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Vicarious Visions officially merging into & shifting development priority to Blizzard

It would appear Vicarious Visions will focus on assisting in Blizzard projects and step away from lead development on new titles.

TJ Denzer

January 22, 2021 12:45 PM

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Vicarious Visions absolutely thrilled players in 2020 with the ground-up rework of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2, bringing quality and joy back to the classic skateboarding franchise. It made us want for more in every way, whether it be THPS3+4 or a new Tony Hawk game altogether. Unfortunately, though Vicarious Visions has moved high up the Activision Blizzard totem pole of collab developers, new Tony Hawk games don’t seem to be in the cards. Vicarious Visions has been officially merged into Blizzard Entertainment, which means it will step away from primary development to aid Blizzard in ongoing and future projects.

This news comes to us from GamesIndustry.biz where sources familiar with the deal recently told the publication of the merger. Reportedly, the 200-strong staff of Vicarious will now be employees under the Blizzard banner and dedicate effort towards “existing Blizzard games and initiatives.” If that is correct, it likely means Vicarious Visions will move away from its prime development role which produced projects like the stellar THPS 1+2.

It’s a curious proposition to say the least. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 was well-received by much of the gaming industry (especially here at Shacknews where we reviewed it highly and it even figured heavily into our 2020 Best Sports game conversation). Nonetheless, Blizzard could likely use the help from a quality studio as it attempts to move on major releases like Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4. Both games have been relatively quiet for some time and perhaps Activision Blizzard is banking on Vicarious to help bring an influx of quality and speed to the release of these games. Outside of Tony Hawk, Vicarious has also provided Activision with stellar work in franchises such as Guitar Hero and Crash Bandicoot.

We’ll hold out hope that Vicarious not being primary developer on future projects doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t have a hand in new Tony Hawk goodness. That said, it seems that for now, Vicarious is all-in on Blizzard’s biggest projects for the foreseeable future.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.