310°

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

Orchard1112d ago (Edited 1112d ago )

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...

lodossrage1112d ago

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-Crash1112d ago (Edited 1112d ago )

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

RaiderNation1112d ago (Edited 1112d ago )

@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.

-Foxtrot1112d ago

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.

excaliburps1112d ago

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.

LucasRuinedChildhood1112d ago

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.

badz1491111d ago

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.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 1111d ago
nickanasty2061111d ago

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.

badz1491111d ago

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

XiNatsuDragnel1112d ago

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

Timzster1112d ago

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

SoulWarrior1112d ago

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.

Relientk771112d ago

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

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

thoughnaught1112d ago

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

Show all comments (31)
50°

How the names Arrowhead Game Studios and Helldivers 2 came to be

Arrowhead Game Studios CEO Johan Pilestedt explains how the studio name comes from a name translation, plus the background on the game title “Helldivers.”

Read Full Story >>
blog.playstation.com
90°

Rockstar Games Founder's New Studio Is Working On AAA Open World Action Adventure Game

Rockstar Games founder Dan Houser's new studio, Absurd Ventures, is currently working on a AAA open world action adventure game.

Read Full Story >>
twistedvoxel.com
porkChop1d ago

I'm really curious to see what he's going to do. It seems like a GTA-style game, but I wonder how it'll differentiate itself.

Goodguy0113h ago(Edited 13h ago)

A new studio making a AAA game. Yea, that'll go well. I still think new studios should only make small games for a few years to build up teamwork and trust within.

shinoff218312h ago

That's a good point but if they have the talent it may not be needed

Mr_cheese10h ago

And the industry experience like this guy clearly does

anast10h ago

If it weren't one of the founder's of one of the most prolific open-world game studios, I would agree.

EazyC7h ago

That is an interesting point. They should gun for something akin to a great PS3 game imo. The resource cost of say RDR 2 would only EVER be possible by a monolithic titan of an organisation. It would be crazy to even try and compete straight away.

130°

Hypercharge Unboxed Dev Saddened By Claims It'll Be 'Dead' Without Xbox Game Pass

One of the big Xbox releases heading our way in May 2024 is the long-awaited Hypercharge Unboxed, which is finally bringing its "first and third-person shooter action figure game" to Xbox consoles on Friday, May 31st.

Sadly, ahead of launch, the game's official Twitter (or "X") account has been highlighting the "trolls" who are claiming that because it's not launching on Game Pass, Hypercharge Unboxed is already set up for failure on Xbox.

helicoptergirl1d 17h ago

It's horrible what people will say, but the truth might be harsh. There is a good chance it might not do well on Xbox if it's not on GamePass. There is a strong possibility that is the case. We'll see.

When it launches on Playstation in the future you can rest assured it will sell much better. The devs have confirmed it's coming to Playstation in the future.

"It is built in the Unreal Engine 4. The game was released on the Nintendo eShop on January 31, 2020 and on Steam on April 27, 2020. The development of Hypercharge: Unboxed for the Xbox platform was officially announced on July 16, 2022, with the developers also confirming future support for the PlayStation."

ZeekQuattro1d 16h ago

I remember having this on my radar years ago for the Switch but never pulled the trigger on it. Crazy it's still not on PlayStation yet.

northpaws1d 7h ago

And that's the problem of GamePass.

JEECE1d 7h ago

Unfortunately once people are conditioned to expect to get something as part of a subscription they already pay for, they are unlikely to buy it a la carte. Some games, including this one, now look like "Gamepass Games" to a huge chunk of the Xbox audience. Maybe this game will buck that trend, and I wish them luck, but I'd imagine they'll have a rough go trying to sell this game on Xbox.

shinoff21831d 6h ago

Hopefully their game not selling on Xbox doesn't stop them from bringing it to ps. I can't imagine why a developer would go Xbox first if their not on gamepass. Good luck to them though.

JEECE1d 6h ago

Yeah I can't figure that out either. I mean I understand why you go there first if you get a Gamepass payday, but if you are just trying to sell copies it doesn't make sense. Fewer users overall, and a smaller percentage of those users are willing to buy indie games a la carte.

Jingsing1d 4h ago

Yeah, I can't understand it either unless there is some deep routed fan-boyism from the developer, which isn't very clever if you are trying to make a living. Fatshark is a perfect example of a developer sending their games to die on Xbox and they kept doing it.

Jingsing1d 4h ago

British guy saying Xbox is his dream console doesn't really sit right does it. 5 generations of PlayStation in the UK and you haven't figured out what console is going to make you the most money. That is the mistake you've made.

JEECE19h ago

I wonder how old he is and when he got into gaming. For a certain segment of gamers, it can be difficult to overstate how influential the Xbox 360 was.

Jingsing14h ago(Edited 14h ago)

Fair, but by the end part of the 360 it was a pretty much a damp squid and then they've had two terrible generations of consoles after the 360 and still sticking with Microsoft and calling it your dream console at this point is for the birds. His game launched on Switch first now Xbox. It seems he has some preference for all platforms before PlayStation regardless of financial outcome. That isn't to say they won't do a PlayStation release. Also the UK was pretty much instrumental in launching PlayStation from a software perspective.