Toys for Bob

Toys for Bob
Subsidiary
Industry Computer and video games
Interactive entertainment
Founded April 16, 1989 (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–present)
Number of employees
 120+
Parent Activision
Website www.toysforbob.com

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 Activision, the developer mainly focused on licensed video games; however, 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: Trap Team 2014 3DS, Android, iOS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Skylanders: Imaginators 2016 PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 "Activision purchases Toys for Bob". Locker Gnome. April 3, 2005. Retrieved December 29, 2007.
  2. ↑ Campbell, Colin. "Toys for Bob and the story behind Skylanders". Polygon. Retrieved March 7, 2016.
  3. ↑ Tanner, Nicole. "Can Toys Breathe Fire Back Into Spyro?". IGN.
  4. ↑ See this log of Fred Ford's mails to fans.
  5. 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.
  6. ↑ "Toys for Bob - Star Control". Archived from the original on June 29, 2007. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Toys for Bob - Star Control II". Archived from the original on July 2, 2007. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Toys for Bob - The Horde". Archived from the original on June 29, 2007. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Toys for Bob - Pandemonium". Archived from the original on June 29, 2007. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Toys for Bob - The Unholy War". Archived from the original on June 30, 2007. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Toys for Bob - Little Witching Mischiefs". Archived from the original on June 30, 2007. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Toys for Bob - 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue". Archived from the original on July 2, 2007. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Toys for Bob - Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure". Archived from the original on June 29, 2007. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
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