Featured Article Summary #215

Toys for Bob, Inc. is an American video game company based in Novato, California, founded in 1989 by Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford. It became well known for creating Star Control and helping build the Skylanders franchise, and it also worked on Crash Bandicoot and Spyro games. The studio’s early success came from Reiche and Ford’s partnership, which led to the release of Star Control in 1990 and the highly praised Star Control II in 1992. Later, with Activision as a publisher, Toys for Bob helped create Skylanders, helped pioneer the toys-to-life idea, and saw major commercial and award success, including assisting with remasters like Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Spyro Reignited Trilogy. After Crash Bandicoot 4 in 2020, Reiche and Ford left, new leaders took over, and the company eventually separated from Activision in May 2024 after Microsoft acquired Activision’s parent and layoffs followed. Toys for Bob began in 1989 when Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford teamed up after meeting through mutual friends, bringing together their complementary skills. Their first game, Star Control (1990), was praised widely and later became a major influence on other developers; its success helped drive the creation of the bigger sequel, Star Control II, which expanded the story, characters, and production team with help from friends like Greg Johnson and Erol Otus. Although the project ran over budget and time, Ford supported the team financially, and the finished game received even more acclaim, eventually leading to Accolade producing Star Control 3 using the rights Reiche and Ford licensed. After pitching their next game to Sega, Toys for Bob ended up working with Crystal Dynamics instead when their Sega contacts left, and they gradually shifted from releasing under their legal names to using the studio name “Toys for Bob.” Their first Crystal Dynamics project was The Horde (1994), followed by Pandemonium! (1996), and as the studio grew they leaned into the mystery of the name by inventing a “Bob” to keep people confused. In 1998 Crystal Dynamics was bought by Eidos, and Toys for Bob worked on licensed games like The Unholy War and the Bandai project Majokko Daisakusen, though the latter stalled amid translation and support issues. They then released Disney’s 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue, were soon fired by Crystal Dynamics, and later incorporated as Toys for Bob in 2002 while looking for a new publisher. After Reiche and Ford re-formed Toys for Bob as an independent studio, they released the 3DO source code for Star Control II as open-source, which fans later helped adapt into the 2002 game The Ur-Quan Masters. Toys for Bob then partnered with Activision as a publisher, producing licensed games like Disney’s Extreme Skate Adventure and Madagascar, leading to Activision buying the studio in 2005 and making it a wholly owned subsidiary. However, the licensed-game market began to weaken as many low-quality adaptations hurt its reputation, and the company—now with 27 employees—needed a truly successful new game to keep growing. Activision pushed Toys for Bob to come up with a new idea, and the studio drew on their spare-time toy and electronics work to create a game built around toy–game interaction in Spyro’s world. After extra development time and an early pitch to Nintendo (which chose to focus on marketing for the Wii), Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure launched in 2011 and became a major success, followed by Skylanders: Giants. The series helped spark the toys-to-life genre and grew into a top-selling franchise, later winning awards even as sales slowed and Activision eventually ended the line. Toys for Bob then shifted to reviving major franchises, including the highly praised Spyro Reignited Trilogy and Crash Bandicoot 4, gaining a reputation for modern remakes and reboots.