01What happened

The story, straight

Toys for Bob, the studio behind recent Crash Bandicoot and Spyro revivals, leveraged Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard to regain creative independence. In an interview with GamesRadar+, studio head Paul Yan said the merger gave the team a chance to "take back creative control of the kinds of projects that we can focus on." The studio, acquired by Activision in 2005 and known for creating the Skylanders franchise, had been assigned to Call of Duty support work under Activision's ownership — a common fate for subsidiaries within the publisher.

toys for bob — the studio that kept crash bandicoot and spyro alive — used microsoft's $69B activision buyout to escape being a call of duty support shop. studio head paul yan told gamesradar+ the merger was their shot to "take back creative control." the studio got swallowed by activision in 2005, built skylanders, made the recent crash and spyro games, then got stuck doing cod grunt work like every other activision subsidiary.

02Spread timeline

Where it actually started

2005Origin
Activision acquires Toys for Bob.activision scoops up toys for bob
source
Oct 2023
Microsoft closes $69B Activision Blizzard acquisition.microsoft finalizes the $69B activision deal
source
Jun 11, 2026
Toys for Bob studio head Paul Yan tells GamesRadar+ the merger let the studio reclaim creative control.paul yan confirms to gamesradar+ that the merger was their escape route
source

04What's solid, what isn't

Claims by status

Confirmed
  • Toys for Bob used the Microsoft-Activision merger to stop doing Call of Duty support work.
  • Studio head Paul Yan confirmed this in a GamesRadar+ interview.
  • Toys for Bob created Skylanders and developed recent Crash Bandicoot and Spyro games.
  • Activision acquired Toys for Bob in 2005.
Disputed
  • The specific Spyro project Toys for Bob is now working on post-escape.
Developing
  • Whether other Activision subsidiaries (Beenox, High Moon) have similarly pivoted away from COD work under Microsoft.

05Why it matters

The editorial take

This is a case study in how mega-mergers can inadvertently liberate smaller studios from publisher-imposed labor pipelines. Toys for Bob's trajectory — from creative mascot platformers to COD support work and back — mirrors a broader industry pattern where acquired studios lose their identity under corporate consolidation. Microsoft's massive acquisition, now facing financial scrutiny, has at least produced one unambiguous positive: a beloved studio reclaiming its creative direction.

every activision studio got funneled into the call of duty machine eventually — toys for bob, beenox, high moon, all of them. microsoft's $69B deal is widely seen as a financial headache, but at least it accidentally freed a studio that was keeping spyro and crash alive. one studio escaping the cod mines doesn't fix the consolidation problem, but it's a data point worth tracking.