Vicarious Visions officially merges with Blizzard, drops name

Vicarious Visions, the makers of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skaters 1 and 2, has been fully merged into Blizzard Entertainment, the studio announced on Tuesday. The development team will remain based in Albany, New York and will focus exclusively on Blizzard Entertainment games, it said.

The completed merger means a studio founded 31 years ago loses its name and original branding. Blizzard announced the merger last year, and workers were notified of the name change in October 2021.

Vicarious Visions was founded in 1991 by brothers Karthik and Guha Bala, who sold the studio to Activision in 2005. Since then, the developers at Vicarious Visions have been working on ports for titles such as Ultimate Spider-Man, Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy. The studio is best known for the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skaters 1 and 2and for the support of last September Diablo II: Risen.

Jen Oneal, former studio head of Vicarious Visions, became Blizzard’s executive vice president of development after Vicarious Visions merged with Blizzard in January. When Blizzard President J. Allen Brack resigned the following July in light of a workplace discrimination and harassment lawsuit filed by California regulators, Oneal and Mike Ybarra took Brack’s place at the helm of Blizzard. Oneal resigned from that role shortly thereafter, and a Wall Street Journal report later said Oneal had told others she had little faith in Activision Blizzard’s leadership under the vast cloud created by multiple sexual harassment and discrimination investigations .

In January, Microsoft announced its intention to acquire Activision Blizzard in a landmark $68.7 billion deal that will be reviewed by regulators at the Federal Trade Commission. Chief Executive Bobby Kotick is also under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice for potential insider trading. reported the journal.