Toys for Bob

Toys for Bob
Subsidiary of Activision
Industry Video games
Founded 1989
Headquarters Novato, California, United States
Key people
 Paul Reiche III (founder, CEO and Creative Director)
Fred Ford (founder, CTO and Technical Director)
Terry Falls (Art Director)
Alex Ness (Chief of Staff)
Amber Long (Art Manager)
Paul Yan (Animation Director)
Dan Neil (Audio Director)
I-Wei Huang (Toy Director)
Toby Schadt (Design Director)
Jeff Poffenbarger (Executive Producer)
Products Skylanders series (2011-present)
Tony Hawk series (2006)
Revenue Unknown
Owner Activision Blizzard
Number of employees
 120+
Parent Activision
Website Toys For Bob

Toys for Bob is a small American video game developer founded in 1989 by Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford. They created Star Control and its sequel Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters in the early 1990s. However, 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 action and strategy-genre games 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, and Toys for Bob remains in place in Novato, California.[1]

On February 12, 2011, it was revealed that Toys for Bob had been working on the latest 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
Archon Ultra 1994 MS-DOS
Alien Logic: A Skyrealms of Jorune Adventure 1994 MS-DOS
Pandemonium 1996 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation, Sega Saturn
Pandemonium 2 1997 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation
The Unholy War 1998 PlayStation
Majyokko Dai Sakusen: Little Witching Mischiefs 1999 PlayStation
102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue 2000 PlayStation
Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure 2003 GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox
Madagascar 2005 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 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360, Wii U (Japan)
Skylanders: Giants 2012 PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360, 3DS, Wii U
skylanders: swap force 2013 PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, 3DS
Skylanders: Trap Team 2014 PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, 3DS, iOS, Android

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Activision purchases Toys for Bob". Locker Gnome. 2005-04-03. Retrieved 2007-12-29.
  2. ↑ Tanner, Nicole. "Can Toys Breathe Fire Back Into Spyro?". IGN.
  3. ↑ See this log of Fred Ford's mails to fans.

External links