Well, you were wrong. As were we all, apparently. As per comments from the birdman, Tony Hawk, himself, plans for a follow-up game were scrapped when development studio Vicarious Visions was merged with Activision Blizzard. Apparently, the publisher continued taking pitches from external developers once Vicarious Visions was folded into the mega-developer, but the company wasn’t happy with any of the ideas that were being floated. Vicarious Visions would instead be put to work on Diablo 2: Resurrected, and the THPS Remake project would halt. “I wish I could say that we had something in the works, but Vicarious Visions kind of got disbanded…” Hawk said in an interview with andyTHPS (thanks, Okami Games). “[Making 3+4 after 1+2], that was the plan. Even up until the release date of [1 + 2], we were going 3 + 4. And then Vicarious got absorbed and they were looking for other developers and then… it was over.” So is a follow-up to the nostalgia-baiting remaster likely? Hawk remains dubious. “The truth of it is, they were trying to find someone to do 3 + 4, but they just didn’t really trust anyone the way they did Vicarious,” he continued when a viewer asked a follow-up question. “So they took pitches from other studios, like ‘what would you do with a THPS title?’ and they didn’t like what they heard, and then that was it.” Whether that project will ever release remains to be seen; it would make sense for Microsoft to resurrect the project once it formally takes over Activision Blizzard – the THPS games would be a pretty significant get for the company, and would provide some sorely needed exclusive fodder going forwards. Whether or not we’ll see Phil Spencer bust a kickflip on-stage at The Game Awards to announce that at some point in the future, though, remains uncertain.
