"We said, 'look, there's a community, it's loud and consistent, they know what they want'"

Image credit: Toys For Bob/Activision

Spyro: A Realm Beyond developer Toys for Bob revealed that while it was a "massive, massive risk" to go independent, Spyro Reignited Trilogy's 11 million sales proved "there's an audience that woke up to show up for that series."

In an interview with GamesRadar+, Spyro: A Realm Beyond associate creative director Lou Studdert and Toys for Bob studio head Paul Yan said "Spyro has kind of a deep place in our studio's heart," adding: "We've always admired that kind of small but mighty underdog story of the character that's taking on these overwhelming odds, you know, we see ourselves in that a little bit, and honestly, it just was a no-brainer."

It was the "loud and consistent" fanbase that ultimately helped the team prove to Microsoft "there's a community" for the franchise.

"Every year, every gaming event we hear the fanbase show up, like, 'when is there going to be a new Spyro title?' even before we had even pitched this," Yan said.

"When we came up to Xbox and said, listen, here's our plan, we said, 'look, there's a community, it's loud and consistent, they know what they want, you're here to make this game, what else do you need, let's get this thing going."

Toys for Bob recently sat down with GamesIndustry.biz to discuss how the new Spyro serves as a template for the kind of colorful games the studio wants to make in the future.

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