THPS 1+2 and N-Sane Trilogy developer Vicarious Visions merged into Blizzard, shifts to support "existing Blizzard games and initiatives"
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Most firings where in departments like e-sports, customer support, etc.
VV was comprised of former Neversoft devs. I have absolutely no confidence in any other dev handling the Tony Hawk franchise properly.
The last time the Tony Hawk IP was given to another studio other than Neversoft / VV. It was Robomodo churning out shit like Tony Hawk Ride, Tony Hawk Remaster, and THPS5.
When VV was given the reigns to do the THPS1+2 Remake, it was with the utmost care since people with experience and had long tenure with the series were involved and the results showed.
Absolutely fantastic move on Activision Blizzard's part. You take a team that produced two recent successes; revived the Crash IP from the dead with N. Same Trilogy (which all future Crash titles are riding on the back of), and brought back the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series with the upmost care after previous installments disappointed; and in return you make them a support studio. Brilliant.
At least they weren't laid off and still have jobs; one positive here.
Fuck Blizzard.
At least they weren't laid off and still have jobs; one positive here.
Fuck Blizzard.
This is both a shock and sharp disappointment to me. THPS1+2 is one of my favorite games of the year and now it feels like they just got put on WoW support development duties or something. :/
From making my 2020 GOTY to this bs...
Though I expected that a great Tony Hawk game would come with some monkey's paw bullshit. Damn it, Activision.
Though I expected that a great Tony Hawk game would come with some monkey's paw bullshit. Damn it, Activision.
Hoping this isn't the full picture. Hard to believe they wouldn't capitalise on THPS's success.
Maybe there's a new studio being opened too?
Maybe there's a new studio being opened too?
Is this true? I have a hard time thinking a lot of devs went from SoCal to Albany of all places, lol. Activision can always reshuffle employees around if they want to make a product. Make toys for bob the new VV. (Didn't toys for bob do that disney skateboarding game that was pretty much a copy of tony hawk?) and toys for bob helped with the crash remakes and did spyro.
Also no where does this say they're not making anymore THPS... the developer is being merged into blizzard. Crash and Spyro (along with crash 4) had two different developers.
With these massive studio conglomerates there's a lot of talent shuffles, and studios themselves then to lose their identity which the consumer doesn't always see (see ubisoft constantly changing lead devs. on their major franchise but the DNA staying the same)
You are terribly downplaying what they did with Crash and THPS. You're acting like that wasn't a tremendous achievement.
I'm really trying to understand the sense behind this decision. Vicarious Visions are a studio with a long history, but not one with a particularly storied history (mostly handheld ports).
Crash N'Sane Trilogy and Tony Hawks 1 & 2 are by far the most prestigious, well-received and indeed high-selling titles they've ever produced. To pivot them onto something else entirely almost straight after that seems... misguided?
The only logic I can put to it is that they also have Beenox and Toys for Bob working on their back catalogue games and maybe that's enough now the three good Crash games (plus Team Racing), the three good Spyro games and the first two Tony Hawk's games have been done. Combined with the underperformance of Crash 4 (demonstrating less success for sequels and more for remakes, although it has a lot to do with the timing of the release and the consoles it's on imo), maybe they wanted a smaller number of studios working on this stuff?
All I can think of really.
Crash N'Sane Trilogy and Tony Hawks 1 & 2 are by far the most prestigious, well-received and indeed high-selling titles they've ever produced. To pivot them onto something else entirely almost straight after that seems... misguided?
The only logic I can put to it is that they also have Beenox and Toys for Bob working on their back catalogue games and maybe that's enough now the three good Crash games (plus Team Racing), the three good Spyro games and the first two Tony Hawk's games have been done. Combined with the underperformance of Crash 4 (demonstrating less success for sequels and more for remakes, although it has a lot to do with the timing of the release and the consoles it's on imo), maybe they wanted a smaller number of studios working on this stuff?
All I can think of really.
Why am I thinking this will be another Turtle Rock situation?
"Oh everything sounds promising and everyone is so nice."
2 years later.
"We aren't doing shit we want out".
Team barely makes it out, maybe some head folk even stay with Blizzard and the OG team is basically dead.
"Oh everything sounds promising and everyone is so nice."
2 years later.
"We aren't doing shit we want out".
Team barely makes it out, maybe some head folk even stay with Blizzard and the OG team is basically dead.
this is probably the reason. diablo 4 must be in a rough spot, and they have to get that one right no matter what.
and who even knows what's happening with overwatch 2.
I still cant beleie they didnt release Crash 4 on the switch. You know ,that has the audience that buys platformers? PC shouldve gotten it too
I get it but Vicarious Visions was more than just former Neversoft devs. So if Activision does want to make more THPS games hopefully those devs can move to or consult with the studio that ends up making it.
I'm not downplaying their work, there's a lot of attention to detail and care put into remaking the games. They're worse off, no question but they've never had that much latitude or seemingly not as much other studios under Activision.
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Just simply making it ready for current gen with some simple 60fps and 1440p-4K res would give this a HUGE push.
Because people want more current gen stuff and because the last gen version was so f'n bare bones, technically, with laughable 1080p even on Pro and X.
So Blizzard has been bled of all of its talent, reduced to a husk of its former self, and meanwhile VV has actually been on fire when it comes to remakes. So Activision's choice is to feed the latter to the former in hopes of saving the former's ass.
I imagine the logic is Toys for Bob can keep Crash, they'll find someone else for Tony Hawk, and Blizzard's IP is both more valuable and currently adrift at sea.
It's not that I don't get it, but it's that Activision can still go fuck itself anyway.
I imagine the logic is Toys for Bob can keep Crash, they'll find someone else for Tony Hawk, and Blizzard's IP is both more valuable and currently adrift at sea.
It's not that I don't get it, but it's that Activision can still go fuck itself anyway.
This is such a shit day for gaming news.
Folding VV into Blizzard doesn't even make sense because N. Sane Trilogy and THPS1+2 were reported as big successes by Activision. If this was about Crash 4 then it would be action taken on Toys for Bob I'd imagine. Only thing I could guess is that Blizzard is in trouble and VV was a dependable studio which is why this happened...?
Folding VV into Blizzard doesn't even make sense because N. Sane Trilogy and THPS1+2 were reported as big successes by Activision. If this was about Crash 4 then it would be action taken on Toys for Bob I'd imagine. Only thing I could guess is that Blizzard is in trouble and VV was a dependable studio which is why this happened...?
Imagine reviving two IPs with both critical and commercial success to end doing Overwatch skins....
That really sucks, I couldnt care less for Blizzard games anymore but THPS 1+2 is an incredible remake.
Yes
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 remaster coming this September
The first two THPS games are coming to PC, PS4, and Xbox One
www.polygon.com
"We actually have former Neversoft employees [at Vicarious Visions], many of us have worked on the franchise in the past, and we remember and we know what it feels like," Oneal said. "We dug into Neversoft's codebase we were able to pull the handling code out of there, bring it into the engine that we're in now and update it to make sure that we are making that feel exactly the way you remember it but updated with modern animation. It just looks incredibly smooth and the fidelity is fantastic."
Watching Neversoft shrivel up and die as they became a Call of Duty map factory was one of the most depressing things I've seen in my career. Now it's happening again.
