Neversoft: The Iconic Eyeball Of Tony Hawk Games and Guitar Hero’s Studio Burned To Mark Official Farewell

Neversoft, the studio widely known for its Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero games, officially has met its end in a burning of an effigy of the studio’s eyeball logo almost 20 years to the date of the studio’s birth.

According to Gamespot, Neversoft officially merged with Infinity Ward, the developer of Call of Duty. The merger was announced last May by Activision after Infinity Ward had successfully teamed up with Neversoft to create Call of Duty: Ghosts. Neversoft’s responsibility in creating Call of Duty: Ghosts was to develop the Extinction mode.

Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg said at that time through a memo, “As you know, Neversoft and Infinity Ward teamed up for the development of ‘Call of Duty: Ghosts.’ And through that process, it became clear that the two studios have very complementary skill sets. Between these two excellent studios, it seemed like a single ‘super-studio’ could emerge.”

Employees of Neversoft decided to mark the occasion with an unforgettable and less than subtle farewell by firing flaming arrows into the studio’s iconic eye logo, according to Polygon. The burning eyeball was not the only thing employees would be able to remember to mark the occasion. Neversoft co-founder Joel Jewett gave every employee a knife engraved with the Neversoft logo, allowing them a tangible reminder of the company’s glory days in gaming development.

Neversoft was originally founded in July 1994 by employees of Malibu Interactive, namely Joel Jewett, Mick West, and Chris Ward. Over the years the company grew. However, in 1998 the company faced financial difficulties. Activision came to the rescue with a project that needed redevelopment. Eventually, Neversoft would land and develop nine Tony Hawk games as well as other popular games, such as Guitar Hero.

After the merger with Infinity Ward, Neversoft’s co-founder Jewett and Neversoft director Scott Pease are retiring and the Neversoft name will retire as well. The merger between Neversoft and Infinity Ward will simply be known as Infinity Ward, and the Infinity Ward’s logo will remain.

The “super-studio” will likely begin work on another project as soon as possible. It is expected that the merger between Neversoft and Infinity Ward will result in a new game to be released in 2016.

[Images via Gamespot]