Today Toys for Bob announced that it's going independent, spinning off from its former parent company Activision, which is now owned by Microsoft.
In a blog post, the company announced the new route, mentioning the intention to return to its roots as a small and nimble studio.
That being said, the company may still be within Microsoft's orbit as it's currently considering a partnership with the house of Xbox. The nature of the partnership has not been revealed.
We also hear that Toys for Bob is in the early days of developing its next game and a ways away from making any announcements. Yet, the developers are "excited to develop new stories, new characters, and new gameplay experiences."
The split has obviously been amicable as the post mentions that Activision and Microsoft have been "extremely supportive" of the new direction for the studio, and Toys for Bob expresses confidence that it will continue to work "closely together " with its former parent companies as part of its future.
Toys for Bob is known for several well-received games including Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time and Spyro Reignited Trilogy. At the moment, it isn't known if the studio will continue working on these franchises, which it has proven to handle very successfully. That being said, the perspective of a partnership with Microsoft is certainly reason to hope so.
Founded in 1989, the studio is also well known for the Skylanders series, which pioneered and popularized the Toys-to-life genre. In recent years, it has been put to work on the Call of Duty series, supporting the main developers.
Following the $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, Toys for Bob fell victim of the recent wave of layoffs at the company, losing several of its developers in the process. At the moment, we don't know whether any of them will be rehired as the studio challenges its new path of independence.
Speaking of studios gaining their independence, today we also heard about Saber Interactive reportedly splitting off from Embracer Group.
