Renowned for over 35 years of producing critically acclaimed games such as Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, and the Skylanders series, Toys For Bob is going through a major transformation. Though not without some difficulties, the studio’s recent announcement of leaving Activision is promising for Toys For Bob and the game industry overall.
Toys For Bob announced its decision to become a stand-alone company on February 29. The studio indicated a wish to return to its roots as a small and agile studio in the blog post that accompanied it, which can be found on the studio website. It also hinted at a possible collaboration between Microsoft and the new project. Although the details of this partnership are yet unknown, one thing is certain: the studio’s recent independence is a significant change; it had been an Activision subsidiary since 2005 and had a number of popular releases under its belt. There will undoubtedly be a lot of talk and attention in the gaming community about the split from Activision.
With beloved brands like Disney and Spyro in its collection, Toys For Bob is well-positioned to succeed on its own and possibly establish a longer-lasting presence than the usual course of AAA studios. It’s often the case that tiny studios have been bought out and then closed, as evidenced by the cases of Ensemble Studios and Visceral Games. Taking the independent route may have been Toys For Bob’s saving grace from an unfortunate outcome that is all too prevalent in the industry.
Activision’s previous buyer, Microsoft, had a track record of purchasing firms before deciding to shut them down; examples of this include Ensemble and Lionhead firms, the company that made Fable. Notably, during Microsoft’s most recent round of employment cuts, Toys For Bob also suffered layoffs. The large AAA corporations’ consistently rising profit expectations have resulted in a pattern of shrinking, which makes the independent market seem more resilient in contrast. An increasing number of cuts are being made at the lower levels of these organizations as a result of the continuous difficulties in attaining profit targets.
With games like Palworld posing serious challenges to well-known franchises like Pokemon even though they belong to a different genre, the independent market has become a major force in the gaming industry. This is especially true in 2024. One cannot emphasize how much independent hits like Undertale and Five Nights at Freddy’s have influenced modern culture and internet behaviors.
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Bethany Wilson 
