- Toys for Bob says Activision Blizzard didn’t push back on the studio’s decision to go independent again
- Studio head Paul Yan says, “Leadership on both sides was very open to the idea”
- Yan says the process was “complex” to navigate while also planning Spyro: A Realm Beyond
Spyro: A Realm Beyond developer Toys for Bob has said there was no “pushback” from Activision Blizzard when it chose to become independent, but the process was “complex.”
In 2024, one year after Microsoft officially acquired Activision Blizzard and almost 20 years after being purchased by the latter, Toys for Bob announced that it would split from its parent company and return to its “roots” as an independent studio.
Now, during a press Q&A at Summer Game Fest 2026 while promoting Spyro: A Realm Beyond, Studio Head Paul Yan shared that the team didn’t meet any resistance from Activision Blizzard or Microsoft and that “leadership on both sides was very open to the idea.”
“It was just complex,” Yan said, “because we were talking about navigating many things in a very compressed amount of time, so just the logistics and legality of how do you separate from a company in that way has never been done before.”
“I’ve never done it before, so I’m asking for something that’s going to need a ton of coordination across many teams, across two new organizations that don’t even know each other,” he added, referring to the company’s acquisition by Microsoft, “or they’ve just got married for the most part.
“Meanwhile, we’re also trying to navigate a pitch for this game [Spyro: A Realm Beyond], so we’re trying to get all that happening at the same time.”
Yan said this was “the biggest challenge” overall, reiterating that no one was against Toys for Bob becoming independent again, although the process was something “we’ve never seen done before.”
Associate creative director Lou Studdard added that it was difficult to navigate the process while also “preserving the continuity of the team experience of the team,” and making sure it wasn’t “such a big culture shock for the studio.”
“It’s been a tremendous effort to make sure that around two years ago, and this happened when we really started, it was kind of like another day in the office in a good way, and that we are a continued development team that knows how to work with each other and focus on our projects,” Studdard said.
Spyro: A Realm Beyond is Toys for Bob’s first game since becoming an independent studio again, and it launches in Spring 2027 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.
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