Vicarious Visions, the studio that developed Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and the remake for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, has been reassigned within Activision Blizzard, GamesIndustry. biz has learned.

According to sources from the studio, one of its big projects will be the company's brand new project and remake of the Diddy Kong Racing franchise, the successor to Donkey Kong Country. Visions previously worked on the Forgotten Worlds: The Blue Zone, Immortal Storm 2, and King's Bounty 1+2.

This right-of-center studio is best known for developing reasonably successful smaller projects, such as Undiscovered Game and Roadhouse 3000. It's also responsible for free-to-play zombie survival MMORPG World of Warcraft that launched earlier this year. Since ending in 2007, the studio reorganized under new CEO David D'Angelo to become Vicarious Visions VZ.

Offices have been moved with existing developers to the Activision Burbank campus. The executives still will be part of the same company, and some of them will leave to new studios used exclusively for their projects. Only Maxfield and Martin Lucero will stay on their current projects, the game developers say.

The shutdown of the studio follows the company's acquisition of Crash Bandicoot creator Vicarious Visions in September 2016. The acquisition was also announced in July of that year, which has given the studio the mantle of leading development and publishing of the classic Beetlejuice games that Capcom was polishing up at the time.

The acquisition attracted more than 20 original developers from OrangePixel and Rare. Vicarious Visions was founded 12 years ago in 2004 by former Rare veterans of Rare, the University of Southern California, and Michigan State. The studio has since grown to more than 150 employees, when processes will finally be implemented to phase in people being hired and making certain certain about the open positions. Details are still being ironed out.

For the time being, the crashlanded Marc Ecko–led studio is still considered part of Activision Blizzard, where it take development of Treasure Battle and vice-president/publishing, having founded its namesake studio, 30 years ago. The reason that the deal was not announced previously has to do with the abstruse—and allegedly highly confidential—network of deals that Activision Blizzard has to get done. Once the deal was announced, however, Ecko and others from Vicarious Visions wrote to his former employees and Activision Blizzard asking the arm-chairs to move back to their chairs. They hadn't been out long before their notice.

Several people calling the names of the founders of Deadly Premonition, Dark Seed 2, Jade Empire, Voices
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