Spyro is back: How the studio rescued the dragon from the Call of Duty mines
News Add as a preferred source on Google
Among other things, a brand-new Spyro game was announced at Summer Game Fest—and creating this game required quite a few "mini miracles."
I've always had a soft spot for mascot games. Though nowadays, besides the Nintendo stuff, there's really only Ratchet & Clank left, and for every new adventure, Insomniac has to earn enough brownie points with a couple of superhero games, like the upcoming Marvel's Wolverine.
But it does seem like other studios are now at least toying with the idea of bringing their beloved mascots back as well. We have Ubisoft's Rayman Legends: Retold coming in October, and if the game sells well enough, we might even get a Rayman 4 one of these days.
From Call of Duty to Spyro: This new game required a few "mini miracles" to even exist
There's also a brand-new Spyro game in the works over at Toys for Bob, and it's nothing short of a miracle that this game even exists. Although Spyro Reignited Trilogy sold over eleven million copies, the studio was sent into the Call of Duty mines back in 2021.
From then on, its talented developers had to work on games like Warzone and Overwatch 2 instead of creating new adventures for our favorite dragon.
In 2024, Activision Blizzard was acquired by Microsoft, and the company's leadership quickly decided to lay off nearly 2,000 employees, including 86 from Toys for Bob. Shortly afterward, the studio announced that it would become independent.
Now, studio head Paul Yan has explained in a chat with IGN exactly how that decision came about:
"There was a corporate mandate for us to move and support larger initiatives, 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."
"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."
The studio was already planning to go indie in 2023, when the sale of Activision Blizzard was on the table. As Yan revealed during a Q&A session at Summer Game Fest, it took a series of "mini miracles" for everything to work out. Overall, however, this was definitely the right move for Toys for Bob. The studio is much happier developing a new platformer than working on the next Call of Duty.
