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Activision studio Toys For Bob is going independent

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biglo25

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Source: https://www.toysforbob.com/blog/2024/WereGoingIndie

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!
 
Great news for them! Even better to hear they might be on a MS/ABK platformer soon.

Given what we've heard over the months about them, speculation but... Maybe they have been given the option to either kill the entire studio or do some cuts, go fully remote (since office was closed down) and go indie this way? Good way of avoiding being stuck on COD and avoiding closure.
 
Third time I can recall that MS let a studio go independent this way (Bungie, Twisted Pixel). Great to see, especially if closure was the alternative.
 
fiendcode said:
Third time I can recall that MS let a studio go independent this way (Bungie, Twisted Pixel). Great to see, especially if closure was the alternative.
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i think for tim schafer mentioned it once before that he has the option in the contract to become independent or buyout the contract should MS considered closing them down
 
Going to be tricky for them doing this and potentially losing the link to Activision owned brands which has been their bread and butter for some time now.
 
They're going independent and partnering with Microsoft. Call me high on copium but maybe the Banjo dream isn't dead...
 
Good for them. Hopefully they'll be able to finally make that Star Control sequel that they've wanted to make for decades. I know that IP had some legal trouble at some point, but I believed they sorted it out already.
 
is this like when bungie went independent talking up how great it was, entered a deal with a giant publisher activision iirc, then sold to a different multinational conglomerate after a while? lol

feels like companies just buy and sell for the sake of it.
 
Finally, some good news in this industry.

It sounds counterintuitive, but if I'm them I'd get to work on a new Crash or Spyro game, or hell even a Banjo remake. You have the reputation as the guys who helped to revive Crash and Spyro, and so I'd think it'd be better if they worked on a game or two in those series first and strengthen their foundation because it'd be much less of a risk. Them doing something new and unique is nice, but if it doesn't work out it can really harm a studio that's already been hit from layoffs.
 
Great to see, better than being shut down or boxed in COD pipeline.

Still crazy to see MSFT divest them after buying them at a marked up price, tells me T4B management really did not want MSFT's plans for their future.
 
enpleinjour said:
Great to see, better than being shut down or boxed in COD pipeline.

Still crazy to see MSFT divest them after buying them at a marked up price, tells me T4B management really did not want MSFT's plans for their future.
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No? This is kind of big misreading. Toys For Bob almost certainly wanted out of ABK leadership for a while and they couldn’t because of pending merger. Furthermore, it was likely spin off or being shut down like what happened to London Studio. On the other hand, they already have a publishing agreement to work on platforming games for Microsoft. So, Toys For Bob survives out of ABK and working on platformers as opposed to CoD support.
 
Good to see them get out of the shitfight, but this says pretty poor things about the hierarchy above them if they couldn't feel safe and supported even in a reduced capacity as 45 people working from home making platformers.
 

Some changes underway...
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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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Post automatically merged:


Well, it's official. Just booted up the game and checked. Crash Team Rumble is done. Last update comes March 4th 2024. Servers staying open indefinitely, battle pass going free, microtransactions getting turned off. No season 4.
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Ha! I didn’t even see this thread till now & I made one on this exact topic. I guess I ll add onto what I put there for at least one of their games. You can yeet that thread into the sun.

Well, it's official. Just booted up the game and checked. Crash Team Rumble is done. Last update comes March 4th 2024. Servers staying open indefinitely, battle pass going free, microtransactions getting turned off. No season 4.
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Last year we are in Acquiring company era.

This year we are in leaving big company era lol.
 
Yeeeeees! We need great studios like this free to follow their own ambitions.

Now we just need High Moon to get out of the Call of Duty support studio bullshit moniker and start making Transformers games again.
 
Good for them, I'm really curious what the spin-off contract looks like, I guess leaving MSFT all the IPs removed a lot of the money that could have burdened the buyout, but it's still an almost 200 employees studio, it must not be cheap to just leave like that.

I wish Microsoft made something similar to reinstate Vicarious Visions and a portion of Raven Software that didn't work on Warzone without them necessarily leaving the company.
 
Luke88 said:
I went by Wikipedia that stated they were 180 in 2021, LinkedIn has 150, is there a source for the 50 figure?
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SF Chronicle reports 86 layoffs at Activision's Toys For Bob and 76 at Sledgehammer Games, based on a filing in California
SFC also reports Toys For Bob's offices are closing
Activision declined to comment
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Massive layoffs when Microsoft acquired ATVI.
They also closed their physical offices(it was a huge retrofitted Hangar).
Estimates right now for Toys for Bob is 50-65~ employees.
 
mkensei said:
No? This is kind of big misreading. Toys For Bob almost certainly wanted out of ABK leadership for a while and they couldn’t because of pending merger. Furthermore, it was likely spin off or being shut down like what happened to London Studio. On the other hand, they already have a publishing agreement to work on platforming games for Microsoft. So, Toys For Bob survives out of ABK and working on platformers as opposed to CoD support.
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That doesn't make sense. MSFT or Phil are the ultimate execs who call the shots, and they both made the decision to layoff 60%+ of the studio and close their office.

If MSFT/Phil wanted T4B to make platforming games they could have easily done that while already owning them. In fact it would be more profitable for MSFT if that was their intention.

Considering that, its pretty clear that MSFT/Phil was either going to shut them down, or have them on COD and the studio did not want that.

Its a similar situation to what MSFT tried to do with Bungie from the looks of it.

What I would love to know if some of these acquisition agreements have clauses on being able to buy themselves out or divest in the case of shut down.
 
Evilnemesis8 said:




Massive layoffs when Microsoft acquired ATVI.
They also closed their physical offices(it was a huge retrofitted Hangar).
Estimates right now for Toys for Bob is 50-65~ employees.
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That 86 total wasn’t actually layoffs. The notice was because they closed their studio location and they had to list everyone working there. They went from 86 to 50. There’s a thread with more info.
 
enpleinjour said:
That doesn't make sense. MSFT or Phil are the ultimate execs who call the shots, and they both made the decision to layoff 60%+ of the studio and close their office.

If MSFT/Phil wanted T4B to make platforming games they could have easily done that while already owning them. In fact it would be more profitable for MSFT if that was their intention.

Considering that, its pretty clear that MSFT/Phil was either going to shut them down, or have them on COD and the studio did not want that.

Its a similar situation to what MSFT tried to do with Bungie from the looks of it.

What I would love to know if some of these acquisition agreements have clauses on being able to buy themselves out or divest in the case of shut down.
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I think it's more that T4B probably wanted out (both of ownership and of COD) and that wasn't an option under ABK but we know MS has a history of it (Bungie, PressPlay, apparently in the Doublefine deal). Phil had previously hinted about TFB on Banjo so it's not like that was an impossibility under MS anyway and really, things may be progressing as is there with plans for Banjo, Spyro, Crash or even an original IP even with the shift from internal to external studio.

As far as the layoffs, that also might've been done with the cooperation of leadership and under the guidance of going independent. The timing of this all very coincidental and slimming down ~40% leaner and shedding a physical office (including some location/building related staff in that ~40%) might've been necessary on the cost side for T4B becoming a financially viable studio on their own. I guess we'll know for sure if they suddenly hire back those three dozen or so employees or not?
 
www.windowscentral.com

Xbox has reached an agreement with 'Crash Bandicoot,' 'Spyro' dev Toys for Bob for their new game

EXCLUSIVE: Toys for Bob known for handling "Crash Bandicoot" and "Spyro" is now working with Microsoft on their first game since going independent.
www.windowscentral.com www.windowscentral.com
During a recent townhall meeting described to us by sources familiar with the event, a staffer asked the panellists about Toys for Bob, given that they're now going independent separate from Microsoft and Activision. Toys for Bob's leadership was adamant about keeping the team together, and also about returning to the style of game the studio is known for.

Microsoft referenced how they spun out Twisted Pixel in the past, as an alternative option to shuttering studios. Matt Booty, now leading Xbox's game content division, reportedly said that an agreement has now been reached between Xbox and Toys for Bob for their first game as an independent studio. However, he stopped short of describing exactly what it will be, although he did say something along the lines of, and I'm paraphrasing, "it will be similar to games Toys for Bob has made in the past."
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Thanks @ILikeFeet for posting this on Fami. Thought it would be interesting here as well
 
fiendcode said:
I think it's more that T4B probably wanted out (both of ownership and of COD) and that wasn't an option under ABK but we know MS has a history of it (Bungie, PressPlay, apparently in the Doublefine deal). Phil had previously hinted about TFB on Banjo so it's not like that was an impossibility under MS anyway and really, things may be progressing as is there with plans for Banjo, Spyro, Crash or even an original IP even with the shift from internal to external studio.

As far as the layoffs, that also might've been done with the cooperation of leadership and under the guidance of going independent. The timing of this all very coincidental and slimming down ~40% leaner and shedding a physical office (including some location/building related staff in that ~40%) might've been necessary on the cost side for T4B becoming a financially viable studio on their own. I guess we'll know for sure if they suddenly hire back those three dozen or so employees or not?
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Yeah -- at the end of the day if a bunch of people want to leave, you can't force them to stay. Either they all quit and you're left holding the bag or you give them an out and both sides can better manage the transition.

In a world where Activision is also supposed to run independently during the FTC lawsuit, I would imagine that Xbox had limited options.

If you take them out of Activision and off of CoD, you might be in trouble with feds. Whereas if you just let Activision let them go...then they are independent and of course you can sign a new deal that's probably cheaper anyway.

ETA: this is in part leveraging Jez Corden's discussion of the situation on Xbox Two podcast. I find him to be a reliable and thoughtful source (when he's not in a trolly mood which is fairly infrequent). From his description, it was a fairly mutual conversation and I believe he said most of the layoffs were of folks hired for Call of Duty. Now, that might be just the mgmts view, but it adds some color.
 
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Very curious of their game.

JMECH2000 said:
In a world where Activision is also supposed to run independently during the FTC lawsuit, I would imagine that Xbox had limited options.

If you take them out of Activision and off of CoD, you might be in trouble with feds. Whereas if you just let Activision let them go...then they are independent and of course you can sign a new deal that's probably cheaper anyway.
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People give too much cred to FTC here. I think what was more likely is that for T4B it was easier for them to operate independently being a fully remote studio rather than under the corporate (whether it was ABK or MSFT) governorship. That's all to it.
 
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GodlyTrident said:
Very curious of their game.


People give to my cred to FTC here. I think what was more likely is that for T4B it was easier for them to operate independently being a full remote studio rather than under the corporate (whether it was ABK or MSFT) governorship. That's all to it.
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Absolutely wanting to be no longer corporate was a large part according to Jez's descriptions.
 
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