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

R

RBH

Member
af4c3eb5560f.gif
 
B

badcrumble

Member
Wow, that's shitty. Bizarre is a truly great bunch of developers. It's not their fault that racers just aren't as popular as they used to be - and they've done an astonishing job with Geometry Wars 1 and 2, also.

Here's hoping they find a safe spot to land :/
 
C

Crisis

Banned
Trojita said:
That analogy would only make sense if the things he was cutting off were cancerous cells that were self inflected. Kotick runs every IP into the ground.

Being the publisher, it is his problem.
Click to expand...
This. He killed Tony Hawk, killed Guitar Hero, is about to do so with CoD if this nonsense continues, he fires or runs off great talent all the time. He's riding fairly high right now but eventually all of these things ARE going to catch up with him. I really don't think he's any good at all as a CEO. He has the ability to generate some big profits but he is demonstrating a real lack of any kind of long-term sustainability.
 
A

Arucardo

Member
Nirolak said:
THQ essentially shut down Rainbow and has the remaining staff working on downloadable titles, so I'm not sure if they're interested in racing anymore.
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Oh shit, I forgot about that, this is getting depressing :lol .

Maybe Take2/Rockstar could hire some of these guys to work on a new Midnight Club game? Just throwing some ideas out there and they happen to be racing game specific since that's what Bizarre did best (besides GW).
 
jufonuk

jufonuk

not tag worthy
Great going Activision, video games crash 2.0 incoming :( next it will bungie out the door...

so instead of building up a strong portfolio of brands you just pull this and push them out the door?

This is going to kill all creativity in the industry, Devs will now make games that only appeal to the lowest common denominator, the hell?? all "creative" (read not appealing to 13 year old idiots) style games to either be on downloadable services or Nintendo consoles...

Kotick when it all comes crashing down around your ears don't fucking complain to us!!
 
E

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
I posted a topic on Bizarre Creation's official forums in attempt to get some sort of reply from the mods (people who work at Bizarre).

Fuck I'm so pissed off this has ruined my entire fucking day.

skyfinch said:
Bought Xbox 1 because of PGR1. Bought Xbox 360 because of PGR3. Very sad. They're a talented group of people who suffered from the lack of marketing for their games.
Click to expand...
Same here, they just never had the adequate backing from Microsoft, and even less from Activision.
 
D

Dead Man Typing

Member
Activision screwed the marketing of Blur and then closes Bizarre, 2 weeks after their James Bond game is released in the shadow of a much more recognisable James Bond game?

Blur had good word of mouth and was hitting bargain bins recently. Building hype towards a Blur 2 would have made all the sense in the world, it could have become Activision's Need for Speed.

As a huge Bizarre fan, this is probably the most devastating studio closure I've ever read about. I bought an Xbox 1 on launch because it had the spiritual successor to MSR. I paid for Xbox Live for PGR2 and I bought a 360 at launch for PGR3.

I can only hope that somebody swoops in and buys them off of Activision, to prevent this closure. All the best to the people affected.
 
K

Kintaro

Worships the porcelain goddess
Kuran said:
I hope the same ones saying 'screw you Activision' are somehow not part of the millions that bought Call of Duty whatever on launch day.
Click to expand...

Call of Duty doesn't count. Nor do the $15 map packs everyone pays for. Activision is the DEVIL dammit!
 
U

ultron87

Member
Shit.

Some of my favorite multiplayer memories are playing Cat and Mouse in PGR2 on Nurburgring.

That game was super ahead of it's time in how it implemented online functionality in a console game.

:(

Good luck to all involved in finding new work.
 
S

soldat7

Member
B-Rad Lascelle said:
This is simply the inevitable fate of anyone who does business with Kotick.
Utter financial ruin.
Click to expand...

Pretty much. Best of luck to all those affected and thanks for the memories. :(
 
K

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
Hey You said:
I thought there were plans for a Blur Franchise?
Click to expand...

That was before Activision sent Blur out to die the same month as Red Dead Redemption and fifty thousand other racing games all vying for attention.

Anyway, this is classic Activision bullshit at its finest, but I knew it was coming when it was revealed that Bloodstone was strangely awful and not at all up to any of Bizarre's usual standards of quality or basic game design. The Club is a masterpiece compared to it.

I do wonder what happened there? Did Activision try to use Bizarre to shit out a quick n' dirty license title? Seems like it wasn't in development for very long at all.
 
S

see5harp

Member
Geometry Wars and PGR are amazing franchises. I really enjoyed Blur and think it's pretty damn amazing what they did to maintain parity (really a technical feat) across platforms. They really don't deserve this at all.
 
D

Dave Long

Banned
The Club was way ahead of its time and their racing games were great fun.

Geometry Wars is among my all-time top ten.

Really sorry to hear they're done. :(
 
Dr. Kitty Muffins

Dr. Kitty Muffins

Member
It is a shame that they couldn't sell the company to Microsoft. I believe MS wanted them back in the day but got outbid.

Hopefully, MS adds some of them to its Forza team.
 
A

Aaron

Member
Metalmurphy said:
Dead Space is actually decent, unlike the turd that is Mercs 2
Click to expand...
One bad game is all it takes. Free Radical very nearly bit it due to Haze. Didn't the developer of Lair buy the farm after that flop?
 
E

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
Dr. Kitty Muffins said:
It is a shame that they couldn't sell the company to Microsoft. I believe MS wanted them back in the day but got outbid.

Hopefully, MS adds some of them to its Forza team.
Click to expand...
Hopefully MS takes them up and makes them do what every single Bizarre fan wanted them to do, PGR5.

If MS is shopping for a studio to do PGR5, how can it fucking go wrong with Bizarre of all places?
 
F

Fularu

Banned
Sad to see Bizarre Creations go, but the writing was prety much on the wall.

And to the people bitching that "Activision is the Devil", every god damn publisher does it. Electronic Arts, THQ, Ubisoft, Atari, they all do it.
 
E

epmode

Member
Crisis said:
This. He killed Tony Hawk, killed Guitar Hero, is about to do so with CoD if this nonsense continues, he fires or runs off great talent all the time. He's riding fairly high right now but eventually all of these things ARE going to catch up with him. I really don't think he's any good at all as a CEO. He has the ability to generate some big profits but he is demonstrating a real lack of any kind of long-term sustainability.
Click to expand...
This is what happens when shareholders run your company. It's a very rare company that can balance the insanity of HIGHER PROFITS EACH QUARTER OR DIE with quality products.

Oh well, it's not like Kotick will get any less of a payout when the company eventually implodes. It's the American way!
 
K

KennyLinder

Member
Aaron said:
One bad game is all it takes. Free Radical very nearly bit it due to Haze. Didn't the developer of Lair buy the farm after that flop?
Click to expand...

It's worse than that. One bad SELLING game is all it takes :( SEGA Racing Studio being a classic example.
 
K

Kintaro

Worships the porcelain goddess
Regarding Blur, Activision did have a ton of marketing for that game by the way. Much more than the other racing games hitting at that time. I saw the commercial many times during prime time TV, it played damn near non-stop in Gamestops and had a print campaign as well. So, those saying it was sent to die with no marketing are wrong.

I think it's most telling that many people's best memories of the studio are their old games. The Club was not good and Blur lacked staying power. Mario Kart for adults? Really? Would have been a good idea...if adults still didn't think Mario Kart was better and still played it. Why didn't they stick with a PGR-like idea?

Maybe the studio should reform, be independent and work for themselves with smaller games on PC/XBLA/PSN or something. Stop depending on the mega-publishers. If one guy can create Minecraft, what can a creative studio like this do? Get to it.
 
jufonuk

jufonuk

not tag worthy
Aaron said:
One bad game is all it takes. Free Radical very nearly bit it due to Haze. Didn't the developer of Lair buy the farm after that flop?
Click to expand...

^This!! is this the sorry state the industry is in at the moment?
 
K

KennyLinder

Member
Kintaro said:
Regarding Blur, Activision did have a ton of marketing for that game by the way. Much more than the other racing games hitting at that time. I saw the commercial many times during prime time TV, it played damn near non-stop in Gamestops and had a print campaign as well. So, those saying it was sent to die with no marketing are wrong.

I think it's most telling that many people's best memories of the studio are their old games. The Club was not good and Blur lacked staying power. Mario Kart for adults? Really? Would have been a good idea...if adults still didn't think Mario Kart was better and still played it. Why didn't they stick with a PGR-like idea?
Click to expand...


Because PGR didn't sell either. With each one they sold less and less. PGR4 sold pretty badly.
 
Dr. Kitty Muffins

Dr. Kitty Muffins

Member
enzo_gt said:
Hopefully MS takes them up and makes them do what every single Bizarre fan wanted them to do, PGR5.

If MS is shopping for a studio to do PGR5, how can it fucking go wrong with Bizarre of all places?
Click to expand...


Very true. Or at least fund a new studio built from the best and brightest at Bizarre.
 
A

Aaron

Member
The Club was actually a great game. There's still no shooter like it. Pity most people didn't get to experience the multiplayer for the two weeks people were actually playing it.
 
E

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
Kintaro said:
Regarding Blur, Activision did have a ton of marketing for that game by the way. Much more than the other racing games hitting at that time. I saw the commercial many times during prime time TV, it played damn near non-stop in Gamestops and had a print campaign as well. So, those saying it was sent to die with no marketing are wrong.

I think it's most telling that many people's best memories of the studio are their old games. The Club was not good and Blur lacked staying power. Mario Kart for adults? Really? Would have been a good idea...if adults still didn't think Mario Kart was better and still played it. Why didn't they stick with a PGR-like idea?
Click to expand...
Activision.
 
S

SmokyDave

Member
That fucking sucks. There go my dreams of MSR2.

KennyLinder said:
It's worse than that. One bad SELLING game is all it takes :( SEGA Racing Studio being a classic example.
Click to expand...
I want to quote your avatar but I can't find the link through my tears.
 
S

StevePharma

Member
Good luck to all employees in these difficult times and a bummer it happened at the end of the year too.

Then again I don't feel the hate for Kotick as much as GAF does here. He's not the only suit in Activision and his interview in Edge Magazine a couple of months back changed my stance on him a bit.

Still a sad day for creativity though....
 
C

charsace

Member
Sadly I saw this happening after Blur. Gameplay is damn good too based on the beta. I fell into the hype for FF13 though and got that instead. Still regret it. :(
 
Z

Zenith

Banned
Anyone think most of Biazarre will stick together and form a new company? Or will they all split of into various software industry jobs.
 
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