Yeah, I think Activision will solely be a CoD company moving forward, no room for original IP, the whole of Activision will be a CoD machine. Looks like TfB wanted out of that machine and wanted their independence, Xbox gave it to them, while likely still publishing their next title, also maintaining ownership of Crash/Spyro and cutting some costs a little more.

Seems like a win/win for everyone involved but more of a win for TfB...Better than the studio being thrown to the CoD mines or being shutdown, if they want their independence then it's better than Microsoft forcing them to stay. Having said that, I'm really really curious now if they publish via XGSP or Activision...

Just saying though, other XGS have spoken in the past about how their acquisition deal with Microsoft allows them to easily spin back out from Microsoft in the future, so I think it could be something we see again in the future, although Microsoft has already done it quite a bit (Bungie, Toys for Bob, Twisted Pixel).

And by accurate insiders, apparently there's already a Spyro and Banjo in development so meh.

Beenox was working on non-CoD games as well, but who knows now.

Since 2015, Beenox has mainly been working on CoD. 

The only exceptions were Crash Team Racing Nitro-Refueled in 2019 (which they led development on) and assisted development on THPS 1+2 and Crash Bandicoot 4. 

Everything else has been CoD. 12 CoD credits since 2015! 

Beenox ain't worked on a non-COD project since 2020 as "additional work" and since 2019 as "lead developer" so I think they're already fully in the COD mines. I think they must have looked at COD post-acquisition and decided that they need all hands on deck, between the contractually obliged Switch ports and CODs recent struggle to be a yearly release, I think unfortunately the money makes sense to streamline Activision solely into a COD entity with no other "distractions" course they could have just shoved Toys for Bob into XGS but maybe Toys for Bob didn't want that? In the end, they may end up being published by XGSP anyway, Lol.

Toys for Bob is also based in California so letting them go independent will be another cost cutting for Microsoft, Lol, don't have to pay the salaries of a few dozen Californian employees.

I wonder if they'll do a first rights of refusal contract with them or if it's a basic publishing contract.

The industry needs to allow spinoffs more often...Microsoft hasn't shutdown a studio since 2016 and I hope it remains that way, it is a so much easier to just shutdown a studio so it deserves a little credit when a publisher opts to spin one off.

I'm begging you, just make Killer Instinct 2.

Make it fully multiplatform for all I care but please just make a sequel, Lmao.

There can't really be that many people playing an 11 year old game which didn't receive updates for years.

I guess I'm gonna ask some dumb questions.

When Xbox purchased Activision, did the purchase not include Toys for Bob?
If it did, did Toys for Bob purchase itself back?
If Toys for Bob purchased itself back, how much did that cost?