Toys for Bob Left Activision in 2024 to Reclaim Creative Control

As Microsoft starts to acknowledge that its $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard may not have been financially sound, one studio included in the deal used the merger as a chance to break free. Toys for Bob, acquired by Activision in 2005, built its reputation on whimsical platformers and created the Skylanders series, known for its menagerie of collectible "toys-to-life" figurines.

The studio also helped keep the early PS2-era mascots alive with recent Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon games. Ownership by Activision sometimes meant the studio was tapped to support larger projects under a corporate mandate to back blockbuster IPs such as Warzone, Modern Warfare and Overwatch 2.

Paul Yan said that while working on those titles was a learning experience, it pulled the team away from the kinds of projects they were passionate about and prompted jokes about being sent to the online shooter development mines.

toysforbob, activision blizzard, microsoft, skylanders, crash bandicoot, spyro, warzone, modern warfare, overwatch 2, paul yan