Company:Blizzard Albany

From HandWiki
Short description: American video game developer
Blizzard Albany
FormerlyVicarious Visions, Inc. (1991–2022)
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded1991; 33 years ago (1991)
Founders
  • Karthik Bala
  • Guha Bala
Headquarters
Albany, New York
,
US
Key people
  • Simon Ebejer (studio head)
  • Aaron Ondek (CTO)
Number of employees
200+ (2021)
Parent
Website(now redirects to blizzard.com)

Blizzard Albany (formerly Vicarious Visions, Inc.) is an American video game developer based in Albany, New York. The studio was acquired by Activision in January 2005. After releasing its last game as part of that company, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, Vicarious Visions became part of Activision's sister company Blizzard Entertainment in January 2021 and was merged into it in April 2022, thereby being renamed Blizzard Albany.

History

Final Vicarious Visions logo used from 2017 until its rebrand in 2022

The studio was founded by brothers Karthik and Guha Bala in 1991 while they were in high school.[1] In the late 1990s, Vicarious Visions appointed Michael Marvin, an Albany-based investor and entrepreneur, and founder and former CEO of MapInfo Corporation; and Charles S. Jones, investor, who sat on the boards of various software and industrial companies including Geac and PSDI, to its board of directors. Under their leadership, a sale of the company was negotiated to Activision, earning the original investors over 20x their initial investment.[citation needed] In January 2005, Vicarious Visions was acquired by publisher Activision. In June 2007, Activision closed the Vicarious Visions' office in Mountain View, California.[2] On April 5, 2016, the Bala brothers announced that they had left the company.[3] The brothers then founded Velan Studios in November 2016.[4]

On January 22, 2021, Vicarious Visions was moved by Activision Blizzard from a subsidiary of Activision to a subsidiary of Blizzard Entertainment. Going forward, the more than 200 employees of Vicarious Visions will be employees of Blizzard.[5] Vicarious had been working with Blizzard for about two years prior to this announcement, and specifically on the planned remaster of Diablo II, Diablo II, and Blizzard felt the move would be best as to have Vicarious' group provide continued support not only on the remaster but also on other Diablo properties including Diablo IV.[6][7] Vicarious Visions studio head Jen Oneal moved to Blizzard's management and was succeeded by Simon Ebejer, previously the studio's chief operating officer.[8] On October 27, 2021, Blizzard informed Vicarious Visions employees that the studio would change its name.[9] The studio was fully merged into Blizzard on April 12, 2022, and was renamed Blizzard Albany, otherwise retaining its offices.[10][11]

Blizzard Albany's QA team, about 20 members in size, announced a unionization drive in July 2022 as GWA Albany. It follows Raven Software, another Activision Blizzard subsidiary, whose QA team voted to unionize earlier in the year.[12]

Game history

Terminus, an online multiplayer space trading and combat simulation game, won two Independent Games Festival Awards in 1999. They became known as a leading developer of handheld games breaking ground by the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, developing Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS titles in the franchise's main series as well as one spin off. They developed the first three Crash Bandicoot GBA games. Vicarious Visions developed Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Ultimate Spider-Man, Crash Nitro Kart, Star Wars Jedi Knight II, Star Wars Jedi Knight, and Doom 3 for the Xbox. Vicarious Visions developed for the Guitar Hero series on the Nintendo DS and Wii platforms. For Guitar Hero: On Tour, Vicarious Visions created the "Guitar Grip" peripheral for the Nintendo DS, which emulates the guitar controller for the portable system.

It was revealed on June 10, 2011, that Vicarious Visions was working on the 3DS version of Skylanders, and would go on to have an important role in developing the Skylanders game series, creating the games Skylanders and Skylanders.[13] On December 8, 2016, Vicarious Visions announced that they were partnering with Bungie to work on the Destiny franchise.[14]

Game engine

Vicarious Visions Alchemy is the company's game engine. It was released in 2002. It was originally called Intrinsic Alchemy and developed by Intrinsic Graphics before being renamed after Vicarious Visions acquired Intrinsic Graphics in 2003.[15]

Games developed

Year Game Platform(s) Notes
1996 Synnergist Microsoft DOS (PC CD-ROM)
1997 Dark Angael Microsoft Windows
1999 Zebco Fishing! Game Boy Color
Vigilante 8
2000 Polaris SnoCross Game Boy Color, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Microsoft Windows
Terminus Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux
Spider-Man Game Boy Color
The Wild Thornberrys
Pro Darts
Barbie
Jimmy White's Cue Ball
2001 Wanadoo SnowCross Game Boy Color, Microsoft Windows
Rescue Heroes: Fire Frenzy Game Boy Color
Blue's Clues: Blue's Alphabet Book
SpongeBob SquarePants
Zoboomafoo: Playtime in Zobooland
Monsters, Inc.
Kelly Club: Clubhouse Fun
Sea-Doo Hydrocross PlayStation
Spider-Man 2
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 Game Boy Advance
Power Rangers: Time Force
Spider-Man
2002 Crash Bandicoot
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
Frogger Advance
SpongeBob SquarePants
The Powerpuff Girls: Him and Seek
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 Game Boy Advance, PlayStation
Star Wars Jedi Knight II GameCube, Xbox
Whiteout Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox
2003 The Muppets: On With The Show! Game Boy Advance, Microsoft Windows
Crash Bandicoot 2 Game Boy Advance
Bruce Lee
X2
Finding Nemo
Jet Set Radio
Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure
Disney's The Lion King 1½
Tony Hawk's Underground
SpongeBob SquarePants
Disney's Brother Bear
Crash Nitro Kart Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, N-Gage
Spy Muppets Game Boy Advance, Microsoft Windows
Star Wars Jedi Knight Xbox
2004 Rivet Mobile phone
Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock
Shrek 2 Game Boy Advance
Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage and Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy
Shark Tale
Tony Hawk's Underground 2
That's So Raven
Shrek 2: Beg For Mercy!
Codename
Spider-Man 2 Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable
2005 Doom 3 Xbox
Madagascar Game Boy Advance
Batman Begins
X-Men Legends II PlayStation Portable
Madagascar Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS
Ultimate Spider-Man
Tony Hawk's American Sk8land
2006 Over the Hedge
Over the Hedge: Hammy Goes Nuts Game Boy Advance
Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam Nintendo DS
Marvel PlayStation Portable, Wii
2007 Spider-Man 3 Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Wii
Shrek the Third Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Wii
Transformers: Decepticons Nintendo DS
Transformers: Autobots
Tony Hawk's Proving Ground
Bee Movie Game
2008 Kung Fu Panda
Guitar Hero: On Tour
007: Quantum of Solace
Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades
Guitar Hero Wii
Guitar Hero World Tour
2009 Guitar Hero 5
Marvel PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Band Hero Nintendo DS, Wii
Mixed Messages DSiWare
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Decepticons Nintendo DS
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Autobots
Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits
2010 Transformers War for Cybertron: Decepticons
Transformers War for Cybertron: Autobots
Guitar Hero iOS
Guitar Hero Wii
2011 Skylanders Nintendo 3DS
2012 Skylanders: Cloud Patrol iOS, Android, Kindle Fire
Skylanders: Lost Islands iOS, Android
Skylanders: Battlegrounds
Skylanders Wii U
2013 Skylanders PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U,[16] Xbox 360, Xbox One
2014 Skylanders iOS, Android, Kindle Fire
2015 Skylanders PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, iOS
2016 Skylanders: Imaginators (Crash Edition) PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch
2016 Call of Duty PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
2017 Destiny 2[lower-alpha 1] Microsoft Windows
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC
2020 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
2020 Call of Duty PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S Assisted Raven Software
2021 Call of Duty PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S Assisted Raven Software
2021 Diablo II PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC[17] Co-developed with Blizzard Team 3
2023 Diablo IV PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC Co-developed with Blizzard Team 3

Cancelled games

Year Game Platform(s)
2000 AMF Xtreme Bowling Game Boy Color
VR Sports Powerboat Racing
Carnivale
2001 Sea-Doo Hydrocross Game Boy Color, Dreamcast, Nintendo 64
2003 Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder 2[18] Game Boy Advance
Static Shock[19]
2008 Call of Duty: Roman Wars Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
2010 DJ Hero 3D Nintendo 3DS
2011 Guitar Hero 7 PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii
2012 Untitled Crash Bandicoot game
2017 Untitled Skylanders game PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, Switch
2021 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4[20] Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch

Notes

  1. As a support team for Bungie

References

  1. Frank, Allegra (April 5, 2016). "Vicarious Visions co-founders move on after 25 years". Polygon. https://www.polygon.com/2016/4/5/11370024/vicarious-visions-founders-leave-karthik-guha-bala. 
  2. Handy, Alex (June 7, 2007). "Exclusive: Activision Closes Vicarious Visions' CA Office". Gamasutra. https://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=14236. 
  3. Futter, Mike (April 5, 2016). "Vicarious Visions Co-Founder Brothers Depart After 25 Years". Game Informer. http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2016/04/05/vicarious-visions-co-founder-brothers-depart-after-25-years.aspx?. Retrieved April 5, 2016. 
  4. "Bala brothers found Velan studios". Market for Computer & Video Games. November 21, 2016. https://www.mcvuk.com/development-news/bala-brothers-found-velan-studios/. Retrieved June 4, 2021. 
  5. Sinclair, Brendan (January 22, 2021). "Vicarious Visions merged into Blizzard". GamesIndustry.biz. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-01-22-vicarious-visions-merged-into-blizzard. 
  6. Schreier, Jason (January 22, 2021). "Blizzard Absorbs Activision Studio After Dismantling Classic Games Team". Bloomberg News. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-22/blizzard-absorbs-activision-studio-after-dismantling-classic-games-team. 
  7. Minotti, Mike (February 22, 2021). "Blizzard leaders J. Allen Brack and Allen Adham on leaks, Reforged lessons, mobile, and more". Venture Beat. https://venturebeat.com/2021/02/22/blizzard-leaders-j-allen-brack-and-allen-adham-on-leaks-reforged-lessons-mobile-and-more/. Retrieved February 22, 2021. 
  8. Bankhurst, Adam (January 22, 2021). "Activision Merges Blizzard and Vicarious Visions". https://www.ign.com/articles/activision-merges-blizzard-and-vicarious-visions. 
  9. "Vicarious Visions to drop its name and fully merge with Blizzard, sources say". October 27, 2021. https://www.polygon.com/22749644/vicarious-visions-blizzard-albany-merger-studio-name-change. 
  10. Middler, Jordan (April 12, 2022). "Tony Hawk studio Vicarious Visions is no more as it completes merger with Blizzard". https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/tony-hawk-studio-vicarious-visions-is-no-more-as-it-completes-merger-with-blizzard/. 
  11. Kennedy, Victoria (April 12, 2022). "Skylanders dev Vicarious Visions is officially renamed Blizzard Albany". https://www.eurogamer.net/skylanders-dev-vicarious-visions-is-officially-renamed-blizzard-albany. 
  12. "Blizzard QA workers in Albany are organizing Activision's second union". July 19, 2022. https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/19/23270108/blizzard-qa-workers-union-activision-gwa-albany-vicarious-visions. 
  13. "Report: Job Losses At Vicarious Visions". Nintendo World Report. June 10, 2011. http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressions/26739. 
  14. McWhertor, Michael (December 8, 2016). "Destiny Development Team Expands With Vicarious Visions". Polygon. http://www.polygon.com/2016/12/8/13888632/destiny-development-team-vicarious-visions. 
  15. "Vicarious Visions Acquires Intrinsic Graphics Technology" (in en). https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/1782/Vicarious_Visions_Acquires_Intrinsic_Graphics_Technology.php. 
  16. East, Thomas (July 2, 2013). "Skylanders Swap Force Wii will be very close to the HD versions". Official Nintendo Magazine. http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/51729/skylanders-swap-force-wii-will-be-very-close-to-the-hd-versions/. 
  17. Machkovech, Sam (2021-02-19). "Diablo II Resurrected tops BlizzCon announcement flurry" (in en-us). Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/02/diablo-ii-resurrected-tops-blizzcon-announcement-flurry/. Retrieved 2021-02-20. 
  18. jkdmedia (2012-05-04). "Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder 2 Talent Announcement" (in en-US). https://www.gamezone.com/news/shaun_palmer_s_pro_snowboarder_2_talent_announcement/. 
  19. "Static Shock – In Development". Vicarious Visions. http://www.vvisions.com/games/details.cfm?ID=56. Retrieved March 1, 2023. 
  20. Reilly, Luke (June 20, 2022). "Tony Hawk Confirms Plans for Pro Skater 3 + 4 Remake Were Abandoned After Blizzard Merger". https://www.ign.com/articles/tony-hawk-confirms-plans-for-pro-skater-3-4-remake-were-abandoned-after-blizzard-merger. 

External links