Jump to content

Activision shuts down Bizarre Creations

Corleth the Fey

By Corleth the Fey,
in Discussion

 Share

Recommended Posts

The Sarge

The Sarge

Posted
Posted

Update from Acti...

Over the past three years since our purchase of Bizarre Creations, the fundamentals of the racing genre have changed significantly. Although we made a substantial investment in creating a new IP, Blur, it did not find a commercial audience. Bizarre is a very talented team of developers, however, because of the broader economic factors impacting the market, we are exploring our options regarding the future of the studio, including a potential sale of the business.

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/66490

So it's partly true. :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Masu

Masu

Posted
Posted

THIS wont have helped much, back in June this year.

how we forget so very, very fast :(

Video games industry bodies have reacted with anger to the government's announcement that it will scrap plans to introduce tax breaks for the UK games industry.

In the emergency budget, the chancellor called Labour's pre-election plans to offer tax cuts to video games companies "poorly targeted". Instead, he is introducing generic measures to stimulate growth throughout the business sector, including cuts to corporation tax and national insurance.

The news has come as a blow to UK games developers who are having to compete against countries that offer significant tax advantages to their rivals. In Quebec, for example, the government pays a third of the salary costs of development staff and offers tax holidays for foreign investors. The incentives have prompted publishers such as Square Enix, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and Warner Bros set up studios in Montreal, often downscaling British investment in the process. Australia, South Korea and the US offer similar incentives.

While the UK remains a leading force in game development, which contributed £1bn to the British economy last year, it lost its position as the world's third largest game producer to Canada in 2007.

Reacting to the announcement, Richard Wilson, the chief executive of the UK games industry's trade body, Tiga, said: "The coalition government has broken pre-election pledges made by the Conservative party and by the Liberal Democrats to support and introduce games tax relief.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Karzee

Karzee

Posted
Posted

Jeez, Blur is not only my GotY but it's also the best, most exciting arcade racer to come out in years. It was gutting for me and others that it never hit high sales because the devs announced they would be supporting Blur for some time, but poor sales led to no DLC. Confirmation of Blur 2 was announced............and then this happens. Fucksake.

I seem to recall that Blur had pretty heavy advertising as well, so I don't think the problem was Activision not spending.

If I recall the biggest problem wasn't advertising, it was both the timing (2 weeks after Split Second, 1 week after Red Dead Redemption, and 2 weeks before the World Cup. I think Mod Nation also came out around the same time), and that Game refused to stock it or push it in their stores or online website because of a spat with Activision over percentages.

Its a real shame, but they've had such a history of commercial flops lately im amazed they lasted this long. The marketing on Blur was so ill-conceived, I know people here liked it...but a realistic driving game with mario kart style weaponry? Not a good idea.

It was a brilliant idea, and executed so well that practically every single race ended with tight battles across the finishing line. And just about everyone on here who took a chance and tried it out online with us loved it.

4
Link to comment
Share on other sites
TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap

TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap

Posted
Posted

Well, it isn't my fault, as I've bought every racer (and Geometry Wars) since they started making games for the Xbox.

Sad news, hopefully they'll manage to find a new investor or can do a buyout or something. PGR4 was criminally overlooked (although it probably didn't help that it was released in the same month as Halo 3 and a few other big hitters), Blur seems to have suffered the same fate. Bah.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Strangelite

Strangelite

Posted
Posted

Funny how many people saying "fuck you activision" are the same people in the black ops thread...

Anyway, this is really shit news if true, i've got one or two mates working there and this close to Christmas sucks shitty death. Hopefully some publisher *cough* Microsoft swoop in and save a really talented bunch.

:(

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jack Walsh's coffee shop

Jack Walsh's coffee shop

Posted
Posted

Blood Stone has had a stack of TV advertising, so I'm not really sure why everyone is saying "no advertising".

Really, it took be long enough to find one on Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytK8c70hYCY

As for GoldenEye 007, that seemingly got a pretty expansive campaign:

There's another 3-4 of these.

Wonder if anyone will get any comment out of EON Productions about how Blood Stone was handled and promoted. Is the deal that Activision signed with them or MGM? How much longer does it have to run?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
HeyMykie

HeyMykie

Posted
Posted

Wowzers well this is bad news. Aside from Rock band 2 no game has ever come close to capturing as much of my mindshare as blur did. Great dev house. The fact that this thread is so long already shows how much their loved.Hopefully they can be saved. Zenimax could use a nice racing studio under their belt...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jack Walsh's coffee shop

Jack Walsh's coffee shop

Posted
Posted

The government doesn't have to care.

When there's jobs at stake, an (originally) home grown multi-billion dollar industry that's losing its world standing and also the the matter of a UK cultural contribution, both for people in the UK and internationally.

They fucking well should!!

:angry:

Case in point: I wonder if Bizarre are getting this treatment cos they flat out refused to make the NASCAR game that Activision wanted after they acquired the license.

NASCAR being so amazing British and culturally rich after all.

5
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Sad news. PGR2 was absolutely outstanding.

I would hope and expect that the very talented staff who've made some great games go and set up their own companies and make some cracking new titles.

Good luck guys.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap

TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap

Posted
Posted

PGR 2 on Live was the game that got me into online gaming and this very forum, very fond memories of the late nights playing that game. :wub: Hopefully Bizzare will continue on in some form.

Yeah, definitely. If I look back over the past years, PGR2 is by far my most played online game. Epic sessions were had with people on this forum, but also randoms. The selection of tracks (with great stuff like Paris added later), the cars and the flawless online performance made it great. Wasn't it PGR2 where we raced Ferraris in Moscow? Not to mention that in those days people actually stuck with a game because there wasn't a new big online title to chase every other week. Who could forget their first game of Cat & Mouse on the Nurburgring? PGR3 was also good, but felt rushed to make it in time for launch. PGR4 was fucking fantastic, but unfortunately it never had the thriving online community PGR2 had.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Use of this website is subject to our Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, and Guidelines.

  I accept