| Blizzard Albany | |
| Former Name: | Vicarious Visions, Inc. (1991–2022) |
| Type: | Subsidiary |
| Industry: | Video games |
| Hq Location City: | Albany, New York |
| Hq Location Country: | US |
| Num Employees: | 200+ |
| Num Employees Year: | 2021 |
| Website: | (now redirects to) |
Blizzard Albany (formerly Vicarious Visions, Inc.) is an American video game developer and a studio of Blizzard Entertainment based in Albany, New York. The studio was acquired by Activision in January 2005. After releasing its last game as part of that company, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, Vicarious Visions became part of Activision's sister company Blizzard Entertainment in January 2021 and was merged into it in April 2022, thereby being renamed Blizzard Albany.
The studio was founded by brothers Karthik and Guha Bala in 1991 while they were in high school.[1] In the late 1990s, Vicarious Visions appointed Michael Marvin, an Albany-based investor and entrepreneur, and founder and former CEO of MapInfo Corporation; and Charles S. Jones, investor, who sat on the boards of various software and industrial companies including Geac and PSDI, to its board of directors. Under their leadership, a sale of the company was negotiated to Activision, earning the original investors over 20x their initial investment. In January 2005, Vicarious Visions was acquired by publisher Activision. In June 2007, Activision closed the Vicarious Visions' office in Mountain View, California.[2] On April 5, 2016, the Bala brothers announced that they had left the company.[3] The brothers then founded Velan Studios in November 2016.[4]
On January 22, 2021, Vicarious Visions was moved by Activision Blizzard from a subsidiary of Activision to a subsidiary of Blizzard Entertainment. Going forward, more than 200 employees of Vicarious Visions will be employees of Blizzard.[5] Vicarious had been working with Blizzard for about two years prior to this announcement, and specifically on the planned remaster of Diablo II, , and Blizzard felt the move would be best as to have Vicarious' group provide continued support not only on the remaster but also on other Diablo properties including Diablo IV.[6] [7] Vicarious Visions studio head Jen Oneal moved to Blizzard's management and was succeeded by Simon Ebejer, previously the studio's chief operating officer.[8] On October 27, 2021, Blizzard informed Vicarious Visions employees that the studio would change its name.[9] The studio was fully merged into Blizzard on April 12, 2022, and was renamed Blizzard Albany, otherwise retaining its offices.[10] [11]
Blizzard Albany's Quality Assurance team, about 20 members in size, announced a unionization drive in July 2022 as Game Workers Alliance Albany. It follows Raven Software, another Activision Blizzard subsidiary, whose QA team voted to unionize earlier in the year.[12]
Terminus, an online multiplayer space trading and combat simulation game, won two Independent Games Festival Awards in 1999. They became known as a leading developer of handheld games breaking ground by the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, developing Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS titles in the franchise's main series as well as one spin off. They developed the first three Crash Bandicoot GBA games. Vicarious Visions developed Spider-Man, , Ultimate Spider-Man, Crash Nitro Kart, , , and Doom 3 for the Xbox. Vicarious Visions developed for the Guitar Hero series on the Nintendo DS and Wii platforms. For Guitar Hero: On Tour, Vicarious Visions created the "Guitar Grip" peripheral for the Nintendo DS, which emulates the guitar controller for the portable system.
It was revealed on June 10, 2011, that Vicarious Visions was working on the 3DS version of , and would go on to have an important role in developing the Skylanders game series, creating the games and .[13] On December 8, 2016, Vicarious Visions announced that they were partnering with Bungie to work on the Destiny franchise.[14]
Vicarious Visions Alchemy is the company's game engine. It was released in 2002. It was originally called Intrinsic Alchemy and developed by Intrinsic Graphics before being renamed after Vicarious Visions acquired Intrinsic Graphics in 2003.[15]
| Year | Game | Platform(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Synnergist | Microsoft DOS (PC CD-ROM) | |
| 1997 | Dark Angael | Microsoft Windows | |
| 1999 | Zebco Fishing! | Game Boy Color | |
| Vigilante 8 | |||
| 2000 | Polaris SnoCross | Game Boy Color, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Microsoft Windows | |
| Terminus | Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux | ||
| Spider-Man | Game Boy Color | ||
| Pro Darts | |||
| Jimmy White's Cue Ball | |||
| 2001 | Wanadoo SnowCross | Game Boy Color, Microsoft Windows | |
| Game Boy Color | |||
| Blue's Clues: Blue's Alphabet Book | |||
| Zoboomafoo: Playtime in Zobooland | |||
| Monsters, Inc. | |||
| Kelly Club: Clubhouse Fun | |||
| Sea-Doo Hydrocross | PlayStation | ||
| Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 | Game Boy Advance | ||
| Power Rangers: Time Force | |||
| 2002 | |||
| Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 | |||
| The Powerpuff Girls: Him and Seek | |||
| Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 | Game Boy Advance, PlayStation | ||
| GameCube, Xbox | |||
| Whiteout | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox | ||
| 2003 | The Muppets: On With The Show! | Game Boy Advance, Microsoft Windows | |
| Game Boy Advance | |||
| Finding Nemo | |||
| Jet Set Radio | |||
| Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure | |||
| Disney's The Lion King 1½ | |||
| Tony Hawk's Underground | |||
| Disney's Brother Bear | |||
| Crash Nitro Kart | Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, N-Gage | ||
| Game Boy Advance, Microsoft Windows | |||
| Xbox | |||
| 2004 | Rivet | Mobile phone | |
| Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock | |||
| Shrek 2 | Game Boy Advance | ||
| Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage and Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy | |||
| Shark Tale | |||
| Tony Hawk's Underground 2 | |||
| That's So Raven | |||
| Shrek 2: Beg For Mercy! | |||
| Spider-Man 2 | Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable | ||
| 2005 | Doom 3 | Xbox | |
| Game Boy Advance | |||
| Batman Begins | |||
| PlayStation Portable | |||
| Madagascar | Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS | ||
| Ultimate Spider-Man | |||
| Tony Hawk's American Sk8land | |||
| 2006 | Over the Hedge | ||
| Game Boy Advance | |||
| Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam | Nintendo DS | ||
| PlayStation Portable, Wii | |||
| 2007 | Spider-Man 3 | Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Wii | |
| Shrek the Third | Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS | ||
| Wii | |||
| Nintendo DS | |||
| Tony Hawk's Proving Ground | |||
| Bee Movie Game | |||
| 2008 | Kung Fu Panda | ||
| Guitar Hero: On Tour | |||
| Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades | |||
| Wii | |||
| Guitar Hero World Tour | |||
| 2009 | Guitar Hero 5 | ||
| PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | |||
| Band Hero | Nintendo DS, Wii | ||
| Mixed Messages | DSiWare | ||
| Nintendo DS | |||
| Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Autobots | |||
| Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits | |||
| 2010 | Transformers War for Cybertron: Decepticons | ||
| Transformers War for Cybertron: Autobots | |||
| Guitar Hero | iOS | ||
| Wii | |||
| 2011 | Nintendo 3DS | ||
| 2012 | Skylanders: Cloud Patrol | iOS, Android, Kindle Fire | |
| Skylanders: Lost Islands | iOS, Android | ||
| Skylanders: Battlegrounds | |||
| Wii U | |||
| 2013 | PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U,[16] Xbox 360, Xbox One | ||
| 2014 | iOS, Android, Kindle Fire | ||
| 2015 | PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, iOS | ||
| 2016 | Skylanders: Imaginators (Crash Edition) | PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch | |
| 2016 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC | ||
| 2017 | Destiny 2 | Microsoft Windows | |
| Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC | ||
| 2020 | Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch | |
| 2020 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S | Assisted Raven Software | |
| 2021 | Assisted Raven Software | ||
| 2021 | PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC[17] [18] | Co-developed with Blizzard Team 3 | |
| 2023 | Diablo IV | ||
| 2024 |
| Year | Game | Platform(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | AMF Xtreme Bowling | Game Boy Color | |
| VR Sports Powerboat Racing | |||
| Carnivale | |||
| 2001 | Sea-Doo Hydrocross | Game Boy Color, Dreamcast, Nintendo 64 | |
| 2003 | Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder 2[19] | Game Boy Advance | |
| Static Shock[20] | |||
| 2008 | Call of Duty: Roman Wars [21] | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | |
| 2021 | Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4[22] | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch |