It’s official: Vicarious Visions has completed its merger with Blizzard Entertainment where it will now be “fully dedicated to existing Blizzard games and initiatives.”
Vicarious Visions has been in the process of merging with Blizzard since early last year. Blizzard had previously collaborated with the team for some time before the merger began but eventually felt there was an opportunity for it to “provide long-term support”.
In a tweet today, Vicarious Visions announced the completion of the merger, confirming that the team will remain in Albany, NY but will begin working exclusively on Blizzard games going forward.
We've officially merged with Blizzard Entertainment. Our development team will remain in Albany, NY and fully dedicated to Blizzard games. We invite you to follow us @Blizzard_Ent
— Vicarious Visions (@VvisionsStudio) April 12, 2022
Vicarious Visions was founded in 1991 before being acquired by Activision in 2005, where it worked on some of the publisher’s biggest franchises, such as Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, Spider-Man, Skylanders, and more. In its later years, it became best known for its graphically impressive remakes of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 and Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, both of which went on to sell exceptionally well and revitalize interest in the franchises. It also co-developed Diablo 2: Resurrected with Blizzard during the process of being merged.
With Vicarious Visions now fully absorbed into Blizzard, it begs the question of what’s next for the likes of Crash Bandicoot and Tony Hawk. Rights to those franchises remain owned by Activision, but it’s unknown if the publisher intends to assign the development of future games to another developer. It’s possible that Microsoft’s ongoing acquisition of the company will see them become exclusives at some point in the future, however. Only time will tell — but for now, pour one out for Vicarious Visions.
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