A shocking rumour started not long ago that developers of PGR and Geometry Wars, Bizarre Creations, was to be shut down. Activision has released a statement reading as follows:
“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.”
Whatever happens, we wish the team well. We will keep you updated with any further news.
cc_star
Blur by all accounts was a pretty damn good game, Activision advertised the hell out of it, but it didn’t seem to make the breakthrough the backing probably deserved for some reason. Odd
Releasing Blood Stone the same week as CoD is a mistake, but if you can’t make an expensively licensed title like Bond work, you’re doing something wrong, I’m not going to pre-empt my review which will be ready tomorrow, but I will say this – it’s like the Treyarch developed solid & rather good Quantum Of Solace never happened.
If it does close, it reminds me of EA and Pandemic Studios, after the lacklustre Mercs 2 & the OK The Saboteur (released same week as AC2)
cc_star
The latest is, that over the next 90 days Activision will decide if they want to restructure Bizarre or sell it off
Jumping Monks
Shame really, I’d probably have bought Blur if Split/Second hadn’t come out around the same time.
Lambo_1989
Bizarre don’t deserve this, especially from activision.
SpikeyMikey23
Its a shame a game like bloodstone wasnt released in the summer when people had spare cash to buy games. im going to buy it but as usual im skint due to the AAA titles being released and it has to be bought at a knockdown price. never played PGR, i enjoyed blur, but not enough to buy it. even at the cheap price it is now. £13 at zavvi btw
beeje13
how about a geometry wars psn port?
kivi95
sorry don’t buy Activision games and will never.
cc_star
Fancy missing out on some quality games then…
KeRaSh
In the end it’s only the developers that bite the apple if you boycott the publisher. If their games don’t sell well they just blame the devs and move on.
I’d rather support good dev teams by buying great games instead of punishing them for working with a publisher that only cares about money.
cc_star
Exactly, this is why I’m so into NfSHP… I love Criterion’s output and even though I’ve never liked a single NfS, I know I’ll really enjoy it (its practically Burnout Paradise 2 anyway)
KeRaSh
I played the demo and it just felt like Criterion. I love their style. They are the reason why I am willing to touch a NFS game again.
gazzagb
Real shame. I heard they have over 200 staff. Best to all of them.
cc_star
“It’s possible that parent Activision could sell off Bizarre as a whole, shut it down, reduce the headcount or sell off its assets, among numerous other possibilities. Activision has yet to make public any firm decision.”
Source.
gazzagb
Yeah, but the chances don’t look good for them. If a huge publishing company like Activision doesn’t want them, or can’t see them to be profitable, then who will buy them? And reducing the number of staff could just lead to them releasing games of lower quality.
tyrant161
in my opinion, split second killed the sales of blur because they were released too close together….if the studio goes up for sale, maybe microsoft will take a punt at them…..they worked well together with the pgr games and bizarre would be a good first party developer for them.
cc_star
Disney & Black Rock will be thinking that Blur killed Split/Second sales.
Truth be told, neither connected too well with the public at large and given Activision’s massive backing for Blur they’re weighing up their options for the studio.
Tuffcub
Did Split/Second sell well? I thought it tanked with Blur beside it.
Hoopiness
I’ve no idea about the sales figures, but I didn’t enjoy Blur at all. Split/Second was a superb game though, really enjoyed that. Definitely worth a cheap pickup if anyone’s not played it.
philzy85
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/11/16/activision-reportedly-closing-bizarre-creations/
They claiming its already being closed down…… :/
cc_star
Jumping the gun & bad journalism combine I’m afraid.. the above is the statement and some more details were given to Gamasutra
Sympozium
Life isn’t fair!