One of gaming’s greatest and most recognizable mascot characters is also one that’s been woefully underused as of recently. The iconic Spyro the Dragon franchise was a landmark title for the original PlayStation generation, and stood alongside Crash Bandicoot as Sony’s alternative leading platformer characters to oppose the likes of Sonic and Mario. Years have passed and these franchises have changed hands since then, but the LinkedIn profile of a former Toys for Bob concept artist just revealed a Spyro project he worked on between 2022 and 2024.
The accidental reveal comes as Toys for Bob senior concept artist Donald Yatomi updated his LinkedIn profile to reflect his experience working under Activision Blizzard. He listed both Call of Duty and Spyro as projects he worked on between August 2022 and May 2024 – and the last Spyro release was in 2018 with the Spyro Reignited Trilogy. Therefore, it stands to reason that only an unannounced Spyro project could have been the reason for his concept art skills to be used on the franchise. This profile update has added even more fuel to the fire that already existed around the long-awaited “Spyro 4”.
There are a million reasons that for the last few years fans have been anticipating Spyro news sometime in the future, which is what makes the idea of a concept artist working on the series recently so tantalising to those fans now. It’s validating. Back in February 2024, Spyro remake developer Toys for Bob told fans to “keep your horns on and your eyes out for more news”, the studio head Paul Yan did an interview with YouTube creator and Spyro 4 truther Canadian Guy Eh earlier this year and all of his answers were written in purple – and that’s exactly the same colour as their announcement graphic of an unnamed Xbox game collaboration back in May 2024. Guess who owns Spyro? It’s Microsoft!
A purple thread is running through everything Toys for Bob does, and with an employee confirming their work on an untitled Spyro project, it might all finally be coming together. Please keep in mind though that it’s all still speculation until we get an official reveal. Be sure to check back often to GameObserver for more breaking gaming news, including any potential Spyro updates.
