Toys For Bob Hit With Layoffs as Team is Put on to Support Call of Duty Warzone

Layoffs have been confirmed for the Crash Bandicoot 4 developers, as Toys For Bob announces their support plans for COD: Warzone

[Orchard]

Really sad to hear that. Their work on Crash and Spyro was great and it was awesome to have a new Crash.

Hopefully this doesn’t mean Activision is dropping Crash again...

[lodossrage]

Activision only cares about games they feel they can continuously make money off of.

Games like Crash are great, but they can only monetize the game so much before having to make another one.

With Call of Duty, they get tons of money off of that with microtransactions and dlc. Even when the new yearly one comes out, the older ones still make a lot of cash

[Sonic-and-Crash]

that s why Crash must be sold to Sony ...may Acti ask to rip Sony s wallet but would be probably one of the best investments and the IP will rise again to its glory PS1 years ...... Imagine a Crash with graphics and amount of work similar to R&C Rift Apart or AstroBot...would explode our minds from hype..old fans and new ones alike

p.s. also now is the chance for Sony to make the move , as Crash is sinking again to its dark past , as Acti never see it seriously the franchise , always was a byproduct from Vivendi aquisitiion for them

[RaiderNation]

@Sonic-and-Crash

I would love for Crash to become a Sony property again. I already associate the character with PlayStation anyway, considering that's where it got it's start. I think it belongs back in the Sony stable.

[-Foxtrot]

I don't understand, they put Vicarious Visions on Blizzard things and now Toys for Bob on Call of Duty stuff.

The Crash Bandicoot remake was amazing, the Spyro remake was great, Crash Team Racing has more meat than Mario Kart 8 in my opinion and Crash Bandicoot 4 was a nice instalment, why would they not want to continue these franchises when they've done so well with them. I've never bought Activision stuff for years yet they were the only titles I have purchased.

Basically this means no Spyro 4 then...

They should have kept Vicarious Visions on Crash, have them make Crash Bandicoot 4 (I liked it by Toys for Bob but I think VV could have handled it better) and then have Toys for Bob on Spyro.

[excaliburps]

Same. I think both games sold well too, right? Sigh. At this point, I think most are happy they got jobs, but man, this sucks.

[Nitrowolf2]

Yep this sucks

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

Tbh, VV did an amazing job on the Pro Skater 1+2 remake. The arrangement they had where Toys for Bob works on the Crash games (and perhaps Spyro) and VV works on the Tony Hawk games was pretty much perfect ... and then they had to ruin it.

[badz149]

this screams underperforming in terms of sales. I think Activision might have expected it to sell a lot more. the games are good, no question, but for investors, sales matter a lot more! for Crash (most probably Spyro too) to be compared to the juggernaut that is CoD for just being under the same publisher is very unfortunate for the IP(s) and this might mean that we won't be getting a new instalment. If only Activision will be able to drop the IP as they did with Spidey for somebody else (OK, I'll admit I want it to be Sony) to pick up, I would be very happy. BUT at the same time, Sony has IPs that I want to come back like Jak&Daxter, Sly and Ape Escape! I would rather have those instead, just because Crash and Spyro both already had their chances last gen.

[nickanasty206]

I think its also sad that Warzone is such a huge thing. I mean guilty as charged i play it, but if it is going to come with the consequence of destroying other staple games like Crash, maybe in need to stop playing Warzone or even supporting COD in general.

[badz149]

CoD has been destroying so many franchises either directly or indirectly since 2007 with CoD4

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Crash 4 was actually good.... Sigh really sad to hear.

[Timzster]

Unfortunate to hear that after all the work and hype the sequel got. Not a good time for people to loose their jobs. :(

[SoulWarrior]

How incredibly disappointing and a waste of creative talent, guess they gotta kee milking the warzone train.

As a big fan of Crash and Spyro I am gutted about this.

[Relientk77]

Wow, a great team reduced to working on crap for Warzone.

Here I sit thinking they were working on Spyro 4...

[thoughnaught]

True. It's a shame when a great team isn't being put to a game that people would actually want.

[Stanjara]

So sad...

[addictedtochaos]

Ah Activision, ever the one trick pony.

[badz149]

we hate to admit it but IF we have a one trick pony as HUGE as CoD like Activision, we would be doing it too

[HankHill]

Life under Activision isn't fun. They've shuttered a ton of studios like EA has. Hopefully Toys For Bob isn't next.

[XxSPIDEYxX]

Another talented team reduced to working on a mindless shooter. Thanks Activision!

[AnotherGamer]

This is such BS, WTF Activision?!

[Kaii]

After the Spyro/Crash trilogies, I hope the remnants of these teams join Insomniac Games or similarly styled studios.
Annoying that beloved IP is being held hostage by publishers that'd wipe out 15/30% of staff members despite being In the profit consistently.

Meh

[TriniOutsider]

I knew something like this was going to happen eventually. Call of Duty is the only thing Activision cares about and will sacrifice other studios for it.

[Terry_B]

A statement regarding the stiuation was sent to us directly by n Activision rep, which you can read below.

“Reports of layoffs at Toys For Bob are incorrect. There has not been a reduction in personnel recently at the studio. The development team is operating fully and has a number of full-time job openings at this time. The studio is excited to continue supporting Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, and more recently provide additional development support to Call of Duty: Warzone.”

[MadLad]

Activision -
Releases remakes of Spyro and Crash for good PR, and obviously they would sell.
After good PR, pull an Activision and just push the talent onto a CoD project.

[cerpintaxt44]

F

[Jivesh]

This and Vicarious Visions being made a Blizzard support studio is two of the worst things Activision have done this gen

[Binarycode]

So bobs not getting any more toys, ffs.

These Devs will get used elsewhere. Crash 4 is a sweet game.

[KingofBandits]

Be a shame if the series came back so strong only to die off again. I really wish Sony owned the IP, not saying Naughty Dog are some bastion of greatness (not in my opinion these days) but at least Toys for Bob would not have been relegated to working on COD. I know COD has its purpose and a loyal fanbase but games like Crash, Spyro, AstroBot, deserve a place in the current gaming landscape