Behind the scenes at Activision, a historian reveals that a much-loved license from the publisher was sacrificed to support its flagship juggernaut that is Call of Duty.
After the resounding success of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 remake, Vicarious Visions had plans to offer the same treatment for the third and fourth installments. But this was not to the liking of Activision, which felt it needed additional hands to support the Call of Duty war effort.
There is only one for Call of Duty at Activision
We owe this discovery behind the scenes of Activision to Liam Robertson, a YouTuber specializing in the history of video games. He was able to discuss with Vicarious Visions developers. It is to this studio that we owe the very good remake Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2. Galvanized by its success, the studio planned to then offer Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4. But this was clearly not in Activision’s plans. The American giant has in fact preferred to make Vicarious Visions a support studio for its goose that lays the golden eggs that is Call of Duty.
It was in fact when the studio merged with Activision in 2022 that its projects around the Tony Hawk games were forcibly abandoned. “ Until the remakes of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 came out, we had planned to do 3 and 4 next. We were working on it. But then Vicarious got absorbed. They looked for other developers to do the remakes for them, and then it was over “, explained Tony Hawk himself in 2022.
However, it seems that Activision was looking for other solutions to develop these two new remakes. But he obviously didn’t trust other studios like Vicarious Visions. Except that the latter then turned willy-nilly, at the request of Activision, to Call of Duty. A shortfall for skate game fans, in short. Tony Hawk, however, wanted to remain confident at the time. “ Who knows ? Maybe things will work out eventually. I never thought we would remake the first game 20 years after its release. Everything is possible “. Since Activision Blizzard is now part of Microsoft, perhaps there is hope again for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4?