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Activision Closes Budcat; Bizarre Closing On Friday, February 18th

S

sixteen-bit

Member
:( :( :(

I was a huge fan of Geo Wars.

I hope the talented former employees of Bizarre Creations find other work soon.

Activision can DIAF
 
N

[Nintex]

Member
Kittonwy said:
Sad to see people lose their jobs, can't say I'm surprised since Bloodstone didn't look too good that they had to embargo the reviews, and marketing-wise the game was sent to die, developers really have to be careful which publisher they hook up with.
Click to expand...
They didn't have much choice, MS moved PGR4's releasedate up by a couple of weeks and put pressure on the team and the game was put up against Halo. Bizarre ran out of cash and projects quickly and decided to go with Activision and now they're dead :(
 
S

supermackem

Banned
Ahh man thats shitty news, at this time of year too. Real shame they really give me the first wow moments with my new hardware the time of day cycle in msr on dreamcast, custom soundtracks on pgr on xbox, geo wars on xbla. Damn shame, blur was a great game it deserved sales.
 
J

JWong

Banned
It seems unlikely that MS will pick up anyone with their Kinect push.

MS has Forza, and although Big Park's Joyride did terribly, the place is filled with Need for Speed vets. Big Park is also a racing game studio.
 
S

Skilotonn

xbot xbot xbot xbot xbot
That's so fucked up if it's true, PGR4 still remains as my favorite racing game, and they've just been my my favorite racing developers period, ever since the Metropolis Street Racer days on Dreamcast, which I still own along with all my other games.

Can't forget Geometry Wars of course, pure classic.

Why Microsoft let them slip away just to die (again, if true) is beyond me - they were amazing at what they did.
 
R

RiotPelaaja

Remedy
Oh dear....after the total failure of Blur this was to be anticipated. I fee horrible for Bizarre, because the people there, Martyn & Sarah, etc has been there since the beginning, it was really a big family. Horrible :(
 
B

brotkasten

Member
What the hell ... This is horrible. I enjoyed the PGR series and Blur and was hoping they were just leaving Activision, so they could have a new partnership with Microsoft. I'd love a new PGR by Bizarre.
 
K

Kittonwy

Banned
Mad_Ban said:
After two consecutive bomba's I expected this to be on the cards, but the entire studio? :/

Fucking Activision.
Click to expand...

It's a matter of perspective, considering how much money Activision is raking in on the COD franchise, Bizarre's recent performance looks bad by comparison.
 
H

h3ro

Member
PGR4 is one of my favorite racing games of all time. If this rumor is true, best of luck to all those looking for a new place to work.
 
K

KingDizzi

Banned
Really love how brutal Activision are, they cut off the excess fat and Bizarre is one with bomb after bomb. Activision has made me quite a bit of money, love him or hate him Kotick knows how to run a business very successfully, Bizarre not being able to make a hit is not his problem.
 
A

APZonerunner

Member
Holy shit if true. Microsoft, you were shopping the PGR franchise around various European studios - get a blank fucking cheque written now and set these guys up for PGR5 like you did with Ruffian/Realtime Worlds.
 
D

Diablohead

Member
TBH I think once they started working on blood stone they knew it was the end, when has a movie game ever done well enough to keep a team fully alive? BLur was quite a feat and looks amazing but coming off the pack of pgr4 so many people were all what the fuck about adding in weapons, plus the fact that gaming industry is messed up lately, be AAA or be out :/

RIP Bizarre, I will play Fur Fighters in memory tonight :p
 
R

RiotPelaaja

Remedy
[Nintex] said:
They didn't have much choice, MS moved PGR4's releasedate up by a couple of weeks and put pressure on the team and the game was put up against Halo. Bizarre ran out of cash and projects quickly and decided to go with Activision and now they're dead :(
Click to expand...

Just so you know, every fucking Activision game review is embargoed until the launch day and they haven't sent out burnt review discs in years, only promos or do review events. Quality of the game has nothing to do with this.
 
D

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Fuck. I knew this was going to happen, but still, it really saddens me to see it. Bizarre kicked ass and they've ended up dying in the end. There are so many other totally shit development houses out there today doing fine while Bizarre ends up shut down.

Blur was one of the best racing games I've played in a long time and, while Bloodstone wasn't AAA or anything, it was still a very solid game.

Then you have the amazing PGR series. PGR4 sold very poorly, but is one of the greatest racers ever made.

I knew Bizarre would end up dead when they signed with Activision.
 
A

Acosta

Member
W-T-F?

So that's it? Two unsuccessful games and Activision drop the studio? Wasn't it a strategic buy so they could produce quality racing games?

Activision is burning their internal talent like there is no tomorrow, one should be nuts to partner with them after their past track. Is too good for them they have two really big cows to milk, but the management of Activision is absolutely terrible.

Terrible news, Bizarre have produced fantastic games and will be missed. Best of lucks to everyone involved.
 
D

derFeef

Member
KennyLinder said:
OK just had another confirmation from someone.. I guess the sites will get wind of it tomorrow morning now.
Click to expand...
Yeah there are some twitterings as well.
Man this sucks. PGR series was so awesome and I liked almost every game they made, even The Club.
 
K

Kittonwy

Banned
brotkasten said:
What the hell ... This is horrible. I enjoyed the PGR series and Blur and was hoping they were just leaving Activision, so they could have a new partnership with Microsoft. I'd love a new PGR by Bizarre.
Click to expand...

They can't leave Activision, it's not a publishing relationship, Activision owns them outright. Maybe they can start a new studio if a publisher gives them some seed money, even then it will be awhile before they make anything again.
 
K

KareBear

Member
The only Bizzare Creations game i have is Fur Fighters which i have very fond memoires of i even bought a second copy for the dreamcast when i lost my first copy and i also have the Ps2 version.I was hoping for them to do a sequel.
 
T

teruterubozu

Member
Acosta said:
W-T-F?

So that's it? Two unsuccessful games and Activision drop the studio? Wasn't it a strategic buy so they could produce quality racing games?

Activision is burning their internal talent like there is no tomorrow, one should be nuts to partner with them after their past track. Is too good for them they have two really big cows to milk, but the management of Activision is absolutely terrible.

Terrible news, Bizarre have produced fantastic games and will be missed. Best of lucks to everyone involved.
Click to expand...

Most likely the contract had an out if the first 2 games didn't succeed.
 
S

StealthGoblin

Banned
Did they even bother trying to sell them so they'd at least make some money off of them. . .and then the guys/gals could at least still have jobs?
 
BrokenSymmetry

BrokenSymmetry

Member
PGR2 = Best Xbox Live game ever
PGR3 = Favorite XBox 360 launch game
PGR4 = Still the best-looking racer this gen
The Club = Great trend-setting score-based shooter

:(
 
X

Xater

Member
Acosta said:
W-T-F?

So that's it? Two unsuccessful games and Activision drop the studio? Wasn't it a strategic buy so they could produce quality racing games?

Activision is burning their internal talent like there is no tomorrow, one should be nuts to partner with them after their past track. Is too good for them they have two really big cows to milk, but the management of Activision is absolutely terrible.

Terrible news, Bizarre have produced fantastic games and will be missed. Best of lucks to everyone involved.
Click to expand...

Activision is aterrible company. If you can't create franchise they can milk for millions you get shut down.
 
B

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
People are saying Bloodstone bombed, but just how much did it sold exactly? And what about Goldeneye? Is it as bad as Bloodstone? Should we fear for Eurocom too?
 
K

Kittonwy

Banned
dark10x said:
Fuck. I knew this was going to happen, but still, it really saddens me to see it. Bizarre kicked ass and they've ended up dying in the end. There are so many other totally shit development houses out there today doing fine while Bizarre ends up shut down.

Blur was one of the best racing games I've played in a long time and, while Bloodstone wasn't AAA or anything, it was still a very solid game.

Then you have the amazing PGR series. PGR4 sold very poorly, but is one of the greatest racers ever made.

I knew Bizarre would end up dead when they signed with Activision.
Click to expand...

It's not like other publishers have a great history either, EA closed down Pandemic and Namco-Bandai pulled the rug from right under Bottlerocket which led to their closure so you don't even have to be bought by a publisher to be fucked, the studio is always at risk unless you're first-party, the console maker is treating you right, AND you're commercially successful.
 
E

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
Bizarre?! Oh fucking no, please let this fucking be a joke.

Seriously, fuck you Activision, fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you.
 
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