Toys for Bob to No Longer Develop Crash

Toys for Bob to No Longer Develop Crash

Toys for Bob to No Longer Develop Crash

It's been announced that Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (Crash 4) developer, Toys for Bob, will henceforth be supporting work done on Call of Duty. This announcement came from the development team themselves, on their Twitter account:

What does that mean for the future of Crash? Well, if you thought that it could be just some of the Toys for Bob team working on Call of Duty, then you're half-right. By that, it's been confirmed that a good chunk of the team have been laid off. This confirms rumours over the past couple of months that the art team were no longer work at the company, who were hugely influential in Crash 4's art direction:

This is further corroborated by Nicolas Kole, who worked as an artist for Crash 4 and has been active in reaching out to the community since the game's release. His LinkedIn profile shows that he worked at Toys for Bob up until January 2021, for both Spryo: The Reignited Trilogy and Crash 4. Whilst he was contracted for those more cartoony games, it's clear Toys for Bob no longer have plans for a future Crash or Spyro game in need of his work:

Nicholas Kole

Nicholas Kole's LinkeIn profile confirm he is no longer working at Toys for Bob on a Crash or Spyro project

Other members of the team have also confirmed this in various Tweets on Twitter:

This news is a heavy blow to both Crash and Spyro fans, as the new direction for both franchises looked promising with Toys for Bob at the helm. Now, to know that so many people are out of work and the rest have been brought on to support development of, frankly, a stangnant series that represents everything I dislike about modern gaming, is a crying shame.

This is, of course, publisher Activision's decision. There are no doubt reasons for their madness, but few can deny Crash 4 sold well, but we all know nothing will ever sell as well as their Call of Duty franchise.

Naturally, between this and the previous announcement that the Crash Bandicoot: N.Sane Trilogy developer, Vicarious Visions, is also in the same boat, the fan reaction has been... negative:

https://twitter.com/Mevans2703/status/1388047769819025417

https://twitter.com/Crimson_Mayhem_/status/1388108814394830853

I wish all those laid off from Toys for Bob all the best in finding new work.

In the meantime, it's now a waiting game for what the future of Crash could even be. There's still Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled's developer, Beenox, but for how long? I guess we can only look to the future in what is supposed to be the bandicoot's 25th anniversary year.

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Edgar's life has strangely interwoven with Crash Bandicoot. Whether that's having administrated the Crash Mania forum (as Smaz), or meeting lifelong friends, Crash has always been the glue in his life. When he's not writing about Crash, Edgar spends his time playing the trumpet, writing fiction or working on long-term game project, Hudokai.

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