Toys For Bob

Toys For Bob
Type Subsidiary of Activision
Industry Video games
Founded 1989
Headquarters Novato, California, United States
Key people Paul Reiche III founder and CEO
Fred Ford founder and Technical Director
Revenue unknown
Owner(s) Activision Blizzard
Employees 75
Parent Activision
Website Toys For Bob

Toys For Bob is a small video game developer founded in 1989 by Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford. They are most known for creating Star Control and its sequel Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters, but they were not involved in the development of Star Control 3. After this they went on to create a number of games for Crystal Dynamics, including the hectic combination of action and strategy, The Horde, Pandemonium and The Unholy War (as well as Little Witching Mischiefs in Japan for Bandai).[1]

This relationship with Crystal Dynamics ended in 2002. The company was bought by Activision on May 3, 2005, and is now a wholly owned subsidiary. The management team and employees have all signed long-term contracts with Activision, which is owned by Vivendi, and Toys For Bob will remain in place in Novato, California.[1]

On February 12, 2011, it was revealed that Toys for Bob has been working on the next Spyro game in the series for Activision, known as: Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure.[2]

The name Toys for Bob was invented by Laurie Lessen-Reiche; it was chosen to stimulate curiosity and allude to Paul and Fred's appreciation of real toys.[3]

Games

Title Release Platform
Star Control 1990 DOS, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis
Star Control II 1992 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, DOS
The Horde 1994 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, MS-DOS
Pandemonium 1996 PlayStation, Sega Saturn
The Unholy War 1998 PlayStation
Maikko Dai Sakusen: Little Witching Mischiefs 1999 Playstation
102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue 2000 PlayStation
Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure 2003 Nintendo Gamecube, PlayStation 2, Xbox
Madagascar 2005 Nintendo Gamecube, PlayStation 2, Xbox
Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam 2006 Wii
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa 2008 PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360
Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure 2011 Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b "Activision purchases Toys for Bob". Locker Gnome. 2005-04-03. http://www.lockergnome.com/game/2005/05/03/activision-acquires-game-developer-toys-for-bob/. Retrieved 2007-12-29. 
  2. ^ Tanner, Nicole. "Can Toys Breathe Fire Back Into Spyro?". IGN. http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/114/1149117p1.html. 
  3. ^ See this log of Fred Ford's mails to fans.

External links