James Lee
09:12 (BST)
04/08/2008
Related articles
Microsoft "wasn't in the right place" to acquire Bizzare, says Chudley
Sarah Chudley, Bizarre Creations' commercial director, has explained that Microsoft "wasn't in the right place" to acquire her company.
Speaking to Videogaming247, Chudley said that Bizzare Creations, which was acquired by Activision last year, wasn't bought by Microsoft due to the company's "internal structure" and single platform focus.
"Obviously as the publisher they had to know what was going on, but their internal structure probably wasn't in the right place to buy things at the time," she said. "And they're a single format. OK, Xbox is doing fantastically, but who knows what's going to happen in the future?"
Chudley revealed that the Activision's offer came as a surprise but forced the developer to consider the risks of remaining independent.
"We weren't up for sale. We absolutely weren't up for sale. It wasn't a case of, 'Let's go and pitch and sell ourselves,'" she said.
"We just got to the point where we were looking forward. The Club took us about a year to sign up. A year is a long time when you've got 50 staff sitting there twiddling their thumbs in early development stages, because obviously the publisher has quite an influence into what type of game is made."
"We've got a lot of money in the bank, but that used to be five years' worth of money, and then three year's worth of money. And then you think, 'Well, there are a lot of people resting on this.'"
She further explained that the deal with Activision freed the developer from the administration and business responsibilities of running a company.
"We're not big business people...we didn't get into the games industry to be all-powerful, all expanding. It got to the point where we weren't enjoying it."
Bizarre Creations was snapped up by Activision last year, which the developer later said gave it the freedom to focus on games development.
To comment on this article, or view other users comments, you need to register for the GamesIndustry.biz Network.
