After a 'corporate mandate' demanded they help with Call of Duty, Toys for Bob studio head says it took 'many mini miracles' to buy their independence from Activision
Overview & Key Takeaways
"We knew that it wasn't the right fit."
It's been a bit of a journey for Toys for Bob, the studio behind the very good Spyro: Reignited Trilogy, that's now making its own original Spyro game as an independent studio, as announced at the Xbox Games Showcase. Despite Reignited's smashing success selling over 11 million copies, Toys for Bob was shifted to be a support studio for Call of Duty: Warzone back in 2021, also lending a hand to Overwatch 2.
Then, in 2024, Microsoft laid off a whopping 1900 people after acquiring Activision Blizzard, which caught 86 staff from the studio in the crossfire—the very next month, the studio announced it'd be going indie.
Now, in a chat with IGN, it's been revealed that Toys for Bob's motivations were… well, about what you'd expect, given that turbulent past: "There was a corporate mandate for us to move and support larger initiatives," says studio head Paul Yan, "Games like Warzone and Overwatch 2. And Toys for Bob stepped up to support those initiatives and support those teams and those games, and we're very proud of the work that we did."
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However, "deep down inside, we knew that it wasn't the right fit. And we were getting away from the types of games that we love to make and we're best known for doing."
That sordid experience with Microsoft crystalised the studio's desire to go independent, though Yan is far more diplomatic about it: "Right around 2023, around that time period, Microsoft was in the position of acquiring Activision … With the amount of change that was on the horizon with the acquisition, and the transition that was coming up, we felt that was the right time for us to say 'let's double down and bet on ourselves in a big way, and let's propose something really radical'.
"We put forth a plan that said 'hey, we'd like to buy back our independence and take back creative control, organisational control, financial control, and then spin out as a separate company in order to focus on the kinds of games we love'," and, pointedly, "to preserve the team and all the tenure that we'd built."
In an interview with PC Gamer at Summer Game Fest, Yan said that it took "many mini miracles" to achieve the buyout, and affirmed that the studio is in a much happier place making the next great platformer than toiling away in the Call of Duty mines.
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Personally, I'm, pleased as punch. Spyro was a huge part of my early gaming days—I played the original trilogy back on the PS1 and I was very bad at it, on account of the fact I was around five years old at the time—so for there to be a new Spyro game on the horizon from a studio clearly invested in going back to formula has me hyped.
