Toys for Bob Announces Separation From Microsoft/Activision Blizzard

[T0@st]

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. To make this news even more exciting, we're exploring a possible partnership between our new studio and Microsoft. 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.




Our friends at Activision and Microsoft have been extremely supportive of our new direction and we're confident that we will continue to work closely together as part of our future. So, keep your horns on and your eyes out for more news. Thank you to our community of players for always supporting us through our journey. We can't wait to share updates on our new adventure as an indie studio!

• Talk to you soon!

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[Slizzo]

Good for them!

 

[Assimilator]

While I hope this is positive, I fear in reality it's to disguise the fact that Microsoft has decided to jettison the company. Looking at TfB critically, the only new IP they've put out since 2011 was 2020's Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time - everything else is remasters and, um, Call of Duty. Yes, really. Not to mention that the original founders also left in 2020.

 

[theouto]

I believe 90% of their staff was laid off when microsoft did their ATVI/BLZ purge.

 

[MrDweezil]

While I hope this is positive, I fear in reality it's to disguise the fact that Microsoft has decided to jettison the company. Looking at TfB critically, the only new IP they've put out since 2011 was 2020's Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time - everything else is remasters and, um, Call of Duty. Yes, really. Not to mention that the original founders also left in 2020.

Yeah it seems like for this to happen, Microsoft would have to be uninterested in whatever they're working on, but then rather than close the studio its leaders convinced them to let them attempt to support themselves. Sounds unlikely to work out, but little harm in trying if the alternative was being laid off.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
MS had to kill off candy crush competition

 

[Luke357]

Hi,
MS had to kill off candy crush competition

They own King now, so they at this point probably want candy crush to succeed.

 

[ThrashZone]

They own King now, so they at this point probably want candy crush to succeed.

Hi,
MS has been pumping up candy crush since win-10 release that came with it preinstalled lol