Last week, something very sad took place over at Activision. Neversoft, the studio that created the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, officially ceased to exist.
The remaining staff - whose last project had been helping out on Call of Duty: Ghosts - were officially merged with Call of Duty developers Infinity Ward, bringing to an end almost twenty years of Neversoft history.
While they recorded their biggest sales while working on the Guitar Hero series, its their creation and work on the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series that people will remember them most fondly for.
PERSONAL ANECDOTE: Tony Hawk's 2 was one of the first games I played that I thought was genuinely "cool". The skate brand licensing and use of real skaters helped, but it was mostly down to the soundtrack, which to this day remains one of the strongest, most appropriate collections of real music ever seen in a video game.
To mark the occassion, remaining Neversoft devs built a replica of the studio's eyeball logo and set it on fire. Then they all got knives. Fitting.
If you're starting to tear up, don't be too sad; at least this is a "studio gone" story that doesn't also end with "loads of people now out of work".
[via CVG]