It's weird to think that Neversoft made its name as a developer creating the Tony Hawk franchise, when the skating game was first launched in 1999, considering that they are much better known for developing the Guitar Hero games, which are among the biggest earners of Activision Blizzard. Now, the development studio is saying that it plans to focus on developing music simulation titles - this means that it will no longer continue to contribute to the Tony Hawk franchise.

Joel Jewett, who is the co-founder and president of Neversoft, told the Great Falls Tribune that “It’s probably best for the franchise... it's time for someone else to add fresh ideas to it.”

With the Electronic Arts distributed Skate providing a lot of competition, the Tony Hawk series really needs something new and interesting in order to attract attention and generate sales. Hey, every game that shipped eight installments in around ten years needs a lot of fresh ideas.

Tony Hawk is getting a new game sometime in late autumn 2009. It seems that the big idea designed to re-invigorate the skating series is the addition of a Balance Board like contraption to the package of the game allowing players to skate their way around an open world by really doing some of the skate moves (well, probably without the kick flipping and high air moves).

Such a gimmick might generate some attention for the fresh title, but it's unlikely to attract those who enjoyed the previous release. After all, the idea is to pretend to be skating by pushing buttons, not by really skating in your living room.

It seems that after Neversoft’s departure, the development process for Tony Hawk will be undertaken by Robomodo (thanks, BillC), a new studio Activision has created in Chicago. No official confirmation is available for the time being.