Acquired by Microsoft as part of the huge Activision Blizzard acquisition, Crash Bandicoot 4 developer Toys For Bob has now split from Activision and is going independent. However, despite going it alone as an indie studio, the developer could still end up working closely with Xbox Game Studios. Toys For Bob no longer a Microsoft-owned Activision studioIn a post on its official website, studio heads Paul Yan and Avery Lodato announced that Toys For Bob is breaking away from Activision to go independent. “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.”Yan and Lodato also announced that Toys For Bob is “exploring a possible partnership between our new studio and Microsoft” and that while the studio is in the early stages of developing its next game, the 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. ” The surprising news comes not long after Toys For Bob was impacted by Microsoft’s mass layoffs, which saw 86 employees at the studio lose their jobs and its California office shut down. In recent years, Toys For Bob has been working as a support studio on the Call of Duty franchise, so it’s now good to see the developer finally break free from these chains and have the chance to create something new.
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