Vicarious Visions stops existing in its original format after being responsible for reviving Crash Bandicoot’s and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater’s IP.

While Activision Blizzard is seeing recond stock values, the company told Gamesindustry that Vicarious Visions has moved from the Activision side to the Blizzard side, and is now „fully dedicated to existing Blizzard games and initiatives.” Here’s what an Activision Blizzard representative said: „After collaborating with Vicarious Visions for some time and developing a great relationship, Blizzard realized there was an opportunity for [Vicarious Visions] to provide long-term support.” Vicarious Visions studio head Jena Oneal was promoted to Blizzard executive vice president of development, and Simon Ebejer, previously the chief operating officer of Vicarious Visions, will take over Oneal’s previous role.

Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported (citing people familiar with the developer’s plans) that Vicarious Visions has been working with Blizzard since 2020 on the Diablo franchise, and their plans include a remake of Diablo II. A Blizzard spokesperson declined to comment on it, only saying that the developer „has been working with Blizzard for some time.” Until last year, the remake was being developed by Blizzard’s Team I. However, Warcraft III: Reforged from them wasn’t received well, the members pointed to these issues behind the failure: poor planning, miscommunication, and a rushed release due to financial pressure from management.

To avoid repeating these mistakes, Blizzard pulled the Diablo II remake (possibly called Diablo II: Resurrected) project from them, and those who are making Diablo IV are now in charge, but a group at Vicarious Visions is also working on the remake. On October 15, Team I was reorganized. The team members got an opportunity to interview for other positions within the company. Those who failed either got fired or they left to join independent studios established by former Blizzard staff. Also on this day, Blizzard ended all ongoing development of Team I’s StarCraft II. Regarding Warcraft III: Reforged, the spokesperson said that Blizzard is „still committed to updates in support of the community,” without confirming who is handling the updates.

But why Vicarious Visions? Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy, and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 were both made by them, and they got pretty solid reviews!

Source: Gematsu