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Rumor: Microsoft Looking For Developer To Bring Back Project Gotham Racing

N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Develop has posted up a rumor that Microsoft is looking for a developer to revive Project Gotham Racing.

Develop said:
Today at 3:45 pm
Project Gotham Racing revival underway
by Rob Crossley

Secret meetings held with several studios to find best-suited developer

Microsoft is in talks with several European independent studios to bring the Project Gotham Racing series back to the Xbox 360, Develop can reveal.

A trusted source told Develop that Microsoft remains undecided on which studio to hand the project to.

Project Gotham became a multi-million-selling series when it was steered by Liverpool-based studio Bizarre Creations, though the developer’s involvement ceased in 2007.

Turn-10 has for a number of months been considered the most likely candidate to develop future Project Gotham titles. The Microsoft-owned studio has, with the help of extensive outsourcing, developed three successful Forza racing games.

Yet Microsoft’s hunt for a studio partner suggests the project will not be brought in-house.
Click to expand...
Source: http://www.develop-online.net/news/36227/Project-Gotham-Racing-revival-underway
 
A

Apath

Member
Princess Skittles said:
Without Bizarre at the helm, does just the title of game hold any weight?
Click to expand...
It's not like Microsoft has much to lose, considering PGR4's lackluster sales. The bar is set pretty low at the moment.
 
I

I3rand0

Member
Microsoft should've bought Bizzare when they had the chance. They put 4 up aganist Halo 3, it sells poorly while MS provides no marketing, and now they're trying to woo another developer to revive the series? Fucking idiotic.
 
S

szaromir

Banned
Kenak said:
It's not like Microsoft has much to lose, considering PGR4's lackluster sales. The bar is set pretty low at the moment.
Click to expand...
I think it sold fine over time. They released it a week after Halo 3, a week before Orange Box. They must have expected slow start. PGR2&4 are my favorite racing games, I doubt any other developer can make this "racing with style" formula work...
 
KingJ2002

KingJ2002

Member
PGR will be hard to do without Bizarre there... but i'm glad Microsoft is re-investing in the franchise... it's been my favorite racing game this generation.

...


Microsoft should really re-consider building their in house studios... have some teams based out in the U.S., europe, japan... and have them build a stronger first party lineup.

Right now it seems their first party lineup gets smaller and smaller each year. I'm not sure if this is because third parties don't want to compete against first party games but I would like to hear new franchises on the horizon... or a revival of older ones... such as Crimson Skies or MechAssault
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
I3rand0 said:
Microsoft should've bought Bizzare when they had the chance. They put 4 up aganist Halo 3, it sells poorly while MS provides no marketing, and now they're trying to woo another developer to revive the series? Fucking idiotic.
Click to expand...
Bizarre wanted to bail out actually after Microsoft tried to move the release up five weeks to avoid Halo 3.

Why they picked Activision, who is probably on the brink of shutting them down after their mega bombs, will always be beyond me.
 
E

ExtraKr1spy

Banned
Mass exodus at Bizarre and new studio forms with ex Bizarre employees and MS gives them the contract AND Rallisport Challenge 3(in a perfect world).

I remember reading a while ago that Codemasters was not in real good shape but PGR with piss filter = :(
 
S

StealthGoblin

Banned
ExtraKr1spy said:
Mass exodus at Bizarre and new studio forms with ex Bizarre employees and MS gives them the contract AND Rallisport Challenge 3(in a perfect world).

I remember reading a while ago that Codemasters was not in real good shape but PGR with piss filter = :(
Click to expand...

I still don't know why someone hasn't snapped up Codemasters.
 
F

FrankT

Member
Nirolak said:
Bizarre wanted to bail out actually after Microsoft tried to move the release up five weeks to avoid Halo 3.

Why they picked Activision, who is probably on the brink of shutting them down after their mega bombs, will always be beyond me.
Click to expand...

They picked Activision because they were cash short according to one article I read after the time. They had no other choice. And what they have done with Activision I see no reason why MS would or should have bought them in retrospect.
 
B

brotkasten

Member
I3rand0 said:
Microsoft should've bought Bizzare when they had the chance. They put 4 up aganist Halo 3, it sells poorly while MS provides no marketing, and now they're trying to woo another developer to revive the series? Fucking idiotic.
Click to expand...
They don't want to own game studios. I think they made that pretty clear.
 
S

szaromir

Banned
Nirolak said:
Bizarre wanted to bail out actually after Microsoft tried to move the release up five weeks to avoid Halo 3.

Why they picked Activision, who is probably on the brink of shutting them down after their mega bombs, will always be beyond me.
Click to expand...
Is the Bond game even out that you're already calling it a megabomb?
 
E

ExtraKr1spy

Banned
while we're talking about PGR.

replayed a bit of PGR4 last night and god damn 3 years old and its still a great looking game. You can win by playing the game like a sim or drifting around corners like an arcade game.
 
S

S1kkZ

Member
its just a matter of time until activision shuts down bizarre creations (blur was a massive bomb and the new bond game will not do any better). just hire the guys from bizarre that want to work on pgr again.
 
N

[Nintex]

Member
It's like Don and friends first got rid of most MGS in-house developers but didn't realize they'd need first-party studios to create games.
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
szaromir said:
Is the Bond game even out that you're already calling it a megabomb?
Click to expand...
Well, we'll find out in a week now that we get UK numbers, but I was referring to Blur.

I'll come back and declare Bizarre a true master of beating the odds though if Bond sells well.
 
P

Pooya

Member
Nirolak said:
Well, we'll find out in a week now that we get UK numbers, but I was referring to Blur.

I'll come back and declare Bizarre a true master of beating the odds though if Bond sells well.
Click to expand...
Don't be so sure, they pulled this week's from the site :lol .
 
X

X26

Banned
aside from a pretty ho-hum track list, PGR4 was great, probably the best $10 I've spent this gen
 
R

Router

Hopsiah the Kanga-Jew
VROOOM :(

1287947753_e5b47ddfed_o.gif
 
S

S1kkZ

Member
[Nintex] said:
It's like Don and friends first got rid of most MGS in-house developers but didn't realize they'd need first-party studios to create games.
Click to expand...
i still dont get why they closed/sold all the studios (except the guys that did halo wars).
bizarre was a perfect fit for ms (yep, the sales of pgr4 where bad but thats what you get when you release a game 4 days after halo 3 with ZERO marketing).
 
E

electroshockwave

Member
When Bizarre were bought by Activision I thought they would make a multiplatform spiritual successor to PGR. Since that didn't happen Microsoft should just wait for Activision to close Bizarre and pick up whoever they can from the wreckage.
 
G

gillty

Banned
cjelly said:
DICE and Angel Studios are both gone now, sorry. :(
Click to expand...

I don't care, find another developer. Midtown Madness is far and away the best open world racing series.

Hell, Midtown Madness 3 (DICE) > any Midnight Club game. :lol
 
S

Superfrog

Member
As much as I'd appreciate a new PGR game, I don't know about that. I can't think of many European racing studios that are still, uh, independent and could handle a project of that size. There's Sumo Digital, Slightly Mad Studios, SimBin, Bugbear and Eutechnyx, and that's pretty much it. Eutechnyx are clearly not good enough, and I'm not sure if Sumo could handle such a "deep" racing game. Slightly Mad Studios are probably working on NFS Shift 2 at full steam, SimBin are presumably too small and I'm not even sure if Bugbear (FlatOut series) still exist.

It's a shame that so many European racing game devs like DICE, Bizarre Creations, Climax/Black Rock or Criterion aren't independent anymore. :|
 
U

Ushojax

Should probably not trust the 7-11 security cameras quite so much
There is no point. The franchise is dead and people don't care enough for it to be worth bringing it back. They should focus on making a new racing IP.
 
L

LiK

Member
Ushojax said:
There is no point. The franchise is dead and people don't care enough for it to be worth bringing it back. They should focus on making a new racing IP.
Click to expand...
I would say the same thing for Goldeneye Wii but people who have fond memories for the brand will probably have more interest in it than a new IP.
 
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