Vicarious Visions, the studio responsible for the recent Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2 and former Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, is swallowed by Blizzard Entertainment. The studio was already owned by Activision Blizzard, but according to the editor, the 200-person team will now become Blizzard employees and will be “fully dedicated to existing Blizzard games and initiatives.”
According to GamesIndustry.biz, this means that the studio will no longer run games as the main developer. Vicarious Visions studio director Jen Oneal has been promoted to executive vice president of Blizzard, while his former role is taken over by studio chief Simon Ebejer.
Activision Blizzard says that “After working with Vicarious Visions for some time and developing an excellent relationship, Blizzard realized that there was an opportunity for [Vicarious Visions] to provide long-term support ”.
ActiBlizz did not say which of the Blizzard projects will put all those hands to work. Hearthstone books? Overwatch shorts? Diablo 4 playing? Maybe we’ll find out eventually.
Vicarious Visions released Tony Hawk’s em up last fall and it looks like it’s been pretty well received. It was one of RPS’s favorite games of 2020. It seems a shame for Blizz to swallow directly a studio whose work people apparently liked.