Vicarious Visions officially merges with Blizzard, drops name

Vicarious Visions is the maker of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2, Blizzard Entertainment announced on Tuesday that it has merged the two companies. It said that the development team is still based in Albany, New York, and remains focused solely on Blizzard Entertainment’s games.

Studio founded 31 years back will be merged. Blizzard made the announcement of the merger in the last year. Workers were informed about it in October 2021.

Vicarious Visions was established in 1991 by Guha Bala and Karthik Bala. The studio was sold to Activision 2005. Vicarious Visions has been developing ports for titles such as Ultimate Spider-Man, Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast Jedi Academy. This studio is most well-known for its work in the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2, and for supporting last September’s Diablo II: Resurrected.

Former Vicarious Visions studio head Jen Oneal became Blizzard’s executive vice president of development after Vicarious Visions folded into Blizzard in January. The following July, when Blizzard president J. Allen Brack stepped down in light of a workplace discrimination and harassment lawsuit brought by California regulators, Oneal and Mike Ybarra took Brack’s place leading Blizzard. Oneal stepped down from that role shortly after, and a Wall Street Journal report later said Oneal told others she had little faith in Activision Blizzard’s leadership under the huge cloud created by multiple sexual harassment and discrimination investigations.

Microsoft’s January announcement of its intent to buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7billion was a historic move that will be scrutinized by regulators at the Federal Trade Commission. According to the Journal, Bobby Kotick is being investigated by both the Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice in relation to possible insider trading.