After seventeen years in the gaming industry, British developers Bizarre are closing up today, and have ended on something of a poignant note with a video documenting some of their best games.
Put together by the studio’s video editor Eamon Urtone, it showcases what a breath of fresh air the Liverpool-based company was to the industry, putting up quality titles like Metropolis Street Racer, Geometry Wars, the Project Gotham series and, most recently, Blur and the newest James Bond title.
The company was recently bought by Activision, but the publisher issued a statement in 2010 announcing that the studio was to be sold off. “Bizarre is a very talented team of developers,” it said, “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.”
If nothing else, the video’s a beautiful reminder of some of the best games from the last couple of generations, but today, the 18th of February, Bizarre Creations will close up for good.
We wish everyone affected the very best of luck. And thank you.
Jambo
Bizarre Creations were the devs of my first PlayStation game :( Shall miss them.
cc_star
:(
lewis815
What a shame… I find it mad that a game that still had relative success (Blur) leads to a closed down studio…
I’d love to see a breakdown on how much video games cost to design and produce to see how much they need to break-even.
Good luck to all the staff at Bizarre!
scavenga
Absolutely awful news, so sorry for all the talented people there – whom I’m sure will move on to new and exciting projects. The best of luck to all.
Dunks
Metropolis Street Racer was an amazing game. Played that thing to death. Real shame its come to this. Good luck to all the guys who worked there.
TURRICAN-808
It would have been good to see the UK Government support a British games developer in the form of tax breaks, seen as the UK games industry is worth more than the UK music & film industry put together! Is there any way PS3 owners could see Metropolis Street Racer or PGR4? I was actually hoping SONY waould buy Bizarre Creations…
I had fond memories of playing MSR, Bizarre Creations, you will be missed :(
icuyesido
Very sad. Will be sorely missed. :(
Grey_Ghost13
Sad News, big dent for British development. I hope they can bounce back, maybe setting up another independant studio?
Uhyve
Apparently, nobody was interested in buying them because they could just wait for them to close then hire on the talent.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/36803/Bizarre-bidders-waiting-on-closure-to-pick-at-talent
beeje13
Creativeness doesn’t work well under activision, which is a pity as this is/was a great studio.
AnimaOnline
Well this just put a bit of a downer on my day.
aerobes
Terrible news. Creators of some top titles over the years.
This sort of news is becoming way too frequent. Bad times.