Activision acquires dev partner Vicarious Visions News

Publisher Activision has announced that it has bought out yet another of its long-term development collaborators, with New York State based Vicarious Visions becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of the firm.

Vicarious Visions most recently worked with Activision on Spider-Man 2 for the Nintendo DS, which has become the most successful third-party title on the system in North America since its launch, and is currently finishing work on the Xbox port of Doom 3.

Previously the firm, which employs around 100 people and has offices in California as well as its headquarters in New York, also worked with Activision on franchises including Shrek, Tony Hawks and Shark Tale.

"Vicarious Visions' talented development team and proprietary technology combined with our internal systems and capabilities will play a key role in Activision's continued leadership on the next-generation platforms," enthused Activision president Kathy Vrabeck today. "Vicarious Visions has a track record of success and we are very excited to partner with them."

Key staff at the developer, including the management team, have signed long-term employment contracts with Activision as part of the deal, but financial details of the acquisition have not been revealed.

This isn't the first time that Activision has sealed a relationship with a regular development partner by buying them out - the company already owns Tony Hawk developer Neversoft and Call of Duty creators Infinity Ward.