Activision shuts down Bizarre Creations

[boxoctosis]

I know!

I thought The Club was their best game myself , but that was doomed once Sega signed it up.

[Robo_1]

Studio closes on Friday - Obituary.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/37017/Obituary-Bizarre-Creations

A fairly frank appraisal of the studios stint with Activision, from one of the developers posting on the Develop Boards:

When Activision took us over we did have creative control. When they shut us down we still had that creative control.

The problem was that we made Blur; real cars in realistic cities with power ups. Who were we selling that game to? Marketing had no chance, we didn't even know how to sell it or who it was aimed at.

Then we made Bond, which was destined to be average from the start when we aimed to 'make it like Uncharted 2, but in half the time and with James Bond in it'. Along with engine changes half way through and ignored warnings from external reports the entire way it was never going to hit the 85+ bar we'd had set for us by Activision.

Like a kid in a sweet shop we had no idea what to do and we ended up doing the wrong thing for nearly 4 years.

Seems that there were problems with Bizarre's management as much as anything else. Sad times though, I wish the team well. I've gone back to playing Blur online recently, it's probably the best online racing experience out there.

[The Sarge]

I'd say the real problem was they didn't make The Club 2 with competitive co-op.

I'm surprised to hear a developer say that about Blur, there was definitely a market/audience for the game (how many Mario Kart-esque games are there on the PS360?). Instead of trying to mock Mario Kart for its kiddie appeal in ads, they should have focused on showing the more fun aspects of the game. Have four people on a couch playing split-screen, promote the social aspects of the game like challenges, rivalries, etc.

[Hawkeye]

I have to admit I never played Blur, but what ever idiot decided to advertise it by trying to slag off one of the most popular games of this generation really needs a good slapping. The only thing that did was make you think they thought Mario Kart was twee, which pretty much insulted anyone who liked Mario Kart!

[Robo_1]

I'd say the real problem was they didn't make The Club 2 with competitive co-op.

I'm surprised to hear a developer say that about Blur, there was definitely a market/audience for the game (how many Mario Kart-esque games are there on the PS360?). Instead of trying to mock Mario Kart for its kiddie appeal in ads, they should have focused on showing the more fun aspects of the game. Have four people on a couch playing split-screen, promote the social aspects of the game like challenges, rivalries, etc.

I think you're right, in that there was definitely a market for a Mario Kart style race/battler on the HD consoles, but the mix of real cars and locations with sci-fi weapons made for a very jarring combination, and I can imagine many people simply dismissing it as an oddity, before putting their cash down for a nice safe military shooter.

Truth be told, I thought word of mouth would have given the game a second wind sales wise, but it never really happened, and with todays fire sale discounts on anything that doesn't crack the top ten in it's first two weeks, it never found the audience it deserved.

[Father Vegetable]

Agreed on the difficulty with marketing Blur.

It is a fun game - but I only found out about it when it hit a £12 price-point four months after release. I simply didnt buy into the marketing, which was their major problem.

[ah]

i always felt like they were giving off a bit of a lads' mag vibe with their marketing and presentation - i put it down to just being because they were aiming for that audience with the project gotham games, but that mario kart advert for blur was on a whole new level, some kind of throwback to the PS1 days of game marketing.

i don't think it can be blamed for the game's lack of success, though. it just didn't appeal to (enough) people as a game.

[Guest]

Sargen is bang on. That advertising campaign was truly awful. Focussing on a more negative aspect "it's nota kids game" isn't going to sell it to anyone. Talk about your game, not poke fun at others.

And guess what; mariokart is better.

[Father Vegetable]

I guess the campaign was forced to look at an audience that typically didnt buy Bizarre games?

[Hawkeye]

I guess the campaign was forced to look at an audience that typically didnt buy Bizarre games?

Playstation owners?

[Guest]

I guess the campaign was forced to look at an audience that typically didnt buy Bizarre games?

Well if it was trying to hook mariokart gamers then you've alienated them by saying "our game is better, you're is lol!"

And the game itself may have alienated their traditional audience too.

Did the game tell us what Blur was/what it did/how great it was - or as The Sarge says, show us the social aspects? Nope.

Even Goldeneye, which is a shootyface game, was marketed on the Wii with "Yeah me and my mates, we shoot each other mate yeeaaaa".

Something more like that for Blur would have worked better. Show us the competitive and combative elements and blowing your mates face up instead of showing us a cutesy racer that actually looks better than what was on the other side of the fence.

[spatular]

And guess what; mariokart is better.

i'd sort of disagree with that, i've played and loved most of the mario kart games, but mainly for battle mode and time trials as the handling and the tracks are great - better than in blur imo. but for the main part of the game - a racing game with weapons - mario kart can be random and annoying. blur in comparison has a near perfectly balanced weapon system, (and with the brilliant chaos of 20 player online races) it completely outshines mario kart in this respect. imo obviously.

I still agree that the advertising was a bit pants.

[SeanR]

played Blur last night.

*sniff*

[cavalcade]

The marketing department were faced with Red Dead Redemption and Split/Second. One was a surprising commercial success, gobbling up the casuals, and the other was clearly fighting in the same space as Blur. So, you've got your audience cannibalised wholesale on one side, and split on the other. But I do think those developer comments are odd - realistic cars in realistic cities with power ups. Who are you selling that to? Well, people who like Bizarre's previous game with realistic cars and cities (and there are at least a couple of million of those people considering the sales figures of the PGR series) and people who like powered up kart racers but are starved of them on the 360/PS3. I'd say you have a clear demographic to target at there - far more than, say, the guys who are promoting the latest Need For Speed Shift ("er..... it's got car racing in it!"). I don't see how Activision could have asked for much more than Bizarre delivering their highest rated original title of 2010 with a built-in clear couple of groups of people to target the marketing at. The Bond game was clearly a misstep, but again, poor scheduling did for it, as even a fairly crap Bond game should be shifting a couple of million. Shame really.

But I love Blur, and I guess I'm thankful as an IP it had one, blinding, brilliant, game rather than a creeping 5 year Activision raping, as we go through Blur 2, Blur : Colon, Blur : Colon : Colon, Blur Unleashed, Blur DS Cartoon Kart Racers, Blur 80s edition and Blur Kinect before the franchise is thrown spent and weeping on the Guitar Hero bonfire.

[Mr Majestyk]

I may need to fire up PGR2 just for old times sake.

[K]

Split Second vs Blur is an interesting one, because I gather that even the combined sales of both games weren’t too shit-hot. Both games were from experienced teams with good track records, and both had a gimmick to distance themselves from the crowd – Split Second was Burnout with Bruckheimer-film stunts and explosions, Blur was PGR with weapons, and a multiplayer structured after Call of Duty’s.

I’m not sure we can blame the marketing on either, because they both had different advertising campaigns, and both underperformed. I would say that it’s probably more likely that people just didn’t think Blur looked that good – the graphics are quite stylish, but not amazing and the general look of the game is fairly understated. I liked the misty, restrained look, but it didn’t really come across in screenshots. Basically, it looked like the most generic driving game imaginable in videos and screenshots. It was a driving game that used real cars that didn’t look as realistic and detailed as the ones in Need for Speed and Forza, and had a relatively mundane selection; it was an arcadey driving game also didn’t look as violent and intense as Burnout.

Blur was a great game, but its qualities were difficult to get across in advertising or in media.

[Broker]

I may need to fire up Geometry Wars just for old times sake.

Fixed

[user removed]

I have to admit I never played Blur, but what ever idiot decided to advertise it by trying to slag off one of the most popular games of this generation really needs a good slapping. The only thing that did was make you think they thought Mario Kart was twee, which pretty much insulted anyone who liked Mario Kart!

Hold up, in the TV adverts they weren't trying to cuss down Mario Kart (seeing as the entire game is basically mario kart with real cars), they were cussing modracers or whatever poor racing version of LBP Sony was putting out?!

Problem was Split Second, which to all intents and purposes was marketed to the same audience at the same time and the millions of purchasers not schooled up like we are, wouldn't have know the difference.

[RFT]

The marketing department were faced with Red Dead Redemption and Split/Second. One was a surprising commercial success, gobbling up the casuals, and the other was clearly fighting in the same space as Blur. So, you've got your audience cannibalised wholesale on one side, and split on the other. But I do think those developer comments are odd - realistic cars in realistic cities with power ups. Who are you selling that to? Well, people who like Bizarre's previous game with realistic cars and cities (and there are at least a couple of million of those people considering the sales figures of the PGR series) and people who like powered up kart racers but are starved of them on the 360/PS3. I'd say you have a clear demographic to target at there.

For me, the combination of the real cars and powerups was a complete turnoff. if you're going to do powerup racing, go nuts - make Wipeout, make split/second, make mario kart. using real cars is holding the concept back. I suspect that for a lot of people they saw a game that had one foot in a genre they liked, but with an element they really didn't care for (the arcade/power up market being turned off by dull settings and real cars, and the Gotham/Grid/Forza side turned off by the wacky-races powerups.). I think it was one of those situations where mixing genres loses both fanbases. (though it has tol be said that NFS hot pursuit has doen a similar thing with much more success).

To me, personally, the concept made no sense. I do see the motivation behind it (PGR4 died on it's arse, therefore they needed to do something), though I have a suspiscon that PGR4's main failing was releasing not very long after FM2 and with little or no marketing support - a good deal of its potential audience were probably still forza-ing.

[Nicky]

For me, the combination of the real cars and powerups was a complete turnoff. if you're going to do powerup racing, go nuts - make Wipeout, make split/second, make mario kart. using real cars is holding the concept back. I suspect that for a lot of people they saw a game that had one foot in a genre they liked, but with an element they really didn't care for (the arcade/power up market being turned off by dull settings and real cars, and the Gotham/Grid/Forza side turned off by the wacky-races powerups.). I think it was one of those situations where mixing genres loses both fanbases. (though it has tol be said that NFS hot pursuit has doen a similar thing with much more success).

To me, personally, the concept made no sense. I do see the motivation behind it (PGR4 died on it's arse, therefore they needed to do something), though I have a suspiscon that PGR4's main failing was releasing not very long after FM2 and with little or no marketing support - a good deal of its potential audience were probably still forza-ing.

This is bang on the money

[Yoshimax]

Hold up, in the TV adverts they weren't trying to cuss down Mario Kart (seeing as the entire game is basically mario kart with real cars), they were cussing modracers or whatever poor racing version of LBP Sony was putting out?!

Modnation racers might not be everybodies cup of Tea but it's far from "poor".

[The Sarge]

Hold up, in the TV adverts they weren't trying to cuss down Mario Kart (seeing as the entire game is basically mario kart with real cars), they were cussing modracers or whatever poor racing version of LBP Sony was putting out?!

The ad had a very obvious Mario Kart theme. (at least in my opinion)

Here it is again for those who've forgotten just how bad it was...

I haven't played MNR, but from what I've seen of it, it's nothing like the game they are cussing in that TV ad.

[Guest]

i'd sort of disagree with that, i've played and loved most of the mario kart games, but mainly for battle mode and time trials as the handling and the tracks are great - better than in blur imo. but for the main part of the game - a racing game with weapons - mario kart can be random and annoying. blur in comparison has a near perfectly balanced weapon system, (and with the brilliant chaos of 20 player online races) it completely outshines mario kart in this respect. imo obviously.

I still agree that the advertising was a bit pants.

Well, more from the aspect of anyone who knows Mariokart. And everyone knows Mariokart. Yet in an advertising campaign you're kinda saying "Mariokart is dull, we're better" - it's not the best idea. Is Mariokart dull? Not really [for many who've played it!]. So yeah, you're kind of turning off the audience perhaps you're trying to target?

Now if the advertising was 20 player online chaos, shit going off, you smashing your mates about - that sounds much better to me. You've already described it and sold it better than that advert did.

[Guest]

Hold up, in the TV adverts they weren't trying to cuss down Mario Kart (seeing as the entire game is basically mario kart with real cars), they were cussing modracers or whatever poor racing version of LBP Sony was putting out?!

It was the cartoon racer genre, really. Yet most people will think Mariokart because it's been around that long. That and the mushroom head thing was like...well a mushroom head toad thing.

[Sidewaysbob]

Absolutly. It wasn't Wipeout enough and didn't look like need for speed. I played the Demo and just didn't like it.

[user removed]

It was the cartoon racer genre, really. Yet most people will think Mariokart because it's been around that long. That and the mushroom head thing was like...well a mushroom head toad thing.

Yeah after rewatching it, that's obviously a toad character, but at the time there was bare advertising for modnation racers, really hammering the social friends approach of LBP, so I made the link from that.

That's really bad comms between marketing and developers then, because Blur mimics Mario Kart mechanics almost entirely and makes bare references to it throughout the game (red carapace!).

Yoshimax - I played for a few hours at a mates house, found it massively boring.

[SeanR]

It was the cartoon racer genre, really. Yet most people will think Mariokart because it's been around that long. That and the mushroom head thing was like...well a mushroom head toad thing.

it's broccoli, and kids HATE broccoli.

[Guest]

Yeah after rewatching it, that's obviously a toad character, but at the time there was bare advertising for modnation racers, really hammering the social friends approach of LBP, so I made the link from that.

That's really bad comms between marketing and developers then, because Blur mimics Mario Kart mechanics almost entirely and makes bare references to it throughout the game (red carapace!).

From the piece posted earlier

The problem was that we made Blur; real cars in realistic cities with power ups. Who were we selling that game to? Marketing had no chance, we didn't even know how to sell it or who it was aimed at.

It was aimed at people who like to driveyshoot! Yeah, it's still kinda hard to know who's going to go for it...but as The Sarge says, focus on the multiplayer, the fun, and do not use the tagline "RACE LIKE A BIG BOY" - which has to go down as pretty weak. Ohh you're a big boy! Big boy now! Be a big boy and race! Race! [no mention of shootyface/car/multiplayer etc. You won't make friends on this game! Yeah...cos games are best without friends. Get rid of your friends list].

Rubbish.

Nevermind, onwards and upwards...

it's broccoli, and kids HATE broccoli.

It's got Vitamin K in! They best eat it!

[cavalcade]

(PGR4 died on it's arse, therefore they needed to do something),

PGR4, a 360 only release, sold twice as many copies as Blur across both platforms. It was also the highest selling PGR title in the series.

[Harsin]

It was absolutely bizarre (no pun intended). Who is that ad aimed at?

Mario Kart owners who might be interested in a non-cartoony alternative? If so A: it's more likely to antagonise Wii owners who enjoyed Mario Kart than entice them as others have said, and B: Blur wasn't even released for the Wii!

HD Console owners? In that case it doesn't make much sense either, the PS3 and 360 are absolutely awash with games where you can race real licensed cars around real cities, whilst cartoony cart racers are a relative rarity (the only one I can think of off the top of my head is that Sonic one), so using the caroon/realistic juxtaposition as your main selling point is pretty nonsensical.