Vicarious Visions Will Lose Its Name In Merger With Blizzard - Report

Vicarious Visions, the 30-year-old Activision-owned studio behind Tony Hawk, Guitar Hero, and Spyro games, will lose its name as part of its merger with Blizzard. This is according to sources speaking to Polygon, who told the site that management informed the team during a town hall meeting on Wednesday.

The studio's new name has not been announced, though developers told the site that it might become Blizzard Albany, to reflect the company's location in Albany, New York. This would be in keeping with the style of other teams, such as Blizzard Austin in Texas.

No layoffs are planned, developers told Polygon. In fact, Activision Blizzard management plans to grow its development teams globally in a major way in the future.

Activision Blizzard did not respond to Polygon's request for comment. GameSpot has contacted the publisher as well.

Vicarious Visions merged with Blizzard in January this year, with the team's 200 employees becoming "fully dedicated to existing Blizzard games and initiatives." Vicarious Visions developed Diablo II Resurrected most recently.

In other news, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick recently announced he was cutting his pay to the lowest salary possible and dropping all of his bonuses amid the ongoing lawsuits and investigations into the company related to sexual harassment and discrimination.