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Vicarious Visions brand to be retired as studio becomes Blizzard Albany

The studio behind the Crash Bandicoot and Tony Hawk remakes has completed a merger with Activision Blizzard that will see it fully folded into Blizzard.

TJ Denzer

April 12, 2022 9:35 AM

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It’s a weird day for fans of Vicarious Visions. The studio has been working on projects for Activision Blizzard since it was acquired in 2005, but as of recent, Vicarious Visions has merged completely with Acti-Blizz. As part of the completed merger, Vicarious Visions will seemingly drop its original branding and be renamed Blizzard Albany as it is fully absorbed into a support studio for Blizzard Entertainment.

Vicarious Visions announced the completion of the merger with Activision Blizzard via the Vicarious Visions Twitter on April 12, 2022. In sharing the completion of the merger, Vicarious Visions also directs fans to follow the core Blizzard Entertainment Twitter for future news and updates. Furthermore, there is now a careers page on the Blizzard website for its new Albany location. It would seem that Vicarious Visions will fully drop its original name to become Blizzard Albany. The Vicarious Visions brand will assumedly become defunct.

Vicarious Visions has been a part of Activision Blizzard for over a decade and a half, delivering various projects for the company. The studio was one of the primary forces behind the successful Crash Bandicoot N-Sane Trilogy, as well as the impeccable Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 remake. Throughout ongoing allegations and lawsuits at Activision Blizzard over rampant sexual harassment and workplace toxicity, Vicarious Visions have been notably absent from many of the allegations. When brought in to work on Diablo 2: Resurrected, VV design director Rob Gallerani even signaled support for affected co-workers and told players and fans to do what they thought was right in buying Acti-Blizz products.

While there’s no telling if Vicarious Visions was completely clean throughout all of the ongoing issues at Activision Blizzard, it’s still bittersweet to see the original brand retired after its impeccable work. Blizzard Albany doesn’t quite roll off the tongue the same. Nonetheless, it looks like Vicarious Visions is now officially folded into the Blizzard brand. Stay tuned for further updates as they become available.

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.