After a huge way of layoffs at Activision Blizzard, it was unclear what would happen to Toys for Bob, the studio that delivered the remastered trilogy of the original Crash Bandicoot games along with a new installment in Crash 4.It was clear that the team had suffered layoffs, but for a hot minute it almost seemed like it would be shut down. Thankfully that was not the case, and on Thursday we got amazing news from the studio.Toys for Bob is going independent, leaving Activision Blizzard to be it’s own studio, though it’ll likely continue to work with Activision Blizzard through a partnership. Which means there’s still a chance for more Crash and Spyro games.“We’re thrilled to announce that Toys for Bob is spinning off as an independent game development studio!” a statement on its blog began.“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!”The mention of Spyro and the direction to keep our “horns” on also feel like a tease that we’re going to be getting a brand new Spyro game, so long as Toys for Bob can work out the partnership details with Activision and Microsoft.To go from it looking like the team will forever be a Call Of Duty support studio, to maybe being gone forever, to now being both alive and thriving as a new indie studio, is a much preferred arc compared to what’s been happening in the rest of the industry.Hopefully this is the beginning of a brighter era in Toys for Bob’s history.Source – [Toys for Bob]
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