A single ‘super-studio’
Whether you played them or not, most gamers out there grew up with the Tony Hawk games around them. They were hugely popular during the PlayStation 1 and Nintendo 64 era, and I’ll never forget developer Neversoft’s freaky little eye monster logo.
The Tony Hawk studio has since been turned into a Call of Duty co-developer, and as Giant Bomb reports, Neversoft is being merged into Infinity Ward. Giant Bomb obtained a memo written by CEO of Activision Publishing Eric Hirshberg, where he stated that after Call of Duty: Ghosts development, “it became clear that the two studios have very complementary skill sets. Between these two excellent studios, it seemed like a single ‘super-studio’ could emerge.”
And that’s what’s happening. The new studio will keep the Infinity Ward name, while the Neversoft name is being retired. Current executive VP of worldwide studios, Dave Stohl, has been assigned to lead the new super-studio.
From the Neversoft side, studio head and co-founder Joel Jewett, and studio director Scott Pease, will be retiring from the games industry after 20 years in the business. They’ll remain with the new studio during the transition period, and are expected to leave later this year.
Infinity Ward, Neversoft Merging into Single “Super Studio” [Giant Bomb]
