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Crash Bandicoot Developer Toys For Bob Parts Ways With Activision & Xbox, Becomes Independent

• Jacob Chambers
• March 1st, 2024

This week has been quite eventful for the video game industry, and it looks like there’s more excitement to come. Following recent layoffs at PlayStation and Electronic Arts, developers are now separating from their parent companies.

Furthermore, the developer behind Crash Bandicoot and Spyro, Toys for Bob, recently revealed its decision to part ways with Activision and the Xbox team in order to establish itself as an independent studio. Following reports of its facility shutting down, 86 workers were reportedly affected during Microsoft’s mass layoffs.

On their official website, the company’s leaders, Paul Yan and Avery Lodato, announced that Toys for Bob was enthusiastic about creating fresh narratives and characters for their upcoming game, which is currently in the early stages of development. However, no details were disclosed at this time.

The decision has received strong support from Activision and Microsoft, with the studio considering a potential partnership with Microsoft in the future and aiming to maintain close collaboration with both teams. Here is the complete message:

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!

Throughout the last year, Toys for Bob has been involved in developing Crash Team Rumble and has also launched games such as Crash Bandicoot 4 and Spyro Reignited Trilogy. Regarding recent industry updates, Saber Interactive is said to be parting ways with Embracer, and Gearbox Software may be next.