Earlier last year, we’ve seen reports of Blizzard, one half of the Activision Blizzard, turning Vicarious Visions into its support studio. It looks like the process of merging the two has been completed, with the studio now being officially a part of the bigger name of the organisation.
In a Tweet, Vicarious Visions announced that it is “officially merged with Blizzard Entertainment”. The dev team will remain in Albany, New York, and is now “fully dedicated to Blizzard games”. PC Gamer also reports that the studio website now redirects to a Blizzard Albany job list.
Because of the prior reports of Vicarious Visions being delegated to a support role, news of it being absorbed by the bigger studio isn’t exactly surprising. Though considering the studio’s output prior to the announcement, the decision remains a weird one, even until today.
We've officially merged with Blizzard Entertainment. Our development team will remain in Albany, NY and fully dedicated to Blizzard games. We invite you to follow us @Blizzard_Ent
— Vicarious Visions (@VvisionsStudio) April 12, 2022
Prior to its delegation to being a Blizzard support studio, Vicarious Visions made a number of well-received remasters. These include the likes of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 and the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy.
From the replies to the tweet, there looks to be few people hoping that once Microsoft completes its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, that the tech giant can reverse this decision. It’s not impossible, but at the same time, it doesn’t seem like a very likely outcome.
(Source: Vicarious Visions / Twitter via PC Gamer)
