Will Fuzion Frenzy Come Back?

There are two games that I associate with the launch of Xbox in 2001: Halo: Combat Evolved and Fuzion Frenzy. Fuzion Frenzy scored some 8’s and averaged a 70, which was respectable for the genre and it proved that Fuzion Frenzy was more than just short break in between the long hours spent playing Halo in your friends basement.

There was a sequel in 2007 that clearly had development issues, as it was first being developed by Blitz games, the creators of the first entry, but eventually was transferred to Hudson Soft. Blitz would end up closing down shortly after, which indicates trouble trying to recapture the fun of the original could have led to the studios closure. Despite the second entries abysmal performance, the title still carries nostalgic feelings and now more than ever would be a great time for a reboot of the series.

First, Microsoft has the studio power to develop a new Fuzion Frenzy with recent acquisitions, including the Activision/Blizzard deal bringing to total studios to around 30. When Fuzion Frenzy launched in 2001 cross play was not a thing and multiplayer, the core of Fuzion Frenzy was limited to playing on the same Xbox as the amount of users connected to Xbox Live was also drastically lower than it is today.

A reboot of Fuzion Frenzy and Xbox Game Pass seem like a match made in heaven. Party games are always hard to persuade casual buyers to take a chance on, but if you remove the barrier to entry, a lot more people would be able to try it and it would also increase the user base.

Finally, the industry has proven that there is a market for this type of game. Fall Guys, which is essentially Fuzion Frenzy on a larger scale has seen massive success to the tune of over 50 million users. The other obvious comparable, Mario Party, is still a proven success for Nintendo to this day. Super Mario Party has currently sold over 18 million copies, and Mario Party Superstars has sold over 5 million copies, with both titles being full price.

Everything thats old is eventually new again and the market is indicating that its the right time for Xbox to take another chance on Fuzion Frenzy and it woudnt’t be surprising to see the title return this generation.