After talking about a possible Microsoft deal following its decision to break away from Activision Blizzard, Toys for Bob is making the collaboration official.
The 35-year-old video game development studio broke away from its long-time parent company, Activision, last month. This ended a 24-year relationship that saw it go from premiere makers of licensed games to eventually landing a shot at making a big-budget platformer in Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time.
Unfortunately, Toys for Bob peaked as the Call of Duty machine needed Activision all its hands on deck. As a result, it became a support studio to Infinity Ward and Raven Software, along with several others.
However, with this news, courtesy of a report from Windows Central’s Jez Cordon, we’re not going to be waiting for long for Toys for Bob’s next project.
According to Corden’s report, Toys for Bob “didn’t gel well with Activision’s oft-restrictive corporate mandates,” adding that the studio was “excited for the opportunity to spin out as independent in agreement with Microsoft.”
To be fair, Toys for Bob did hint at this when they announced becoming independent.
As for what the studio’s next project will be, Matt Booty, the new head of Xbox Game Studios, says that “it will be similar to games Toys for Bob has made in the past.”
One would like to think that Toys for Bob is working on a new IP for Microsoft that’s in the same mold as Spyro and Crash Bandicoot. While Crash Bandicoot and Spyro haven’t been exclusive to PlayStation for a long time, the former blue team mascots are closely associated with the opposing brand.
Unlike Activision, which had a long and fruitful partnership with PlayStation, working with Toys for Bob on a fourth Spyro game now is a lose-lose situation for Microsoft: it’s free advertising for a competing platform and it will have to live up to the expectations set by previous entries.
Of course, we’re just speculating here. At the very least, it’s good that Toys for Bob got what it wanted. It gets to retain its company culture and work with a mostly hands-off presumably publishing partner with Microsoft. We can assume that the now-independent studio’s new game is an Xbox exclusive or at least be available on the Xbox Game Pass day one.
For now, it’s best we follow Toys for Bob and keep our horns on while waiting for the next update.
