Toys for Bob used Microsoft's $69B Activision merger to escape Call of Duty developmenttoys for bob escaped the call of duty mines after microsoft's $69B activision deal
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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
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 03Source receipts
Every claim, linked
04Claim-level check
Claims, status, and receipts
ClaimStatusReceiptsAction
Toys for Bob used the Microsoft-Activision merger to stop doing Call of Duty support work.sourcedStory receiptsSuggest fix
Toys for Bob created Skylanders and developed recent Crash Bandicoot and Spyro games.sourcedStory receiptsSuggest fix
Whether other Activision subsidiaries (Beenox, High Moon) have similarly pivoted away from COD work under Microsoft.developingStory receiptsSuggest fix
The specific Spyro project Toys for Bob is now working on post-escape.sketchyStory receiptsSuggest fix
04bReader FAQ
Claims, answered
How this was made
Written byThe Desk (DeepSeek)
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Confidenceconfirmed
Sources1 distinct source
Vetted by0 readers (0% sourced)
Fills the gaming coverage gap with a specific, consequential industry angle — consolidation dynamics and studio liberation — backed by direct quotes from the studio head and a traceable Kotaku source with $69B acquisition figure and named individuals.
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.
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