Bizarre Creations studio closed

[Greg2600]

http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/10563/activision-in-recommendation-to-close-bizarre-creations-team

For fans of Project Gotham Racing....


Publisher Activision has sadly announced that there haven't been "any interested parties" in acquiring the Liverpool-based Bizarre Creations team.

Now "as a last resort" Activision has put forward "a recommendation to the team for closure." They're adamant they "explored a lot of leads" to save them.

Activision Worldwide Studios' COO Coddy Johnson has said how they "explored a lot of leads – pretty much anyone you can imagine in the industry”. It was in fact believed that Microsoft Game Studios might buy them to help revive Project Gotham Racing.

"But unfortunately, so far we’ve not been able to find any interested parties. So we’ve made as a last resort, a recommendation to the team for closure,” continued Johnson. It was the failure of new racer IP Blur developed by Bizarre that sealed their fate.

This is terrible news for UK studio that is best known for the Project Gotham Racing franchise. Blur mixed modern day racing with 'Mario Kart-like' power-ups. If nothing saves them then James Bond: Blood Stone for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC was their last.

[The 1 2 P]

It sucks that people have to lose their jobs but I wasn't that big of a fan of Bizarre. Blur came out around the sametime as Split Second and based on the demos for each I thought Split Second was the better game and eventually bought it. And even though I played Project Gotham Racing 2 I'm not a fan of that series either. I've been meaning to check out Blood Stone but just haven't gotten around to it yet. Anyway I hope they all find new jobs, if not as a new studio then atleast independently.

[Leo_A]

I really thought Microsoft was going to acquire them. :(

Sad day, I've loved many of their projects. I didn't think breeding Mario Kart and Project Gotham Racing was going to work out.

All of these are great games that I'm glad I've played through.

Formula 1
Formula 1 97'
Fur Fighters
Metropolis Street Racer
Project Gotham Racing
Project Gotham Racing 2/Geometry Wars
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
Project Gotham Racing 3
Boom Boom Rocket
Project Gotham Racing 4
Geometry Wars Galaxies
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2

Guess I'll pick up The Club, Blur, and this James Bond game someday just to see how their final few projects turned out.

[Superman]

I love the Project Gotham Racing series. That is one of the games that made me want an Xbox over the PS2.

I've heard good things about Geometry Wars and it looks like a fun game as well.

Maybe there will be a last minute change of plans.

[InsaneDavid]

Formula 1

Yes, mad props to them and a tear shed for Formula 1. I don't think there's a racing game I've logged more time with, including all the Gran Turismo games combined.

I think this goes to show that a big part of development these days is finding ways to make quality product on tighter budgets. Need to go back to the question if a game is fun then what else do you really need to do.

[Graham Mitchell]

Well that kinda sucks. I like geometry wars. I wanted to pick up blur, but I was waiting for a price drop. Too bad.

[Oobgarm]

Blur was actually a very fun game.

Though I personally feel that the Geometry Wars series was what defined them. Such excellent games.

[Damaramu]

^ I agree. Between Blur and Split/Second, I had way more fun with Blur - particularly the online multiplayer. I did end up buying Split/Second however. It had briefly dropped down to $9.99 so I snatched it up. I could never find a copy of Blur within my preferred price range. I almost never buy games at full price these days.

Additionally, my friends and I have a lot of fun playing The Club 4 player split-screen locally.

[Sinizar]

I love playing Blur on the PC with my friends and family. It is the best and really only good Mario Kart style game on the PC. Single player is boring but get a few of your buds together and it is a blast.

[Nebagram]

Blur was probably the only BC game I've played that I didn't like. I logged so much time on MSR it was obscene- I think I managed to crack the worldwide top 100 once. This news suck donkey balls.

[retroman]

Sad to see them go..I can still remember playing msr on dreamcast and was blown away by the graphics and gameplay....only one thing left to say....KUDOS

[Jisho23]

I think thats what makes this sad: Bizarre Creations was a decent/good studio with a good track record. It released 1 game that was certainly not bad but it didn't make back the money necessary to cover for Activision's massive multi-million dollar ad campaign.

The solution? Close the studio.