Hot damn. Here’s some unexpected news.
Microsoft has announced today that they have renewed the trademark for Killer Instinct, a classic fighting-game franchise that once appeared on the SNES, N64, and arcade cabinets (I don’t count the Game Boy iteration). Though the previous versions appeared on Nintendo consoles, the games and intellectual property were developed by Rare, who is now owned by Microsoft.
So what does this mean exactly? There’s a few possibilities here:
- Re-releasing the originals on XBLA. This, however seems pretty unlikely. Though I’m certain Microsoft would looove to print money by publishing this game to its online service, Nintendo likely still owns the publishing rights, meaning that they would need Nintendo’s permission or at least an arrangement with Nintendo to put it online. Given Nintendo’s track record with denying previous Rare re-releases (remember Goldeneye64?), this seems pretty unlikely.
- They’ll do nothing with it, simply sitting on it. Not bloody likely, considering option 3.
- They’ll make a brand new Killer Instinct. This seems the most likely, primarily for one reason:
They went out of their way to ANNOUNCE a TRADEMARK RENEWAL, and in their announcement, they didn’t bother to declare the usual denials. This shit just doesn’t happen in the gaming world; usually, this sort of information is uncovered, eventually, by dedicated gaming fans who search through the public trademark records to uncover hidden gems. Microsoft didn’t even bother to wait for that to happen, which sounds to me like an announcement is coming, and coming soon. Maybe we’ll get something at Tokyo Game Show. Maybe we’re looking at a launch game for Microsoft’s new upcoming system.
Or maybe they’ve just decided to control their own fate by changing up the way things are done. Who knows? But they’d be foolish to ignore the success this game would ensure.
