Toys for Bob
 | |
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry |
Computer and video games Interactive entertainment |
| Founded | April 16, 1989 |
| Founder |
Paul Reiche III Fred Ford |
| Headquarters | Novato, California, United States |
Key people |
Paul Reiche III (CEO and creative director) Fred Ford (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 (2011–14) |
Number of employees | 120+ |
| Parent | Activision |
| Website |
www |
Toys for Bob is an 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.[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] Under Actiivision, the developer mainly focused on licensed video games howeve the market for these types of games began to dry up circa 2008 and they were forced to find a new niche. [2]
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.[3]
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.[4]
Games
| Title | Release | Platform |
|---|---|---|
| Star Control[5][6] | 1990 | DOS, Sega Genesis |
| Star Control II[5][7] | 1992 | 3DO, DOS |
| The Horde[5][8] | 1994 | 3DO, MS-DOS |
| Pandemonium![5][9] | 1996 | PC, PlayStation, Sega Saturn |
| The Unholy War[5][10] | 1998 | PlayStation |
| Majokko Daisakusen: Little Witching Mischiefs[5][11] | 1999 | PlayStation |
| 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue[5][12] | 2000 | PlayStation |
| Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure[5][13] | 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 | PC, PlayStation 3, Wii, Wii U (Japan), Xbox 360 |
| Skylanders: Giants | 2012 | 3DS, PlayStation 3, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360 |
| Skylanders: Swap Force | 2013 | 3DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One |
| Skylanders: Trap Team | 2014 | 3DS, Android, iOS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One |
Notes and references
- 1 2 "Activision purchases Toys for Bob". Locker Gnome. April 3, 2005. Retrieved December 29, 2007.
- ↑ Campbell, Colin. "Toys for Bob and the story behind Skylanders". Polygon. Retrieved March 7, 2016.
- ↑ Tanner, Nicole. "Can Toys Breathe Fire Back Into Spyro?". IGN.
- ↑ See this log of Fred Ford's mails to fans.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "The Armchair Empire - Interviews: Paul Reiche III, Toys for Bob Q and A". Retrieved June 20, 2015.
- ↑ "Toys for Bob - Star Control". Archived from the original on June 29, 2007. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
- ↑ "Toys for Bob - Star Control II". Archived from the original on July 2, 2007. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
- ↑ "Toys for Bob - The Horde". Archived from the original on June 29, 2007. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
- ↑ "Toys for Bob - Pandemonium". Archived from the original on June 29, 2007. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
- ↑ "Toys for Bob - The Unholy War". Archived from the original on June 30, 2007. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
- ↑ "Toys for Bob - Little Witching Mischiefs". Archived from the original on June 30, 2007. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
- ↑ "Toys for Bob - 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue". Archived from the original on July 2, 2007. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
- ↑ "Toys for Bob - Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure". Archived from the original on June 29, 2007. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
External links
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