Vicarious Visions, the studio responsible for the recent Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2 and previous Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, is being wrapped up by Blizzard Entertainment. The studio was already owned by Activision Blizzard, but, according to the publisher, the 200-person team will now become Blizzard employees and dedicate themselves “fully to existing Blizzard games and initiatives.”
According to GamesIndustry.biz, this means that the studio will stop targeting games as a major developer. Vicarious Visions studio head Jen Oneal has been promoted to executive vice president of development at Blizzard, while her first role is taken over by the studio’s chief operating officer, Simon Ebejer.
Activision Blizzard says that “After collaborating with Vicarious Visions for a while and developing a great relationship, Blizzard realized that there was an opportunity to [Vicarious Visions] to provide long-term support ”.
ActiBlizz did not say on which of Blizzard’s projects all these hands will work. Hearthstone Cards? Overwatch Shorts? Diablo 4 Games? Maybe we’ll find out eventually.
Vicarious Visions released their Tony Hawk’s me just last fall and seemed to have been received quite well. It was one of RPS’s favorite games in 2020. It sounds a bit embarrassing for Blizz to directly swallow a studio whose work people seem to like.