Vicarious Visions, the studio responsible for the recent Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 and formerly Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, is being devoured by Blizzard Entertainment. The studio was already owned by Activision Blizzard, but according to the publisher, the 200 people will now become Blizzard employees and will be ‘fully committed to existing Blizzard games and initiatives’.
According to GamesIndustry.biz, this means that the studio will no longer be the head of games as chief developer. Jen Oneal, head of the Vicarious Visions studio, was promoted to Blizzard executive vice president of development, while Simon Ebejer, her studio chief operating officer, took over her former role.
Activision Blizzard says that ” after working with Vicarious Visions for some time and developing a good relationship, there was an opportunity for [Vicarious Visions] to provide long-term support ”.
ActiBlizz did not say which of Blizzard’s projects they were going to give all their hands to. Hearthstone Cards? Overwatch shorts? Diablo 4 tampered with? Maybe we’ll find out eventually.
Vicarious Visions just released their Tony Hawk’s last fall and it looks like it’s been received pretty well. It was one of RPS ‘favorite games of 2020. It sounds a bit unfortunate for Blizz to swallow a studio that apparently likes the job straight.