Toys for Bob, the studio behind last year’s Crash Team Rumble, has made the announcement that it’s splitting off from Activision-Blizzard and going independent.
The news was announced via a blog post on the official Toys for Bob site, where the studio’s co-Heads Paul Yan and Avery Lodato wrote: “We’re thrilled to announce that Toys for Bob is spinning off as an independent game development studio!
“Over the years, we’ve inspired love, joy, and laughter for the inner child in all gamers. We pioneered new IP and hardware technologies in Skylanders. We raised the bar for best-in-class remasters in Spyro Reignited Trilogy. We’ve taken Crash Bandicoot to innovative, critically acclaimed new heights.
“With the same enthusiasm and passion, we believe that now is the time to take the studio and our future games to the next level. This opportunity allows us to return to our roots of being a small and nimble studio.”
The exact nature of Toys for Bob’s leaving has not been explained, including whether they had to buy themselves from Activision-Blizzard and Microsoft, who, of course, owns them and Activision-Blizzard.
But Toys for Bob did confirm that they are currently exploring a partnership between themselves and Microsoft.
“To make this news even more exciting, we’re exploring a possible partnership between our new studio and Microsoft.” said the co-Heads. “And while we’re in the early days of developing our next new game and a ways away from making any announcements, our team is excited to develop new stories, new characters, and new gameplay experiences.”
Toys for Bob has a history of reviving older franchises such Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon. Phil Spencer has previously mentioned a desire to bring back older games, so Toys for Bob could be the ideal team to do that.
Toys for Bob hasn’t had a great start to the year. Before this announcement, they were affected by Microsoft’s plans to lay off 1900 people which resulted in 86 people at Toys for Bob losing their jobs.
Hopefully this move can help secure the future of the studio and everyone who works there.
