In April 2021, the news that California-based studio Toys for Bob was being put on Call of Duty Warzone duty by Activision certainly displeased many fans of their Crash Bandicoot and Spyro games. Luckily, the studio eventually extricated itself from that uncomfortable position by regaining its independence and sealing a deal with Microsoft to work on one of their IPs next.
That project was revealed at the Xbox Games Showcase 2026 to be Spyro: A Realm Beyond, the first brand-new entry in the series since 2008's The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon. Following the announcement, Studio Head Paul Yan could finally open up with GamesIndustry.biz about that period of working on Call of Duty.
At the company level, we had a mandate to support some of the bigger blockbuster IPs. So we shifted focus to support titles like Warzone, Overwatch 2, and Modern Warfare, just to name a few. And we're very proud of the work that we did, we learned a lot during that time. But we were moving away from the types of games that are near and dear to our hearts.
What we're attracted to as a team is working on games that are joyful experiences, that are optimistic, that are centred around colourful characters in handcrafted whimsical worlds, that are made for all ages. That's what we wanted to get back to. Probably the biggest lesson is we want to get back to this game [Spyro].
Yan explained that Activision and Microsoft were supportive of their wish to go back to being independent:
We figured that this was the right time to make a pretty big bold shift. So we actually proposed a pretty radical plan to leadership of both Activision and Xbox, and that was we would love to buy back independence and take back creative control, organisational control, financial control of our team, and spin off as a completely separate company so that we can focus on the types of games that are near and dear to our hearts, and also to preserve the team and all the tenure that's been built up over the years. So it was like, this is our plan to move to independence, and we'll make this game for you. And they were very supportive of that.
Spyro: A Realm Beyond will finally introduce the ability to properly fly for the titular dragon. The game is targeting a debut on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X, and Nintendo Switch 2 in Spring 2027.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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