Vicarious Visions becomes Blizzard Albany following merger completion

Vicarious Visions has officially completed its merger with Blizzard Entertainment, ceasing to operate under its previous moniker and taking a new approach under the Blizzard Albany studio name. 

This merger has been in the works since January 2021, when Blizzard announced it would be absorbing the legacy development studio, placing its team of nearly 200 employees as a long-term support studio “fully dedicated to existing Blizzard games and initiatives.”

Vicarious Visions is best known for its work on various iterations of Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, and Crash Bandicoot games. The studio was originally acquired by Activision in 2005 and had already been working with Blizzard on various projects prior to this move. 

The studio’s final projects as a lead developer were the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 remakes. But the team was working with Blizzard on Diablo II: Resurrected, which will officially be the final game featuring the name Vicarious Visions.

Following the launch of Diablo II: Resurrected, reports that the studio would lose its name when the merger was completed surfaced.

Now it’s official that Vicarious Visions is operating under the name Blizzard Albany, which lines up with several of Blizzard’s other offices. It will primarily focus on providing “long-term support” for Blizzard franchises across the company.