-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
CamHostage
Member
Technically, Activision hasn't been acquired yet. Both sides have agreed to a deal of acquisition, but there still needs to be votes and approvals and legal whatnot.
Still, it would have been nice for VV's future to have been reevaluated as part of the future outlook of Activision brands included in this deal. Vicarious knows these brands that are going to remain dormant without them (unless Toys for Bob escapes the COD mines, or Microsoft pushes Activision to reenact its other franchises.) Right now, it's a COD company (along with Blizzard and King attached,) nothing else is left alive of the Activision name brand.
Last edited:
Decontamination Silo
Banned
Being able to sell your company after 30 years and retire rich? Is this a bad thing?
Belthazar
Member
What? I'm not talking about Activision, I'm talking about the team at Vicarious Visions...
Imagine thinking I'm talking about Activision when I mentioned "being good at what you do". Lol
Last edited:
Javthusiast
Banned
Yes. Hopefully Uncle Phil will let them do better shit than Diablo and other support work.
Decontamination Silo
Banned
I know. I’m thinking of the founders of VV. They opened the company in 1991. They’re probably old as shit now. They get to cash out and not worry about the company any more. What more could anyone want?
I'm 100% sure Microsoft is reviving Crash after the acquisition goes through.
Who's gonna be working on it is a different question.
Belthazar
Member
VV was sold almost 20 years ago, I meant for the entire team for the amazing work they put out during the time they were owned by Activision.
CamHostage
Member
Well, we don't know what circumstances were going on where Vicarious Visions joined Blizzard...
It might have been that Vicarious wanted to be part of Blizzard, after toiling away for years unappreciated on Activision's ill-cultivated franchises, and when they saw Toys for Bob become yet another studio to become chained to the Call of Duty franchise, they jumped in the other direction. That could have been them, and although there are worse things in the world than being a part of a team of a team making one of the most popular games in the world, their leadership might have recognized that being yet another CoD studio would put them on thin ice without a diversity of portfolio anymore.
Becoming part of Blizzard has cost them their namesake, but there's lots of good things going on at Blizzard (whereas there's not much going on at Activision aside from CoD) and their little studio in Troy, NY might still be able to spearhead unique projects within the Blizzard brand ecosystem, even if they don't get their own special name on the box anymore.
...Regardless of if this is good or bad for the studio formerly known as Vicarious Visions, this is pretty terrible for anybody who enjoyed Activision titles made by Vicarious Visions. Them leaving for greener pastures just leaves a even more barren desert in the Activision landscape outside of its CoD farm.
It's good to be thinking of the founders of VV and all the workers there, as they have a great legacy (I especially loved them when they were one of the few studios putting real effort into the portable market.) This is the last chance to salute them for their achievements.
However, A. The company had already been bought, so a lateral move inside a corporation that has already acquired you wouldn't necessarily be a payday. And B. The founders of VV aren't so old as shit that they aren't still making games! Guha and Karthik Bala left Activision in 2016 and founded Velan Studios, who developed the Mario Kart Live Home Circuit AR hybrid game as well as the multiplayer dodgeball game Knockout City.
Last edited: