Activision Blizzard has moved its Vicarious Visions studio from the Activision side of the business to the Blizzard side.
The editor said today GamesIndustry.biz which as of today, is combining Vicarious Visions with Blizzard Entertainment.
In the future, the Vicarious Visions team of around 200 people will be Blizzard employees and “fully dedicated to existing Blizzard games and initiatives”, meaning that Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 studio will no longer be creating games like the main developer.
“After collaborating with Vicarious Visions for some time and developing a great relationship, Blizzard realized that there was an opportunity to [Vicarious Visions] to provide long-term support, “a representative explained to us. They declined to specify what the team has been working with Blizzard for, or for how long.
As part of the change, Jen Oneal, head of Vicarious Visions, was promoted to executive vice president of development at Blizzard, where he joins the company’s leadership team and will report directly to Blizzard president J. Allen Brack.
Oneal is being replaced in the lead role for Vicarious Visions by Simon Ebejer, who previously served as the studio’s director of operations.
Vicarious Visions was acquired by Activision in 2005 and has worked in many of the publisher’s largest franchises over the years, including Guitar Hero, Spider-Man, Tony Hawk, Crash Bandicoot, Destiny, Skylanders and Call of Duty.
The studio will remain in Albany, New York.