It’s an utter shame, being picked up by Xbox was to be a positive move for many people. Imagine being so exited for your new work… and then this happens. I can’t imagine the anger.
I saw it coming this entire time,why do you think I hate microsoft? why do you think I don't trust them with my favorite games? I knew once they got their filthy hands on crash and spyro they would start doing shit
Not that surprising. MS just has way too many game devs right after the acquisition... If there is room for more games out there, those employees will start new studios though.
It still is a positive thing either way you slice it layoffs are hitting the industry hard regardless. We see when merger fall apart they also lay off tons of people. Most people saw this coming because when 2 gaint companies merge they had alot if overlap and will cut them but they added more then just those unfortunately
TFB has been making awesome games for so many years, (The Skylanders and Crash games are my favorite) so this is pretty disappointing to see. I hope everyone who got laid off from not only TFB, but also all over Activision Blizzard, can find just as good if not better jobs elsewhere. I hope the remaining TFB team can stay strong and continue making epic stuff!
Maybe this isn't the right time or place to discuss this, but my single hot take about Sony Computer Entertainment is that their biggest mistake in their entire gaming career was never fighting hard enough for Crash and Spyro. They were the mascots that defined their first console, and were just fine with letting them go.
@@roger_towny_jr Letting them go? As in them having the franchise? If so, they never owned Crash and Spyro. Universal Studios always had the rights until 2008.
@johanrey1416 I understand that. The point I'm trying to make is that they should have put forth more effort to obtain the rights, IE bought them from Universal, or maybe from Sierra when they were more obscure and not doing much.
Its so tough getting a job rn. I sympathize with those whom got let go last year and this year. The hiring feeeze and this whole "min pay for max experience" trend with the open jobs is asinine. I really hope we can get to a place of healing in the economy and job market soon. Because where it stands rn, even as we speak. It is getting worse.
They were already a pretty small team so I really don't get the point of letting them go... I dunno, I'll never understand businesses other than that it always comes down to money in the end. I feel really bad for all of these people. They always seemed so happy talking about their jobs and stuff they were working on on their social pages. It's so rare to actually land a job you love.
@@JIreland1992 while it sucks for the persons who got laid off. It's the timing what makes it hard to hear. Especially after the lay offs in 2023. This isn't a new thing with corporate mergers. No need to have twice the people, if your size doesn't support it. Overlapping roles were mostly hit. It was transactional, nothing more.
@@JIreland1992Yep they need to scale down and refocus before ramping back up. The industry as a whole is in a retraction period and then will enter an expansion period at some point when things stabilize. Just a rough time for the industry as a whole right now. The good news is that I think TFB will come out stronger in the long run. Can’t wait to see what they work on next.
The simplest answer is investors. Cutting costs (in this case people) makes your profits look higher, so investors will see "bigger number than last year" and give the company more money to do the same thing the next year.
The economy is starting to really hit big companies now so they have to try to "trim the fat" as they say to keep afloat, laying off people that are a net negative on the company
Not contradicting previous coments, more like building upon it : Employees are expensive ! Depending on the size and type of buisness you run, salaries can account for as much as 50% of your earnings, drastically cutting back on profit. Firing people is the most effective way to inflate profit without having to actually make more money... of course, firing the people who make the money... But we can't expect people who give themselves a salary in the tens of thousands just to keep up appearances to be practical and in touch with reality, can we ?
Because the AAA bubble is about to burst and companies are scrambling to drop as much cargo as they can to keep the their ships afloat just that little bit longer.
I would imagine that even the TFB employees that were NOT laid off are having an awful time right now, work moral is just destined to go down when a load of your friends and collaborators are just suddenly let go because of something that seems so random and uncalled for. And so many things in the projects will have to have different people continue them which is bound to change the course of how they were going to turn out too.
Look at activision state...it was going downhill even without microsft..what has toys for bob created anything of note lately??..not firing people got phil spenser in hot water for duds like redfall...halo infinite is getting better because phil fired those who made it bad..now the left ones are woking with a good motivation called fear.
Big corpo buys another corpo, and utterly destroys it in order to "recoup" the price. I was mocked by other commenters when I compared the situation to Warner Merger, and now here we are.
@@capercrusader7129 More than Microsoft, this should be blamed on the United States, this have been a recurring issue in America for a very long time now.
This is scary to be reminded about. I am graduating this year hoping to join the game industry and have been applying for internships and jobs. Toy's for Bob was one of the internships I applied for. Hope everyone finds a job.
I feel kinda sad for Toys for Bob with their layoffs, and I feel sorry for those people who worked there that just getting out of hand. I hope they’ll get better to keep the studio up, and create new project games.
Its maddening that Microsoft would commit to mass layoffs. They make tons of profit, but to fire so many people shows they dont really care for the people who make their games. Its frustrating, and I wish for everyone who was laid off the best. Nobody deserves this. On the topic of a potential 4th Spyro game, I still dont believe Spyro 4 is coming anytime soon, but if it was in development, even with the 40% layoffs, if Toys 4 Bob were the developers, then there was still a decent amount of work done so far, and I dont see it being cancelled, so if its being made right now, its not dead.
The people they fired weren’t needed, simple as that. If they were they would have kept them. TFB will be fine going forward and is now able to refocus and make whatever game they want.
Really sad hearing about all the people who were fired, they dont deserve this at all theyve done amazing work on so many games we all love they deserved to be kept on im gutted for them an the projects they worked hard on that have had to now be cancelled.💔
Not good way to start off the new year with this kind of news, and we are just finishing up January to boot! God, I really hope this video helps with some comfort for the people who lost their jobs. As you stated, I hope they can find something even better and get to be a part of something bigger.
The whole point of the merger was to layoff/fire people they couldn't. I've seen this kind of thing happen a lot. The other option would be to dissolve the company and reform it.
This is sad. They are such a passionate studio. I hope they find jobs with other companies hiring. Nothing is certain, but I think Crash and Spyro will live on. It may be another studio and it may not happen soon, but these IPs have staying power.
@theevilminecartt.e.m.2445 Probably for two more seasons. Seasons 4 and 5 are likely to have cut content and said content will be replaced with reruns of previous season content. Season 6 onwards will be nothing but reruns of older content. End of service is probably at the end of this year with no update to make this game playable offline. Activision Terms of Service ensures that it's not illegal to make the game unplayable, but illegal to get fan servers running, like those seen on Wiimmfi.
It’s sad to think that Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon might end up going the way of Banjo-Kazooie and Conker, no more games ever. Even more so for Spyro the Dragon since he didn’t get any new games after Reignited Trilogy while Crash Bandicoot has been getting all of the new games until this happened.
This is horrible news. We all saw the downfall coming, they could've prevented this. I hope TFB survives this stupid situation the deaf corporations put them in.
They couldn't have prevented this, this is an american thing, there have been massive lay-offs happening in american companies lately, even companies that have base in america but are not american are having lay-offs, the only way to be saved from this, is by not being an american company.
@@dylus7434 Take a look at the triple games industry. They've been giving us the same crap for years. Buggy games, games with tons of predatory monetization instead of features... my main point is the industry is so fine with giving us slop that they don't realize it doesn't work anymore. People learned not to buy that stuff. Now they're paying for it... So I suppose they could've prevented this by actually having passion for video games.
@@codybolt407 I think most of the blame goes to the production companies. There are many talented developers, but the producers are holding them back while simultaneously rushing them. "Build it the way we want you to, or we will get another studio to make it. Don't forget the micro-transactions for single player games either. Oh and make sure to appeal to everyone instead of the core audience."
@@nicholasgakuu5223 that would work for smaller companies, this decision could literally destroy one developing team. Microsoft is a million dollars company, and you're telling me it's normal for fire employees because there is someone better
@@markofabecic6824 yeah..that is how life works..better people get the jobs..the struggling ones go home..why are u defending these devs who failed at making a decent call of duty???..u want them to stay on the job then complain that microsoft dont manage their studiis well when they release another medicore call of duty with those fired devs
The first 3 words I thought off while reading this was what the f*ck? WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. Edit: I feel so bad for all the employees who got laid off... I don't understand the reasoning behind this. Hopefully this can get resolved soon
To be honest, big companies only care about cost optimization and they don’t care about who gets layoffs. The only thing I can do is to pray for these people who lost their job to find another job somewhere else. 🙏
@@banjo9158He still thinks that all those tech demos in Spaceworld 2000 and 2001 were real games when really, all the Xbox games minus Conker: Live and Reloaded were merely moved from GameCube to Xbox. The Goldeneye team disbanded during development on Perfect Dark, The Conker team left after Conker 2 didn't get the Green Light after Conker: Live and Reloaded failed to meet sales expectations (that, and they were getting tired of Conker), and the Banjo team left once Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise released Banjo-Threeie never existed, and Conker 2 never started actual development, only having development documents. Donkey Kong Racing would later be reworked into Sabreman Stampede, but that got canceled, too. Nintendo could've restarted Donkey Kong Racing's development themselves, but Rare owns the character designs and Nintendo already had too many projects in production, so they decided not to revive the project.
It’s still amazing news for those not affected by the layoffs. They work for a company that is constantly rated one of the best to work for. There was a lot of bloat at Activision Blizzard, they had WAY too many employees - it wasn’t sustainable. Now that they are slimmed down and refocused they can focus on making incredible games. Xbox let’s their studios work on whatever games they want. This means a new Crash or Spyro if they do choose. It sucks for those laid off but it was needed, running a business is not a charity and Crash Team Rumble underperformed. Hope they start making great single player games. Can’t wait to see what TFB cooks up next.
I hate the state of the videogame industry. More and more and more layoffs while gamers keep demanding the same amount of content. Some even think expanding a studio is easy so a game meets their expectations but they're so ignorant urgh.
Why did people think Xbox/Microsoft buying Activision was going to be a good thing? Xbox has been acquiring studios for 20 years now, and how many amazing first party games/developers do they actually have? They are studio killers just like Activision.
I kept saying it but the copium was high around Crash fans. Saying how Microsoft will let us have more Crash and Spyro and at this rate, not even the studio will survive. But to be fair, the IPs would have died under Activision anyway since all their studios became CoD support studios. Sony should have bought them back in the Wrath of Cortex & Enter the Dragonfly days. Now we have to hope for a miracle and see if any other Microsoft studio is interested - I highly doubt it, just look at Banjo. Maybe Tango Gameworks after their good work with Hi-Fi RUsh.
Thanks a lot for your video and your compassion Canadian Guy Eh. I personally can highly recommend that Toys For Bob employees who have already been laid off join forces with the laid off employees who once worked for the Saints Row game series. These people also met a very similar fate. Maybe they can create something cool together? Anyways, I wish everybody all the best and may they find a new, good and fitting workplace.
Laying off all these Toys For Bob and other Activision employees is just sad. I bet these former employees are feeling very betrayed after probably getting excited for the Microsoft acquisition and the prospects of autonomy and better working conditions. It’s disturbing how easily they let all these people go. I hope the future of Crash and Spyro isn’t this dark.
Who knows if everything is gonna be ok with Toys For Bob now and for Crash & Spyro cause of Xbox and CTR itself especially since we still don't know if everything is gonna be ok at the end or not, and I'm still so worried about this and the future on what's gonna happen 😟
Three Letters to blame: D.E.I. Edit: Also, Bobby Kotick was an absolute monster, as far as what he did, aside from giving life threats to get games done, just to give a small hint as to what kinda reign of terror Bobby Kotick was.
Well we can now blame Microsoft for destroying Toys For Bob and our hopes for future Crash Bandicoot and Spyro titles! Remember everyone was all for the merger and shamed me for criticizing it?! Glad I was right all along!
When TFB makes a banger Spyro game or whatever they wanna work on you’re not allowed to play it because you think they’re already dead in the water. They’ll be fine.
Why would you rather have Crash and Spyro die, in addition to having people lose their jobs, so you can be proven right rather than have the IPs and everyone else prosper at the small price of being proven wrong? I know that sounds like a loaded question but that's literally what you're saying and it baffles me.
@@Delisaurus Yeah everyone should still be rooting for TFB and hope they put out their best game yet. It sucks people lost their job but the rest of the studio is still fantastic and talented. I’m sure at some point they will start rehiring too as they prove themselves to Xbox.
The fact that toys for bob changed Crash Team Rumble protagonist 6 months after launch, saw this coming. Now they have "proof" such games don't sell. Best of wishes to those laid off! Thanks for the video!
Can gaming companies and Tech companies just stop firing people and start giving the CEOs less money? Update: Microsoft just posted "record profits" for Xbox and Gaming divisions thanks to "Enthusiasm over Actiblizz acquiring" BRUH
Ohh boy, get ready for the backlash, Xbox. Because your actions in laying off 40% of Toys for Bob's Employees will have a lot of consequential repercussions very soon. So now, because of this, there is really no chance we'll be getting Spyro 4, is there?
I hate that my thoughts of the Microsoft acquisition being possibly bad ended up being kinda right. I didn’t expect Microsoft to fire this many people which sucks.
This was unexpected news when it dropped, I didn't think the layoffs would get worse but it did. The only thing we can do now is to try to make sure those that lost their jobs get new ones before long, then that should soften the blow of whatever happened financially at Microsoft/Activision Blizzard cause that's something worth investigating cause this is completely uncalled for. It's either the merger was more costly to MS than we thought or because of how Bobby Kotick and his Executive Toxic Crusaders was running Activision Blizzard prior to the acquisition was more dire than we thought or a bit of both.
Wayyyy too many doomers in these comments. When TFB drops their next game and it’s amazing remember it came from this acquisition. I personally can’t wait to see what they work on now that they’re freed from Bobby’s grip. Xbox let’s their studios work on whatever they want.
Sadly this is something that was bound to happen. If Activision was in a spiral downward we could've lost all teams except for probably Treyarc and some of call of duty but even that is a downfall based on the past few games
Its not good news but it also doesn't surprise me too. As I said before timing is critical for businesses. Spyro has missed quite a few moments. We have had nothing since 2018. Sadly I feel it was over along time ago.
I feel this situation kinda ^Fishy^ And like you said on the Video, There are many things needs to be clear... unfortunately, Many people right now is using this event to attack Microsoft and Xbox, specially when you said than Activision Before the adquisition was falling appart and such... About the Lay-off event, i still thinking than the whole thing feels very ^fishy^ and with not enough info about the event... I mean, it could be even Worse, like doing those lay off in xmas season... or even being more people... BUT STIIIIILL... From the inside of my heart, i'm deeply sorry about what happens to all those employees, not only the TFB ones... and i can only wish the best for them and send to them all the possible good vibes... *sad owl noises* UvU
But Daddy Phil told me that the ABK acquisition was great for the industry! We got rid of Kotick and get CoD on Game Pass!!!! Crash and Spyro are Xbox games now and we'll see all those other old IPs get remastered and rebooted and everything will be great! Pro-consumer!!!! (unless you prefer to collect games physically then screw you, you'll own nothing and like it!)
its a damn shame its why i hate the buisness side of gaming because some of these hard working people who make games to entertain fandoms...its just unfortunate....i wouldnt want anyone to lose their job
So we literally got the best Crash game made, a true spiritual successor without the extra fluff and on another level for true fans.... AAAAND the studio is gone. Thanks MS! Wow... just wow, we waited decades for someone to make a sequel that actually captured the essence of an IP and this studio actually did it. FEW AND FAR BETWEEN. And what does MS do? Are you kidding me? Seriously? WHAT?!?!? The first game they were allowed to flex their muscles after proving they could remaster the old ones competently.
What is happening to the gaming industry? It's an utter disgrace that corporate companies will just fire people instead of cutting their own inflated salaries, like the CEO of Nintendo did.
oof, I heard the MS layoffs, and I had a few Blizzard friends hit. Didn't realize TFB got hit that hard though. RIP. MS got what used to be considered the unofficial mascots of Sony and then they just dump so much of it.
I'll have to look into more, but I wonder why news like this keeps happening in game dev positions but tech in general. There's the idea that COVID had a boom in job growth in the industry. Also what you were saying about the world laying off in general, but again I need to do some lateral reading and ask around. Job security in games, and in tech in general, is a big issue. I'm going to college to work towards getting a job at a game company. I know I don't need college per-say, which I could go into, but I digress. I personally think that people in the game industry should be paid more, which would mean less workers in total if the same budget. I'm sure the people who are laying people off don't want to do it, right? Being a good manager of people has got to be a lot of work, I respect the job. I too can feel that annoyance and not knowing where to turn my thoughts.
Activision at old management: record profits - massive layoffs. Activision at new management: record profits - massive layoffs. over these years something is a hereditary tradition.
People are sad but people mad at Microsoft as if they are the only ones doing layoffs. The industry is being hit hard right now and for this year. Teams are dying out left and right so its not just a Microsoft thing unfortunately.
People just hate Xbox for some reason and anytime they have something negative in the news cycle their brains turn to mush and they get to do their favorite thing, complaining about Xbox
We *need* to start voting with our wallets because that is the only language corporations understand and as unfortunate as this is for the devs, they *need* to start unionising. Both of these things *need* to happen or things like this will keep happening, and it will only get worse for both customers and the workers.
The thing that hurts for me is that this feels more like a blank firing - reckless, no thought, and the occasional "wow, it feels unfair if we DON'T just fire these other guys too". and Toys For Bob exemplifies that the best. Small team, already depended on contractor work, was starting up something new, still trying to tackle and hold onto a live online game.... slash them nearly in half? Are you kidding me!? Blizzard, full COD teams, fine. It sucks, and I know they cut in some deep places there too, but simultaneously I can understand an argument those teams were pretty huge and rode on projects MS may want to alter and start employing things on more of their terms and visions, but then Toys For Bob its a whole different field.
When I heard about Microsoft lays off, I was like "please, don't touch Toys for Bob" Well screw this ... Hopefully that won't impact their projects too much. Anyone knows if Beenox lost people too ?
At this point, nothing can be done other than wishing the best for the remaining employees and the others that are hopefully being supported during the process of finding a new employment
Of course. All future projects that Toys For Bob were going to lead are dead. How on earth can a studio that just lost nearly half of its staff lead a AAA project ever again?! Crash and Spyro are now in Xbox purgatory with Banjo!
This is why I say layoffs hurt studios and employees as and all because of money but I'm so sorry for what has happened to the employees this is total upset but I hope they keep there hopes up it's getting rough out there and the economy is getting worse and thank you for bringing this up CGE 😔
Its very upsetting seeing this happen. I was for the acquisition but maybe this is the part of the process of xbox merging into the studios. Its a shame some devs have become redundant. But whats for crash is still in question
Yeah. But it is more on the USA 🇺🇸 bad worker law about firing. Like look at Nintendo in the Wii U 3DS era in Japan 🇯🇵, Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto, and many others lowered their salary to keep their workers (as well due to the laws). Like now today they earn around $1~2M. That's high but look at the Xbox CEO’s salary. Nearly $50M.
@teamsonicchannel4400 yeah,xbox just likes to ruin the companies they buy,why do you think I don't trust them after buying rare? I knew once they bought activision microsoft would do something stupid
Remember when Xbox fanboys said Microsoft acquiring ABK would fix all that ails them? Remember when they said Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer, Treyarch, High Moon Studios, Raven Studios, Toys for Bob, Beenox, and Shanghai would all be allowed to make games unique to them and not be forced on the Call of Duty pipeline. Because they're totally buying the house that makes CoD for $70B so that those developers can make Hexen and Spyro the Dragon. There's almost zero chance this now smaller Toys for Bob will ever do anything other than Call of Duty.
@@BAE10For real. This guy is just an alarmist who wants to see this acquisition fail. At least wait to see what games get made in the future. A studio like TFB is not central to Call of Duty. Xbox will rather have them make smaller family friendly titles like Spyro for game pass. They will let TFB work on whatever they want - just like they’ve done with any other studio they’ve acquired.
I just want to add, look this is getting really really scary. It has been for a good few years now. It's almost like Covid taught big buisness that laying people off makes more money, paying people less makes more money, same with cutting employee hours it makes more money. The individual person is capable of producing more and fewer people have enough work to survive. And big business just makes more money...
Me here laughing my ass off at everyone that thought Microsoft getting Activision/Blizzard was gonna be a good thing. The only good thing that came from Microsoft getting Activision was Bobby Cotick getting forced out a year earlier than he would have if Microsoft never bought it. It's a shame all those people lost their jobs but I'm laughing my ass off cuz I knew this was going to happen. It's literally Microsoft's MO.
It is a good thing. Things were awful before. Xbox is saving them from their terrible mismanagement. Things have to get worse before they get better. Sucks in the short term but will be good in the long term.
The fact that people would think that you would be for the layoffs clearly don't know you very well. When I heard about the layoffs, I knew you wouldn't be happy about it. You (as well as me and others) were happy about the possibilities of working for a company like Microsoft, like the games that could come from that acquisition. Not the part about the possible layoffs. It's a shame that all those people lost their jobs. I do hope they're able to find work soon.
Spyro, along with other classic intellectual properties should just be public domain. Sick of having to rely on the good faith of mega corporations to have a great game from my favorite franchises.
I also understand of not having a job as well, for four years I worked at the fast food restaurant and I walked out due to my frustration with the managers and the company. Can't go into detail but I was being lied, screwed and ignored ever since they transferred me farther place from where I live without asking me about it. Screw the idiots for trying to ruin someone job for their selfish desire. I am sorry to those who lost their job as well.
