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[Suzzopher]

PGR4 is still one of the best racers ever made.

Any chance of MS picking them up to work on PGR5?

They could hire the staff to other studios but Bizarre has been closed.

Although they would only be hired as temps if Rare are anything to go by

Evolution should pick up some of the staff. Keep them local too.

 

[brotkasten]

PGR4 is still one of the best racers ever made.

Any chance of MS picking them up to work on PGR5?

Didn't Bizarre leave because they didn't want to work with MS anymore? We'll probably get PGR5, but not from BC.

 

[McBradders]

Shocking treatment of one of the very best in the world.

Disgraceful.

 

[Azure Dream]

Well that was incredibly depressing to watch. I was never much of a racing person, so I usually only saw their games in screenshots and videos, but even from that you could tell the care that went into their craft, they really did some marvelous work. Farewell, Bizarre.

 

[kamorra]

How is this even possible? What a shame.

 

[Kaltagesta]

There was a post in the other thread about this topic that suggested that their financial decline was a result of Activision giving them the free reigns to make their games the way they wanted to. I'm certainly not happy in any way to see this happen, but it does seem that Activision didn't have a great deal to do with this, unless people expect them to prop up an unprofitable arm of the company just to appease the apparently niche tastes of GAF. Do people want Activision to direct companies, or not? I get confused what I'm meant to think, sometimes.

 

[acm2000]

R.I.P. Bizarre Creations, 17 years old, Life cut cruelly short, i shall never again purchase an Activision game

one of my fav devs of all time, fuck you kottick, and fuck you who ever decided it was a good idea to sell to actifail

 

[coldvein]

project gotham racing has been so good to me. thank you fellows.

 

[Shiloa]

While it's very sad to see that a company has gone down, I do believe it's their own fault. I thought Blur was incredibly dull, PGR had no niche and Blood stone was just a very standard game.

 

[MYE]

http://666kb.com/i/br308zmpnn1q87azz.jpg[img][/QUOTE]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Vbq51.jpg

RIP BC

 

[AshMcCool]

I'm not much of a racing game nerd, but I really liked their take on the genre. Goodbye and the best of luck for their team.

 

[StuBurns]

There was a post in the other thread about this topic that suggested that their financial decline was a result of Activision giving them the free reigns to make their games the way they wanted to. I'm certainly not happy in any way to see this happen, but it does seem that Activision didn't have a great deal to do with this, unless people expect them to prop up an unprofitable arm of the company just to appease the apparently niche tastes of GAF. Do people want Activision to direct companies, or not? I get confused what I'm meant to think, sometimes.

The issue comes when the reasons sales are poor is because of Activision not BC. Blur bombed, but that is not BC's fault, it's release positioning was moronic amongst other things. BC did their job, Activision didn't, but BC are punished. One could argue that they shouldn't have sold to Activision to begin with, but if it's literally a case of do that or die, no one can blame them for that.

 

[Facism]

Quality Dev. I still remember the hours sunk into MSR.

 

[REMEMBER CITADEL]

Poor Bizarre, but at least they're going away in style.

 

[GitarooMan]

The issue comes when the reasons sales are poor is because of Activision not BC. Blur bombed, but that is not BC's fault, it's release positioning was moronic amongst other things. BC did their job, Activision didn't, but BC are punished. One could argue that they shouldn't have sold to Activision to begin with, but if it's literally a case of do that or die, no one can blame them for that.

Yeah, I think the Blur concept was a bit ill-conceived, but putting it directly up against Split/Second was not helpful at all. Even Split/Second didn't sell like crazy, but it sold significantly better and it's hard to think it didn't detract quite a bit from Blur sales.

 

[Android18a]

Every gaffer should get on PGR4 today to mourn a great loss. What a series *sniff*

 

[TheOddOne]

Didn't Bizarre leave because they didn't want to work with MS anymore? We'll probably get PGR5, but not from BC.

Well the can't hold grudges for long now.

 

[rvy]

Amazingly talented developers as far as racing games go. It's a shame MS didn't pick them up and give them PGR 5.

 

[itsgreen]

This sucks, they made some great games.

Sucks for the employees.

But Bizarre chose to go with Activision.

And Activision probably asked the top price for anyone interested in the studio. I bet when more details come out it turns out this is a nice tax break for Activision.

 

[angelfly]

All I have to say is fuck activision and fuck kotick! Bizarre will be missed. I think I'll pop in PGR4 for a bit when I get home.

 

[Gav]

The amount of hours i have sunk into the PGR series and Geo Wars is scary. Then along with The Club, F1 97 etc, these guys made some of the best games ive played.

PGR 2 and Geo Wars 2 will always be 2 of my all time favourite bits of software.

Cheers guys. Its very sad to see this happen, you will most definitely be missed.

PGR4 this weekend in rememberence.

 

[Baki]

Sony should pick up a few staff, they need the extra help for faster turn around on GT.

 

[The Super Bob]

Been one hell of a ride. They've released some awesome games. Real shame to see them closing.

Best of luck to all employees in finding new jobs.

 

[brotkasten]

Sony should pick up a few staff, they need the extra help for faster turn around on GT.

No outsourcing and foreign developers at PD.

 

[ResidentDante]

All I have to say is fuck activision and fuck kotick! Bizarre will be missed. I think I'll pop in PGR4 for a bit when I get home.

I'm thinking of playing it a bit this weekend too.

 

[Rolf NB]

Goodbye Bizarre. The Club was fun. Blur, too. Too bad you were abused and cast aside by your overlords.

 

[APZonerunner]

Yeah, I think the Blur concept was a bit ill-conceived, but putting it directly up against Split/Second was not helpful at all. Even Split/Second didn't sell like crazy, but it sold significantly better and it's hard to think it didn't detract quite a bit from Blur sales.

People are forgetting something even worse here - in the UK - which is a racing games powerhouse - Activision were having a spat at the time with retailers GAME and Gamestation. These pair combined are the biggest specialist retailers in the country - think Gamespot and GameCrazy or something? I dunno. Upwards of 2000 stores or something ridiculous across what is, remember, a much smaller nation than the US (though they've been scaling back and closing stores) - and Acti were having a spat with them over the price for them to buy their titles.

In order to keep their standard profit margin despite Activision raising the buy-in cost, GAME upped the price of new Acti releases to £45. £5 doesn't seem like the end of the world, but when Split Second is £39.99, it created an even wider rift. In retaliation, Activision didn't sell them many copies of Blur - IIRC when I went to my local store to pick it up they'd ponly had 4 copies delivered - for launch day! This store turns over something like £8 million a year, so it's not a small store. Ridiculous.

 

[PacoDG]

Fucking love these guys. Shit like this makes me sad about the industry and I find it hard to enjoy gaming (dear lord I get too serious about this shit sometimes, but damn you Activision, love gaming again, please).

 

[U2NUMB]

I feel sick about this.. one of my favorite studios of all time. I hope a good number of them can gather again and create another studio. Even if it is a smaller studio I really believe in the talent they have.

There was just something about how their games looked that I really connected with. Thank you for all the awesome time spent on your creations... So sad what happened to your studio.

 

[TheOddOne]

No outsourcing and foreign developers at PD.

That and hiring staff would not increase the speed in which it will be released.

 

[Suairyu]

Everyone post your "first Bizarre encounter" story!

Mine was the pages of the UK Official Dreamcast Magazine, one of the early titles, previewing Metropolis Street Racer. It was meant to be a launch title, but had been delayed. The screenshots were incredible and all this talk about how the game judging not just speed but how stylish you were driving had me salivating at the possibilities. It would be out soon!

Then the game got delayed again. And again. I think most people were starting to consider it MIA.

But then it did get released.

And it was glorious.

Never before had we seen such incredibly accurate recreations of real-life locations for use as racing tracks. I've said it before on these boards, but it bears repeating: racing through the streets of London for the first time will always be one of my most treasured and influential moments in gaming. Metropolis Street Racer is a game that made me the gamer I am today, in many ways. It opened my eyes to certain possibilities.

Over the years since, I believe Bizarre Creations have proven themselves to be among the best developers of the 2000s. Project Gotham Racing set to perfect certain aspects of Metropolis Street Racer, Geometry Wars validated an entire platform's (XBLA) existence and along with Peggle destroyed the notion of a divide between the hardcore and casual, The Club was one of the most innovative and well-executed ideas in the shooter genre post-Halo (shame about the GFWL borking the PC version). Whilst Bloodstone is an unfortunate blip, Blur truly was an incredible final hurrah for the studio. It wasn't Mario Kart for adults; it was Street Fighter in cars - those of us that took part in the intense early days of the online scene can attest to its brilliance. Everything from aesthetics the the handling was perfect.

Any future-looking publisher would see the quality of Bizarre. The talent. They would understand that whilst the two games they had made during their tenure with that publisher weren't successful, that had nothing to do with the quality of the games or the cache of their name.

Activision just killed one of 'their' finest studios. It makes no sense, not even financially. They were an asset worth more than a three-year balance sheet.

May you keep racing through our memories and hearts, Bizarre. You were a tier above.

 

[Fruitster]

This is really sad. Bizarre created some great games over the years and the people involved deserved better than this.

Activision, burn in hell. They're a damned pestilence on all that's good about gaming.

 

[Gaz Pwnage]

Sigh and to think i could of been workimg thdre. Fuck you activision.

 

[Jocchan]

 

[Psychotext]

PGR4 and Geometry Wars 2 are easily up there as some of the most fun I've had this gen.

Such a shame.

Spoiler

Fuck you Kotick

 

[CrunchinJelly]

Am I Only Dreaming?

 

[LiK]

Goodbye Bizarre. <3

Activision, you fucks.

 

[arena08]

I would love to see PGR5

PGR4 has given me some of the best racing experiences this gen. Awesome awesome game. Massive shame Bizarre is no longer.

Fucking activision. Honestly, fuck them.

 

[The Elite]

Blur was fantastic. Too bad we won't be seeing a sequel from them.

 

[GANGSTERKILLER]

This is really sad! ;( Bizarre Creations created magic on the Xbox and 360! They are also responsible for the best F1 game ever, Formula 1 '97 on the PSX. MS should have never let them bought by Activision bastards!!

 

[Hixx]

MSR - best racing game of that generation.
PGR2 - best racing game of that generation.
PGR4 - best racing game of this generation.

All imo of course but they were fucking brilliant games.

So sad

 

[makkuwata]

 

[Cerebral Assassin]

Is the Blur online still running? If so anyone up for a few game later?

 

[eso76]

bye Bizarre, and thank you for all the awesome.

 

[ultron87]

RIP.

Thanks for making PGR2 and Geometry Wars.

PGR2 Cat and Mouse on Nurburgring is still in my top 5 favorite multiplayer experiences of all time.

 

[FunnyBunny]

PGR4 is one of the best arcade racers I've ever played. I'm very sad to see Bizarre close.

I'm also surprised no one wanted to buy them from Activision.

 

[jjasper]

Sucks. PGR4 and Geometry Wars 2 are 2 of the best games this gen.

 

[ShinobiFist]

Not clicking on the vid.....Such a great studio, thanks for the entertainment this past 17 years. Shit, CLUB is one of my favs this gen. Such a awesome arcade style game. Going to play it this weekend and try to beat some of the stages I have left in brutal. I need to finish PGR4 as well(What a awesome soundtrack as well)Good luck to all those employees looking for work.

 

[erpg]

Perfect example of what's wrong with publishing games. Studios owning creative rights to everything sucks ass, and Microsoft letting Bizarre go without PGR was just a jerk move. Such a shame, my girlfriend and I love Blur.

 

[VeryGooster]

I hope they move on to better things in life. Although I owned PGR2 and PGR4, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved was the first thing I ever downloaded on my Xbox 360.

Good luck, Bizarre.