Bizarre for sale / closing down

Shakermaker

Shakermaker

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Activision is pulling the plug on Bizarre Creations, the studio that brought you Project Gotham Racing, Geometry Wars, Blur and most recently James Bond Bloodstone.

Over the past three years since our purchase of Bizarre Creations, the fundamentals of the racing genre have changed significantly. Although we made a substantial investment in creating a new IP, Blur, it did not find a commercial audience. Bizarre is a very talented team of developers, however, because of the broader economic factors impacting the market, we are exploring our options regarding the future of the studio, including a potential sale of the business.
Click to expand...

Bizarre has 200 employees and is located in Liverpool, UK. More info here or here or here.
 
A kind of Bullfrog of the decade if you will. A decent UK studio pipelined into making not especially spectacular games before fizzling out unnecessarily. Though I say that more of the Bond title than Blur, which honestly looked quite interesting.

Geometry Wars obviously being legendary.
 
Hated Blur, paled in comparison to Split/Second. Enjoyed the new Bond game but would have been better with another 3 month in development. It's just another developer that Activision has took a massive dump upon.
 
Honestly just don't like their games. Out of all their games, I only like Geometry Wars. That was great. The problem, for me, is that they make arcadey, 'third place' racing games that get ignored. Maybe they could have approached Psygnosis about bringing back Destruction Derby. That would be hot.
 
I wonder why companies like these sell their souls to giants like Activision in the first place? Its pretty much a given that they will expect you to make blockbuster 99090090 million copies sold games, and if your company cant live up to that they will either shut you down or sell you AND keep all your titles so you wont see any profit from them anymore.

Why not just continue developing on your own and keep all profits, not having to risk being shut down or sold and have your titles stolen from you.

"hey bro cool game studio you got, il give you shitton of money if we get complete control of it"
"oh cool, i like money"
*few years later*
"sup bro, i dont like you anymore so ima sell you or shut you down lol kthxbai"
"oh"
 
GG Activision.

I agree with Ravioli. Sure the extra funding might enable them to make better games, but I'm sure a lot of companies wouldn't need it. Certainly Bizarre, they made PGR, Geometry Wars, MSR Racing and quite a few other good games before they were bought out.

It's a shame. I applied to work with them, now I know why I got no reply.
 
As if unemployment isn't already high enough in Merseyside!?
 
I read the thread title as Blizzard and not Bizarre. My jaw temporarily hit the floor.
 
Geometry Wars was the only good thing from that list, and they never released the sequel on PCs where it would have been loved. That game was addictive.
 
It's a shame really. I loved the PGR series and Geometry Wars, need I say more? Yet to try the new Bond game so can't comment on that.

If it was anyone else other than Activision pulling the plug, I'd probably be quite surprised.
 
Never really heard of any of their games, but it's still kind of sad they're closing.
 
It is final: Bizarre Creations is no more. Two hundred people will lose their job.
 
Ravioli said:
I wonder why companies like these sell their souls to giants like Activision in the first place? Its pretty much a given that they will expect you to make blockbuster 99090090 million copies sold games, and if your company cant live up to that they will either shut you down or sell you AND keep all your titles so you wont see any profit from them anymore.

Why not just continue developing on your own and keep all profits, not having to risk being shut down or sold and have your titles stolen from you.

"hey bro cool game studio you got, il give you shitton of money if we get complete control of it"
"oh cool, i like money"
*few years later*
"sup bro, i dont like you anymore so ima sell you or shut you down lol kthxbai"
"oh"
Click to expand...
I guess the CEO got uncertain about the success of whatever game they were developing at the time and figured "Hey, if this next game fails at least we'll still be in the clear thanks to EA's generous support!"

But alas.
 
Geometry Wars is addictive, simple arcade fun, and tbh I loved Blur, thought it was an excellent racing game and the weapon/powerup mechanics are more fun than in other games that do that like NFS.

RIP Bizarre!
 
Well that sucks. I really liked Blur, its a wonderful game to play with friends, even if it does lead to massive over use of the C word.

So long Bizarre, I'll miss you.
 
Ravioli said:
I wonder why companies like these sell their souls to giants like Activision in the first place? Its pretty much a given that they will expect you to make blockbuster 99090090 million copies sold games, and if your company cant live up to that they will either shut you down or sell you AND keep all your titles so you wont see any profit from them anymore.

Why not just continue developing on your own and keep all profits, not having to risk being shut down or sold and have your titles stolen from you.
Click to expand...

A lot of times its just because they're on the brink of collapsing. If their games don't do so hot, they won't be able to keep afloat so they look for a publisher. Really its just deciding between a quick death or a long drawn out one.
 
Woah, I had completely missed that Bizarre had closed down, I didn't really care much for BLUR after having tried it, and the only other game I own from them is PGR3 which I never 'beat.'

Almost thought this was a new thread for a sec, can't believe I missed something like this.

Thanks for bumping it Shaker!
 
No problem. Do watch the vid I linked btw. Good on EG that they are making items like these, and not just your regular previews of games or studio visits.
 
Man, I read 'Blizzard' and was happy, and then realized it was Bizarre and was cemented back into reality.
 
stemot said:
Hated Blur, paled in comparison to Split/Second. Enjoyed the new Bond game but would have been better with another 3 month in development. It's just another developer that Activision has took a massive dump upon.
Click to expand...

Why three months? Why not two? Why not four?
 
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