Neversoft closes studio by setting fire to its eyeball

Neversoft, the studio best known for its work on the Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero series, closed its studio today as part of a merger with Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward. To commemorate the closure, the studio fired flaming arrows into its skewered eye logo.

Publisher Activision announced in May it was set to retire Neversoft by merging its staff with Infinity Ward. The publisher's CEO Eric Hirshberg said at the time in a company memo that the merger could lead to a "super-studio" within Activision.

"As you know, Neversoft and Infinity Ward teamed up for the development of Call of Duty: Ghosts," he said. "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."

Neversoft co-founder Joel Jewett also gave employees a Neversoft-branded knife as a farewell gift.

Polygon recently interviewed Jewett as part of a bigger story, which will be published next week.