UPDATE: A statement provided by an Activision representative states that reports of layoffs at Toys for Bob are inaccurate. Read more on that through here.
Original story:
Toys for Bob, known for the Spyro Remastered Trilogy and Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, recently announced that it was supporting development for Season 3 of Call of Duty: Warzone. However, character designer and illustrator Nicholas Kole also revealed on Twitter that “everyone I interfaced with and worked along was let go” from the company. The studio hasn’t been fully shuttered though.
Activision hasn’t revealed the extent of lay-offs at Toys for Bob or whether the developer will support Call of Duty: Warzone past Season 3 (though Kole said this is currently the case). It seems to have pretty much every resource dedicated to its shooter franchise right now. Andy Robinson from VGC revealed on Twitter that, “I was recently told that virtually every studio at Activision is now working on Call of Duty.”
Sledgehammer Games, Infinity Ward, Treyarch and Raven Software have long been working on their own Call of Duty titles. High Moon Studios assisted in the development for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Now, Toys for Bob is involved in Call of Duty: Warzone. Vicarious Visions was recently made part of Blizzard Entertainment and is working on Diablo 2 Resurrected.
Call of Duty has long been Activision’s biggest money-maker with Call of Duty: Warzone having over 100 million players since launch. Raven Software has also been on big hiring spree so Warzone is likely to get even bigger in the coming days. As for how this strategy will affect sequels in franchises like Spyro the Dragon or Crash Bandicoot, we’ll have to wait and see in the coming months.
Toys for Bob is proud to support development for Season 3 of Call of Duty #Warzone, and look forward to more to come. #LETSGO dev squads! #Verdansk84 pic.twitter.com/ERmFSWeaIk
— Toys For Bob (@ToysForBob) April 29, 2021
yep
— Nicholas Kole (@FromHappyRock) April 30, 2021
Same! Altho everyone I interfaced with and worked along was let go, I’m very glad it’s not a totally shuttering
— Nicholas Kole (@FromHappyRock) April 30, 2021
I was recently told that virtually every studio at Activision is now working on Call of Duty. https://t.co/Y5TTLwGuqc
— Andy Robinson (@Andy_VGC) April 30, 2021
