Transformers: Reactivate
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Transformers: Reactivate was an allegedly upcoming online multiplayer game developed by Splash Damage.
It was announced on December 8, 2022 at The Game Awards via a teaser trailer that doesn't tell us a whole lot about the play style. A closed beta was planned to happen soon. Like some of the previous games, Reactivate was also going utilize microtransactions for in-game purchases (one of the only details given, never a good sign). However, due to an infamously troubled development cycle, nothing of the game was shown outside of that teaser afterwards, leaving many to question the state of the project.
763 days later, on January 8th 2025, it was finally officially announced the game was canceled, with a portion of Splash Damage staff being laid off in the process, to the surprise of no-one.
Plot
Per the official site, "The gravest threat to humanity has arrived. And it's already won. Earth is no longer ours; it belongs to them. All we have left is our hope for the Autobots, as we salvage them from the rubble left behind."
Social media pages for the game tell fans to "fight back against the Legion", indicating the name of the game's alien occupiers.
Featured characters
{{#if: ||(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)}}
- Bumblebee|
- Bumblebee|| style="background:#ffdddd;" valign="top" |
- Optimus Prime
- Bumblebee }}{{#if:*Starscream
- Soundwave|
Autobots }}{{#if:*Starscream
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Decepticons }}{{#if:| | Humans }}{{#if:| | Others }}{{#if:| | Misc }}{{#if:| | Misc }} |
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Development history
Transformers: Reactivate has been in development in some form or another since 2017, shortly after the end of Activision's exclusivity deal with Hasbro, though the process has been...tumultuous, let's say. Reports of the game's existence first emerged way back in 2018, when it was announced that [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Certain Affinity|{{#if:||Certain Affinity}}]] was working on a new Transformers game (tentatively known as Transformers: Impact and Transformers Online). In 2021, it was confirmed through members of the development team that the game had been retitled Transformers: Rise. It wasn't until the game's official trailer reveal in December 2022 that the current title was revealed, along with the shift in developer.
After another full year of radio silence, it was then announced in December 2023 that any further news on the game was delayed until some unspecified time in 2024, due to the project being migrated to Unreal Engine 5<ref>{{#if: We know that everyone has been patiently waiting for updates on TRANSFORMERS: REACTIVATE, however, we won't be revealing any new content this year. Your passion and enthusiasm powers our mission to create THE Transformers game fans have been waiting for, and we've now shifted to developing the game in Unreal Engine 5! Stay tuned for exciting reveals and epic developments in 2024! |"We know that everyone has been patiently waiting for updates on TRANSFORMERS: REACTIVATE, however, we won't be revealing any new content this year. Your passion and enthusiasm powers our mission to create THE Transformers game fans have been waiting for, and we've now shifted to developing the game in Unreal Engine 5! Stay tuned for exciting reveals and epic developments in 2024!"—|}}{{#if: https://twitter.com/PlayTFR/status/1732437280944505315 |Transformers: Reactivate|Transformers: Reactivate}}{{#if: Twitter |, Twitter|}}{{#if: |, ""|}}{{#if: 2023 |, 2023{{#if: 12 |/{{#switch:{{#len:12}}|1=012|12}}{{#if: 06|/{{#switch:{{#len:06}}|1=006|06}}|}}}}|}}{{#if: https://twitter.com/PlayTFR/status/1732437280944505315 ||}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://twitter.com/PlayTFR/status/1732437280944505315%7C7%7C11}}%7Cweb.archive= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://twitter.com/PlayTFR/status/1732437280944505315%7C8%7C11}}%7Cweb.archive= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://twitter.com/PlayTFR/status/1732437280944505315%7C7%7C10}}%7Carchive.is= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://twitter.com/PlayTFR/status/1732437280944505315%7C8%7C10}}%7Carchive.is= (archive link)|}}{{#if: | (dead link)}}</ref> (something which Splash Damage had previously confirmed back in March at the Game Developers Conference<ref>{{#if: You might have just seen our logo and some of our key art, so... Transformers: Reactivate and Project Astrid are being built in Unreal Engine 5. Join us to help build those amazing worlds: https://careers.splashdamage.com #GDC #StateofUnreal |"You might have just seen our logo and some of our key art, so... Transformers: Reactivate and Project Astrid are being built in Unreal Engine 5. Join us to help build those amazing worlds: https://careers.splashdamage.com #GDC #StateofUnreal"—|}}{{#if: https://twitter.com/splashdamage/status/1638589439650799619 |Splash Damage|Splash Damage}}{{#if: Twitter |, Twitter|}}{{#if: |, ""|}}{{#if: 2023 |, 2023{{#if: 03 |/{{#switch:{{#len:03}}|1=003|03}}{{#if: 22|/{{#switch:{{#len:22}}|1=022|22}}|}}}}|}}{{#if: https://twitter.com/splashdamage/status/1638589439650799619 ||}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://twitter.com/splashdamage/status/1638589439650799619%7C7%7C11}}%7Cweb.archive= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://twitter.com/splashdamage/status/1638589439650799619%7C8%7C11}}%7Cweb.archive= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://twitter.com/splashdamage/status/1638589439650799619%7C7%7C10}}%7Carchive.is= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://twitter.com/splashdamage/status/1638589439650799619%7C8%7C10}}%7Carchive.is= (archive link)|}}{{#if: | (dead link)}}</ref>). This was the last official word on the game for a very long time, with 2024 coming and going without any further mention – although a hubbub was caused in June 2024 when the game's trailer was silently delisted from the game's official accounts, likely as a result of the license for the trailer's music expiring. The game's Instagram page was deactivated later that year.
The game was finally and predictably announced as canceled via Splash Damage's X (ptui) account<ref>https://x.com/splashdamage/status/1877020458454749485</ref> on January 8th, 2025.
Toyline
Standing testament to the game's interminable development cycle is the troubled tale of its tie-in toys from Hasbro. The first public evidence of these products surfaced in early 2021, when store listings under the codename "Shine" (as in "rise and shine") for a pair of two-packs were first discovered.<ref>TFW2005 post from Jtprime17</ref> The packs' Hasbro product numbers (which are broadly assigned in numerical order) suggested they were developed around the same time as 2021's War for Cybertron: Kingdom toyline, and a confidential slide leaked years later indeed confirmed that, at one stage, these figures were intended to hit shelves late that year.<ref>Leaked slide shared on Twitter by TFU.info</ref>
The packs were delayed from that planned 2021 launch, no doubt in the hope of still aligning with the release of Reactivate itself, but with the game's development continuing to stretch on, it seems Hasbro eventually grew tired of waiting and officially launched both packs in November 2023—although some retailers inadvertently listed the Starscream/Bumblebee pack a month early, complete with an out-of-date set of stock photography which depicted the products in a Transformers: Rise-branded box.<ref>Rise stock photos on TFW2005</ref>
The next year, and once again not in connection with any news or update on the game itself, Hasbro re-released the Bumblebee figure by itself in the Studio Series toyline's Deluxe Class assortment, as part of the line's "Gamer Edition" sub-branding.
| Reactivate | Studio Series |  |
Notes
- The game's now-deleted teaser trailer featured a song cover of [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Bon Jovi|{{#if:||Bon Jovi}}]]'s "[[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Wanted Dead or Alive (Bon Jovi song)|{{#if:Wanted Dead or Alive|Wanted Dead or Alive|Wanted Dead or Alive (Bon Jovi song)}}]]", performed by Empara Mi and dreamchild.
- The game's cover art features the head of the Statue of Liberty with the text "ARE ALL DEAD?" scratched into it.
