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News Toys for Bob's offices are allegedly being shut down (Update - Studio remains active, transitioning to WFH)

Because they're just going full work-from home or moving to a different office, right? ...Right?

Who am i kidding, it's Spyrover
 
To clarify, we only know right now that the office itself is shutting down, according to that report. This could mean a few different things.

  • They are relocating to a smaller office since they just laid off a bunch of people.
  • They are merging with another Activision office.
  • Everyone at ToB is moving to WFH.
  • The studio is totally shutting down.
 
There goes the chance for a Toys for Bob Banjo game.
 
Didn't they get sent to the COD mines? They really can't catch a break.

Regardless of what the office closure means for Toys for Bob, solidarity with the employees being laid off.
 
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Josh5890 said:
To clarify, we only know right now that the office itself is shutting down, according to that report. This could mean a few different things.

  • They are relocating to a smaller office since they just laid off a bunch of people.
  • They are merging with another Activision office.
  • Everyone at ToB is moving to WFH.
  • The studio is totally shutting down.
Click to expand...
what is a fact is the studio is much smaller now after layoffs and probably no longer has the resources for a full modern 3d platformer anymore

at best its a support studio
 
Lugia667 said:
what is a fact is the studio is much smaller now after layoffs and probably no longer has the resources for a full modern 3d platformer anymore

at best its a support studio
Click to expand...
And at worst, the studio is shutting down and all remaining staff are being transferred to another studio.
 
This bullshit they pulled a week ago and now is why liquidated my microsoft stock. I usually do not say things like this but...

Fuck them.
 
Gotta love it when the world's most valuable company is laying people off. I'm sure it would have done them a lot of harm to try to find a way to relocate those folks or, you know, keep the studio running.

But those shareholders have got to see their yearly pay go up no matter what, so fuck humans, right?!
 
Thunder84 said:
Xbox casually having a dumpster fire of a week, and it's only Wednesday
Click to expand...

Starting to feel like practically every week now for this company and brand. I've owned every Xbox since of OG days with the Duke controller but I think I had my share of Microsoft. The way they treat their employees and customers I find to be unacceptable.
 
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Dardan Sandiego said:
Looks like the ABK acquisition has been a complete disaster for almost everyone involved.
Click to expand...

Not everyone

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So much for them escaping the COD mines. I am so curious about that upcoming announcement from Microsoft next week.

The previous stuff could conceivably have been duplicate role consolidation. This is just shuttering a purchased studio. What are they even doing at this point.

Unless next week's announcement is the end of Xbox as a console brand as a whole, and moving to the SEGA position of being a publisher, I really don't see the direction they could head in (...total shutdown? Going full Konami "were not in the industry anymore"? That seems a bit much but given these decisions are alledgedly being made over Spencer's head, I can't rule out that Microsoft intends to dumpster the Xbox subsidiary entirely.)

Actually, no I'm pretty sure this is being done over Phil's head. Phil Spencer explicitly stated that they wanted Toys for Bob outside the COD mines if the ActiBliz deal closes. Closing the studio does not match that statement.
 
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I wonder if even 20% of the employees stay in the game industry. Optimistic they'll find something, hopefully it will fulfill them.
 
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Damn, this is terrible news. I really feel for those affected. Crash 4 might be the most under-appreciated 3D platformer of the millennium. My mind is blown how incredible it is. We started playing it about a year ago and were consistently amazed how tight and complex the level design and course/power up gimmicks are. It's really sad to see this happening.
 
Toys for Bob and Sledgehammer are both effectively dead, with each losing... what, half their staff for TFB, and a quarter for SH? More?

It's been a truly, spectacularly bad year for labour so far

soundchaser said:
Wonder what the prospects look like for Double Fine at this point.
Click to expand...

Don't go speaking evil shit into being, we're getting more than enough already
 
Lmao. What an appalling situation. Microsoft really did have no fucking plan when it came to these acquisitions. Bunch of fucking dumbasses.
 
There goes all hope of a real Star Control 3 ever happening.

Yes I know that was three decades ago and that they haven't touched the genre since but it doesn't matter.
 
Elementary said:
There goes all hope of a real Star Control 3 ever happening.

Yes I know that was three decades ago and that they haven't touched the genre since but it doesn't matter.
Click to expand...
The real Star Control 3 has been in development for several years by the OG devs (Fred and Paul, with at least one ex-Toys for Bob engineer). It's called Free Stars - Children of Infinity.
https://www.reddit.com/r/uqm2/ (some handy links in the side panel)
 
New info is coming out. Jez and some others are saying the studio isn't dead, they're just going full remote.

 
Here's hoping they can make it through. The Spyro 1 remake was wonderful, while 2 and 3 at launch were glitchy and messy as Activision crunched them to the launch date.
 
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Would probably be one of the dumbest moves by Microsoft to shutter or remove staff from this studio. Some of the most talented people Xbox acquired through their Activision-Blizzard Acquisition. I would be funding them like crazy, not shuttering offices and letting go of staff.

These insane acquisitions, shuttering of studios, and laying off of staff over the past few years from the likes of Microsoft and Embracer are just embarrassments.

Does Xbox even know what they've acquired and squandering here? I'm getting huge Rare flashbacks again.
 
Yeah shuttering this studio would be really foolish given it would have given Microsoft a dedicated 3D platformer developer to utilise all the 3D platforming characters they now own.

But the shareholders need their pound of flesh, and the great COD god must be appeased
 
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The thing to realise is that the Toys For Bob people knew is basically gone now. Over the past several years, Activision has slowly made a bunch of cuts to the studio, laying people off quietly and not renewing contracts. Nearly all of the key people responsible for Spyro and Crash are gone. Their numbers have been slashed drastically. A few years ago, they employed close to 200 people and now it's a small fraction of that.
 
Yeah, people that dreamed of a new Spyro or Crash game from Toys For Bob after the Microsoft acquisition were clearly dreaming because Activision had already set them on the track of being a COD support studio.

Microsoft, if anything, has just continued along that path by slashing staff further.

It honestly wouldn't surprise me if Microsoft looks at what's left of TFB and Sledgehammer and mashes them together at some point.
 
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