The studio that created the recent remakes di Crash Bandicoot e Spyro the Dragon announced that it had severed relations with Microsoft, and that it had embarked on the path of independence. The decision was made after a series of layoffs that hit the video game industry – Xbox and beyond – including the same Toys for Bob.
The developer delivered Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time e Spyro: Reignited Trilogyas well as various contents for contents for Call of Duty: Warzone e Crash Team Battle.
The breakup between Toys for Bob and Xbox
Last January, Microsoft announced it was making cuts 1900 jobs in its gaming division, including those from Toys for Bob. This led the studio to close its offices and work from home.
The studio then decided to break with Redmond and become an independent studio. The communication arrived on the developer’s official website, where we read:
“We are happy to let you know that Toys for Bob is now an independent video game studio! This means we will have full control of our intellectual properties and can take our games to the next level.”
Despite the separation, Toys for Bob hasn’t completely closed its doors to Microsoft and Xbox. In fact, in the same press release, the studio hinted that there could be a future collaboration between its new studio and Microsoft, even if independently:
“To make this news even more exciting, we are exploring the possibility of a partnership with Microsoft. Our friends at Activision and Microsoft have been very supportive of our new direction and we are confident that we will continue to work together as part of our future.”
New Spyro and Crash coming soon?
It is good to remember that Spyro and Crash remain intellectual properties of Microsoft (specifically Spyro is Activision Blizzard). We will therefore not see other independent titles related to the popular IPs, but the fact that the studio and Xbox can collaborate in the future opens up numerous scenarios.
