Bizarre Creations Officially Closes This Friday

James Bond 007: Blood Stone

Written Tuesday, February 15, 2011 By Richard Walker

With Activision initially looking into the possibility of selling troubled studio, Bizarre Creations, the outlook didn't look completely bleak for the Liverpool-based developer, but with the publisher later recommending that the studio finally close its doors, any hope that it would continue to operate disappeared. And on Friday, 18th February that will officially be the case, as Bizarre Creations shuts down and will cease to exist for good.

Develop reports that sources inside Bizarre seem positive regarding the way in which Activision is conducting the closure, although it's also said that the publisher "meddled" in certain projects and failed to support games with the level of marketing they required. Blur and James Bond: Blood Stone's recent poor performance at retail reflect this.

Famed for its racing titles such as Blur, Project Gotham Racing on Xbox and Metropolis Street Racer on Dreamcast as well as its not-so-good action games like The Club and the recent 007 romp, Blood Stone, there's no doubt that the 200-strong UK developer will be sorely missed.

[Via Game Informer]

User Comments

Forum Posts: 0	Comment #1 by HappyNoodleBoi Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 06:18:07 AM	(0)
	Another studio down and it isn't activision. So sad...

Forum Posts: 119	Comment #2 by dreadnaught_ Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 07:19:17 AM	(0)
	@ #1 ... Activision is a publisher, not a studio.

Forum Posts: 48	Comment #3 by Motino Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 08:32:09 AM	(0)
	Activision trying to fuck around inside the studio and not support the games like it should have.. Why is that not surprising..

Forum Posts: 0	Comment #4 by vulwing Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 09:47:18 AM	(0)
	Another company bites the dust. With such unstable jobs and unannounced layoffs, the game development industry must be the worst career to go into.

Forum Posts: 51	Comment #5 by Baloth Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 10:52:46 AM	(0)
	@4 Correct me if I'm wrong but you could always remain an independant game developer and not be tied to publishers like Activision that don't really appreciate all the hard work and effort the hired developer companies put in unless it yields them a multi million dollar profit.

Forum Posts: 345	Comment #6 by catslayer11 Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 11:21:05 AM	(0)
	does that means Servers for bloodstone will close down for good?

Forum Posts: 498	Comment #7 by JamesSoprano Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 11:31:15 AM	(0)
	couldn't care to be honest. had no interest in blur and PGR was over rated and Geometry Wars Sucked as well IMO. sad they are unemployed and Activision killed them but as i said for the games i didn't care for them or they just sucked. i think game Devs should realize ... do not work with Activision.

Forum Posts: 6962	Comment #8 by Falcon1991 Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 11:37:42 AM	(0)
	Sigh, what a pity. :( I love Blood Stones and was playing to get Blur this year.

Forum Posts: 6962	Comment #9 by Falcon1991 Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 11:39:39 AM	(0)
	*planning.

Forum Posts: 172	Comment #10 by DABVT Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 01:45:35 PM	(0)
	this is sad, i just hope 007 Blood Stones servers dont get shut down. i really want to get that game because i loved Quantum of Solace (Platinum #8)

Forum Posts: 749	Comment #11 by Jack Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 02:05:42 PM	(0)
	Another one bites the dust...I really like project gotham racing and Blur was fun as hell

Forum Posts: 0	Comment #12 by cknight44 Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 07:09:16 PM	(0)
	Fuck Activision they are just a pile of used up douschebags who want nothing but millions of dollars and if a game doesnt meet that standard they shut it down

Forum Posts: 77	Comment #13 by four_2113 Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 11:13:22 PM	(0)
	Sorry for the loss of jobs, but meh. It is what it is. The talent from Bizarre Creations will be picked up pretty quickly (hopefully) by other, like minded or otherwise, publishers, and another publisher will take their place on the chopping block. Such is life.

Forum Posts: 1017	Comment #14 by raz_lintu Wednesday, February 16, 2011 @ 12:14:01 AM	(0)
	I lived right round the corner from this place, sad to see it go.

Forum Posts: 126	Comment #15 by Cluster1990 Wednesday, February 16, 2011 @ 04:01:24 AM	(0)
	the people who worked for that team are probly going to be desolved into other Actavision teams. honestly I didn't really like this developer, I felt they lacked vision and creativity. ( a good reason why they only really made racing and bond games.) @12, I'm glad actavision is willing to cut things because they dont meet a quality standard. alot of companies should take note of this. if it's not going to be a good product, don't make it at all. if you're going to sit there and say they are evil people for cutting off a dead limb, then you know nothing of how to run a buisness, and shouldnt pretend that you do.

Forum Posts: 20449	Comment #16 by Terminator Wednesday, February 16, 2011 @ 11:55:15 AM	(0)
	@7 You've hit the nail on the head there. I've also tried the games you've mentioned and hated all of them.

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Game Info

Developer: Bizarre Creations Publisher: Activision Genre: Shooter Release: US: November 02, 2010 Europe: November 05, 2010 Japan: January 13, 2011
Resolution: 480p, 720p
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Players: 1
Online Players : 2-16
ESRB: Teen

Collection:	265
Wishlist:	78

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