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[Unregistered007]

Sorry guys, when you go from

PGR to BLUR it is expected.

I am not saying that Blur sucked.

 

[blanky]

this sucks I loved Blur, PGR 2 & 3 were my favourites. I hope they can get back somehow!

 

[KennyLinder]

Eurogamer now too
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-11-16-activision-shutting-down-bizarre-creations

 

[StopMakingSense]

They made Pacifism mode, man. Pacifism Mode.

 

[ZombieSupaStar]

future is gonna be mega blockbuster games and downloadable casual stuff, no in between it seems, its just too expensive.

 

[GhaleonEB]

This is going way back, but I loved the hell out of Fur Fighters on the Dreamcast. Massive, funny, great game. I know they moved into racing mode from there for Sega and then Microsoft, but I always hoped they'd come back to a platform shooter like that some day.

Alas.

 

[edbrat]

That sucks. Blur was an awesome game.

THIS! I fucking loved Blur, the online was so much fun. Godamnit.

 

[Kintaro]

Activision.

Actually, I think its the other poster's answer. Sales took a major dip from PGR 3 to PGR 4. Want to blame Microsoft there too? After all, they shipped PGR4 a week after they release Halo 3 IIRC.

 

[enzo_gt]

You think Activision came down on Bizarre with the mandate "MAKE A MARIO KART GAME FOR ADULTS!" ?

Well Activision didn't tell them "Make another PGR, those were pretty awesome." It seems much more likely they were told to attempt to reinvent the wheel and create an entirely new experience.

Blur is fun as hell, and definitely underrated though. But really, if they hadn't been bought out by Activision, we would have had a bigger chance of seeing PGR5.

Actually, I think its the other poster's answer. Sales took a major dip from PGR 3 to PGR 4. Want to blame Microsoft there too? After all, they shipped PGR4 a week after they release Halo 3 IIRC.

This was the main reason PGR4 bombed. I reminisce everytime i see PGR4 in the discount bin at EB Games, since PGR4 actually exceeded PGR3 in quality, and was a much better game than people think it is. But alas, it got overlooked. But that isn't the reason why Activision closed Bizarre. That's why Bizarre had to find somewhere new to partner up.

 

[Firewire]

Sorry guys, when you go from

PGR to BLUR it is expected.

I am not saying that Blur sucked.

I think you just did.

 

[dexterslu]

Does Activision own the Geometry Wars name now?...Geometry Wars 2 is my favorite game this generation, I've put more time into that then any game ever.

 

[Kai Dracon]

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.

Blur was launched at a very, very stupid time. There was more long-term hype for Split/Second - it had gotten rolling a lot sooner than Blur back in 2009 - and even Modnation Racers had more hype earlier among everyone I ever knew with a PS3. Then the truly huge game in that window, Red Dead, sucked in everyone's attention.

And to be honest, I think the TV ad campaign for Blur was a bad idea in hindsight. Mocking Mario Kart directly was amusing from a nerdy perspective, and amusing to hardcore gamers who are too good to play Mario Kart. But none of the commercials I saw ever really showed what Blur itself was like. Nothing was done to sell the game aside from getting across the idea that it's some form of satire (which is really isn't).

Hell, the in-game intro to Blur's campaign, with the single car being shunted in super slow motion with the classic and highly recognizable music would have made a better ad for television. (Again, unless they used that somewhere and I never caught that spot.)

I don't know; I really got the impression that there was a lot more hype for Blur back before its delay into a 2010 release. The media and press where talking about it with fresher excitement.

 

[Nihilistic Monk]

This sucks.... PGR3 was the game that blew my socks off on 360 launch, many happy memories of that series. Best of luck to all effected...

Activision do like to embitter themselves to the fans don't they?

 

[Rad-]

Wouldn't mind if they started a new studio and went back to PGR. Not sure if they want to do that tho, didn't they want to break free from PGR mold (and hence joining Activision in the first place)?

 

[acm2000]

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

well, theyre at a better place now, they got spread around the uk codemasters offices, and their deformation tech was used for the rain in the amazing f1 2010 afaik

 

[fistwell_old]

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.

Ata-who?

 

[APZonerunner]

Well Activision didn't tell them "Make another PGR, those were pretty awesome." It seems much more likely they were told to attempt to reinvent the wheel and create an entirely new experience.

Blur is fun as hell, and definitely underrated though. But really, if they hadn't been bought out by Activision, we would have had a bigger chance of seeing PGR5.


This was the main reason PGR4 bombed. I reminisce everytime i see PGR4 in the discount bin at EB Games, since PGR4 actually exceeded PGR3 in quality, and was a much better game than people think it is. But alas, it got overlooked.

Several sites were citing concrete sources saying that Microsoft have been shopping the PGR franchise around various european devs trying to find a new home for it over the past few months, so it seems that PGR5 is inevitable... it just looks like it won't come from Bizarre.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Giantbomb says it like it's pretty much confirmed. Sounds like it from the read here.

 

[Azure J]

Canning the whole studio before the holidays? That's new levels of COOOOOLD BLOOOODED. [/Chapelle]

Damn guys, sorry to hear that. I hope things pick up for you all wherever you're headed.

 

[Wax Free Vanilla]

F1 CE was ungodly on psx, that was another gem I had bought from this amazing team.

f1'97 is their best game.


did they drop f1 because of sega's money?

 

[KennyLinder]

well, theyre at a better place now, they got spread around the uk codemasters offices, and their deformation tech was used for the rain in the amazing f1 2010 afaik

Nah the tech was ignored. We went back to Codies (most left though, around 90%, even less now) and nothing from SRS was used in any Codies games.

 

[DuckRacer]

"Waaaah, Microsoft doesn't treat us like a first party and accidentally positions our games to compete against Forza," Bizarre cried. "Father Kotick will provide us stability," claimed Bizarre.

Then Activision closes them down?! Shock and fucking awe, this was my (and everyone else's) worry when Activision snatched them up. I'm really disappointed by this but it was inevitable after they basically sold themselves to the devil.

 

[Spike]

Keep buying Activision games...

 

[sparky2112]

Just rename the company Acticodwow and get it over already.

 

[enzo_gt]

Several sites were citing concrete sources saying that Microsoft have been shopping the PGR franchise around various european devs trying to find a new home for it over the past few months, so it seems that PGR5 is inevitable... it just looks like it won't come from Bizarre.

But why not bring it back to Bizarre in light of all this? Unless they've already found a dev, it seems the most logical solution. Bizarre knows PGR best, and when Bizarre is given the proper resources, it puts out a PGR the way we all like it, much better than any other dev would adapt PGR I'd think.

And I know the game industry isn't always that logical, but I'd be absolutely ecstatic if Microsoft pulled Bizarre out of this mess. They've been partners forever and, it would be amazing to see this happen.

 

[bloodforge]

Not shocked if this is true after Activision sent Bloodstone out to die.

 

[MurkyZebra2417]

Damn it.
I had so much fun with Blood Stone and I think the next game would have been even better. And the short time i played Blur i also thought it was quite good.

 

[Vinci]

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.

Or look at Minecraft and just release something outside of even the download services. Keep it purely independent.

 

[GC|Simon]

Whoa, sad to hear this. I hope some other publisher will buy them.

Spoiler

IMO Nintendo should buy them to be more independent from 3rd party developers. MS has with Forza a great racing game, Sony with GT. Nintendo should try to be AAA in all genres.

 

[Spire]

Fuuuuuuuuck. Today is a shitty day.

 

[Diablohead]

Nah the tech was ignored. We went back to Codies (most left though, around 90%, even less now) and nothing from SRS was used in any Codies games.

It's a shame you had to close shop after making sega rally, great game, but I do wonder if it would have worked better to not make a sega racing title for the $60 market but instead remake some classics as cheaper arcade titles, of course that only sounds good now after you get closed

Bizarre might have done well making a PGR Nations, like trackmania Nations which is free and then sell some dlc packs or something, of course that possibility is now out of the window completely.

I'm rather glad to be a solo indie developer right now, nearly 2 years since I left uni and I don't think I really want to go work for a big company any more.

 

[Ceebs]

future is gonna be mega blockbuster games and downloadable casual stuff, no in between it seems, its just too expensive.

The in between stuff is out there, it's just not going to be on consoles. The PC exclusive developers have been living in that dead zone for years now where they can sell a couple hundred thousand copies and still turn a profit.

 

[Kintaro]

Blur was launched at a very, very stupid time.

Well, I'm not saying it wasn't a stupid time. However, it was what it was I guess. I don't know. When do you release it? Before other racers, after other racers establish themselves in the market? After Red Dead? Releasing after big games didn't help in the past (see PGR4 releasing after Halo 3) so what do you do?

Maybe its the simple fact that if you aren't Need for Speed, Forza or Gran Turismo, no one cares about your driving game? Then again, even Need for Speed struggled... Maybe the genre is in a slump (GT5 will sell shittons though) and Bizarre just couldn't hack it doing other genres (GeoWars will only get you so far for a studio that big)? Who knows.

 

[Oneself]

I'm not here to say it's a good thing, but it had to happen... I think Bizarre was a great team overall, but their last 3 games were quite unimpressive.

 

[Wazzim]

Giantbomb says it like it's pretty much confirmed. Sounds like it from the read here.

Fuck Activision then, I really hate those guys for doing this. I hope those guys who thought of closing Bizarre will get fired themselfes.
They could do all kind of stuff with the studio besides closing it damn it.

Keep buying Activision games...

Stopped buying their crap a long time ago, they don't make good games anyway.

 

[Sipowicz]

well it's not as if they were making much money for activision. seems like a smart decision from a business point of view

shame people had to lose their jobs though

 

[KennyLinder]

It's a shame you had to close shop after making sega rally, great game, but I do wonder if it would have worked better to not make a sega racing title for the $60 market but instead remake some classics as cheaper arcade titles, of course that only sounds good now after you get closed

It's funny you say that, it was suggested at the time and we even asked as one saving grace to bring SEGA Rally 3 to PSN/XBLA.

 

[Fortinbras]

What the fuck? I can't believe this. I love Bizarre Creations.

 

[1-D_FTW]

So much for yesterday's speculation that Activision wanted to steal the F1 license away from Codemasters and give it to Bizarre.

We're really working our way up the chain. It's not even crappy or mediocre studios that are getting slaughtered by this gen. It's starting to hit good ones.

Yeah, next gen is going to have traditional super consoles. Right.

 

[enzo_gt]

Or look at Minecraft and just release something outside of even the download services. Keep it purely independent.

200 people working on a purely independent game is an unsettling thought. They would still require mass amounts of resources.

 

[edbrat]

I thought Activision bought Bizarre, because they wanted a racing series like NFS?

same here, I thought Activision would appreciate that it can take time to build an IP. I thought Blur was so much fun, the online swallowed up over 60 hours of my time. I bought Blur on word of mouth and would have been right there day 1 for Blur 2, this is horrible news.

 

[subversus]

future is gonna be mega blockbuster games and downloadable casual stuff, no in between it seems, its just too expensive.

this

Activision is merciless when it comes to bottom line. That's the secret of their success. They see people as an asset and if these assets aren't bringing them money they get rid of them. It's hard to experct anything other than this if we're talking about any business. Some CEOs can burn through shareholders money, other just don't care.

 

[brain_stew]

completely poor Bizarre

You can't pump out three big expensive bombs in a row and not expect there to be repercussions. This was inevitable, I'm afraid. No idea why Activision bought them in the first place.

Edit: Make that 4, The Club hardly set the charts alight. Geo Wars 2 is their only hit in the last 5 years and you can't expect one XBLA title to sustain a studio of 200 people.

 

[slaughterking]

BobbyKotickCEO

@taswell We don't need a movie to make a shitty game, just the license

http://twitter.com/#!/BobbyKotickCEO/status/4601032319434752

:lol

 

[[Nintex]]

You know, things are fucked when the largest third party publisher is a dead vessel for investors to bank on and the second largest third party publisher is an Elevation Partners scheme.

 

[watership]

Hey, Microsoft... didn't you want PGR 5? Here's your chance.

Microsoft should have bought them before. Maybe they wanted to go multiplatform, get a bigger audience, but it's obviously was a bad move.

Do it MS, set up a studio, hire the same core group back!

 

[Mooreberg]

Blur was released alongside too many other racing games, in a month that was already loaded to the gills with games like Red Dead coming out. Bloodstone gets released with no Bond movie out, and it sounds like the Goldeneye remake is fairing much better in terms of reviews.

Activision really is the embodiment how third parties work now: make money, and make it right now.

Criterion must be glad they're with EA who have been saintly this gen in comparison.

 

[Vinci]

200 people working on a purely independent game is an unsettling thought. They would still require mass amounts of resources.

I'm not talking about having everyone work on one project, necessarily, just that studios need to start looking for alternatives that don't require the backing of a massive publisher to accomplish. That shit gets you killed.

 

[RurouniZel]

Fuck Activision, and double fuck the HD generation!

 

[V_Ben]

PC Gamer is reporting that Budcat is dead now too.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/11/16/activision-shuts-down-bizarre-and-budcat-studios/

for f*ck's sake.