Vicarious Visions, maker of Tony Hawk and Crash Bandicoot remasters, merged into Blizzard

Vicarious Visions, the studio behind the recent Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 remasters, is now part of Blizzard Entertainment, reports GamesIndustry.biz. The studio has been merged with the developer behind World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and Diablo to provide “long-term support,” Blizzard said in a statement to GamesIndustry.

Blizzard has been working with Vicarious Visions for some time, a representative for Blizzard said, but it’s not clear on which projects. Blizzard has a relatively high number of announced titles in development, including Diablo 4, Overwatch 2, and Diablo Immortal. None of those games have announced release dates, however.

We may know more about Blizzard’s plans — and how they involve Vicarious Visions’ more than 200 employees — soon. BlizzConline, an online-only version of the developer’s annual BlizzCon gaming convention, will take place Feb. 19-20.

Vicarious Visions was founded in 1990 and initially focused on titles for Game Boy and PC platforms. The company was acquired by Activision in 2005, and went on to develop games in the Guitar Hero, Transformers, Crash Bandicoot, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, and Skylanders franchises. Vicarious Visions studio head Jennifer Oneal has been promoted to executive vice president of development at Blizzard, and will report to Blizzard president J. Allen Brack.