers IP owner Hasbro has revealed that it wants to bring the fan-favorite Xbox 360-era games to Game Pass after licensing issues led to them being delisted digitally.

The details:

• In an interview with Transformers World, the company was asked if the Activision-published Transformers titles could be re-released to coincide with the launch of its "Gamer Edition" line of toys, which feature figures based on the series' designs. It responded that Activision is “not sure what hard drives they’re on in their building,” adding, “When a company eats a company that eats a company things get lost, and that’s very frustrating.”
• Hasbro has not ruled out the possibility of the games returning in the future and believes that with Microsoft's pending acquisition of the publisher, the games could be located and made available on the Xbox Series X/S and even Game Pass. “Hope is that now that the deal is moving forward with Microsoft and Xbox they’ll go through all of the archives and every hard drive to find it all because it’s an easy Game Pass add, the company said. “We want those games back up for people to have a chance to play.”
• Transformers: Devastation, Fall of Cybertron, Rise of the Dark Spark, and War for Cybertron are all currently unavailable for digital download on any console due to Activision's contract with Hasbro expiring years ago, making physical disks the only way to play them legally. Fans and critics alike praised the games, with Fall of Cybertron being praised for both its campaign and multiplayer modes, as well as its ability to stay true to the original film franchise on which it is based.

More Xbox news:

• Xbox is now testing the ability to map keyboard keys to controller buttons, starting with the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 and Xbox Adaptive Controller. Currently, only insiders have access to the feature, which can also be used on a PC when connected via USB.
• After a new method to circumvent Microsoft's block was discovered, Xbox is reportedly suspending players who use emulators in the retail mode of the Series X/S. The ban wave has not affected those who are using the console's developer mode.