Report: Toys for Bob and Microsoft Sign Partnership for New Game - News

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Toys for Bob, the developers for Skylanders, Crash Bandicoot, and Spyro, recently left Activision to become an independent video game studio. It was said at the time they were looking into a partnership with Microsoft and are in the early days of developing its next game.

It now appears Toys for Bob has agreed to a partnership with Microsoft, according to a report from Windows Central. 

The report cites sources who are familiar with a recent townhall meeting that featured the head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty who was asked about what was happening with Toys for Bob. The sources claim Microsoft has reached an agreement with the developer for their first game as an independent studio.

Booty did not state what the game would be, but he did say "it will be similar to games Toys for Bob has made in the past." 

Toys for Bob was founded in 1989 and was acquired by Activision in 2005. The first game developed by the studio was 1990's Star Control and most recently assisted in the development of the Call of Duty franchise, as well as developing 2023's Crash Team Rumble.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

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11 Comments

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Newjeansbunny (on 23 March 2024)

Banjo plz. Thanks

• +16

hellobion2 Newjeansbunny (on 24 March 2024)

That would be awsome.

• -1

Mr.GameCrazy (on 23 March 2024)

I would like to see a new Spyro game from them!

• +5

firebush03 (on 23 March 2024)

There’s no shot this is a new Skylanders game, but I’ll continue to have my hope...

• +1

Chicho firebush03 (on 23 March 2024)

So there are people that want a new Skylanders. Who would have tought?

• +7

firebush03 Chicho (on 24 March 2024)

yep. Used to run a Skylanders YT channel as well (Alpha Ambush). Got every single Skylander through all the games (excluding Robow which never had an official release). Was the only games I played from 2011-2016.

• -1

Moseskyle83 Chicho (on 24 March 2024)

Ooo I can wish to. me and the kids love skylanders and have all the figures well pretty much all n this would be so good as my kids prefer these games to the Lego ones

• -1

CaptainExplosion (on 24 March 2024)

I wanna know more. ^^

• -3

tslog (on 25 March 2024)

MS keeps saying that they let the dev's decide what game to make, but let's see if MS "forced" Toy's for Bob to make what MS wanted, since MS let the Dev be independent, MS wants something back in return for sure.

Wouldn't be surprised if the next TfB game was forced on them. Just another lie that Spencer has told. Add it on top of the pile. No real difference between any of the heads of any platform holder.

• -11

SquidLord tslog (on 25 March 2024)

What's more likely is that they became independent and already had ActiBlizz connections, so pitching to them was easy. It's also generally good optics for microsoft to fund toys for bob out the gate.

• +2

enurtsol tslog (on 30 March 2024)

That doesn't make sense at all. If MS gonna "force" Toy's for Bob to make something MS wanted, MS wouldn't have let Toy's for Bob become independent in the first place. MS already had the control

No, most likely TfB wants to work on a game, but MS owns that IP. Just because TfB becomes independent does not mean they get the IPs with them - MS retains ownership of the IPs. So if TfB wants to work on a sequel, they have to go thru MS

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