Crash Bandicoot developer not closing down despite reports, but does face layoffs

It was reported by a number of locations earlier this week that Toys For Bob, the creators of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro Reignited, is likely to be shutting down after father or mother firm Activision laid off 162 folks. Nevertheless, it has emerged that they won’t be closing their doorways totally.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the layoffs have an effect on 86 folks in Novato and 76 in Foster Metropolis. The Novato deal with matches the deal with of Toys For Bob’s places of work. The editor of the gaming information web site Seasoned Gaming has said on Twitter/X that Toys For Bob has closed down its places of work and can proceed to work remotely with its remaining workers.

Correction: I deleted my prior publish about Toys for Bob as a result of it was seemingly incorrect.

It appears the bodily workplace was shut down and a few staff had been let go. However the studio itself remains to be lively with a majority workers of distant staff.

Apologies!

Now… pic.twitter.com/cU76imWedY

— Ains (@Porshapwr) February 8, 2024

A separate Twitter person, Jez Corden (Managing Editor of Home windows Central) has additionally received confirmation that “Toys For Bob is just not closing down.”

Insider Gaming reported final month that Sledgehammer Video games, recognized for his or her work on the Name of Obligation franchise, was additionally closing down its places of work and shifting to distant working – this appears to be linked to the 76 layoffs in Foster Metropolis.

This motion from massive city workplace areas to remote-first working might be a key method sport firms look to save cash within the face of business instability and mass layoffs.

Video games Business Layoffs

The video games business has been in turmoil not too long ago with mass layoffs hitting a number of firms. Microsoft announced that 1,900 folks could be affected by layoffs regardless of its $67 billion take care of Activision Blizzard. Unity cut as much as 25% of its workforce in January, and EA cut jobs in Codemasters.

Amidst the uncertainty, quotes late Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata made in 2013 have reemerged. In Japan, it’s unlawful for firms to make layoffs besides in very particular circumstances, so Iwata took a 50% pay reduce, with different board members having 20% pay cuts, to make sure they might proceed to pay workers.

Featured picture credit score: Toys For Bob

Ali Rees

Freelance journalist

Ali Rees is a contract author based mostly within the UK. They’ve labored as a knowledge and analytics marketing consultant, a software program tester, and a digital advertising and search engine optimization specialist.

They’ve been a eager gamer and tech fanatic since their childhood in are at the moment the Gaming and Tech editor at Brig Newspaper. In addition they have a Substack the place they overview quick video video games.
In the course of the pandemic, Ali turned their hand to dwell streaming and is a fan of Twitch. When not writing, Ali enjoys enjoying video and board video games, dwell music, and studying. They’ve two cats and each of them are idiots.