Bizarre Creations says goodbye with farewell video
"1994-2011"
Liverpool developer Bizarre Creations closes today – leaving a legacy of much-loved franchises and titles.
A video, entitled "Farewell Bizarre...it's been an absolute pleasure!", was put together by Bizarre's video editor Eamon Urtone. It references many of Bizarre's games, including Project Gotham Racing 4, Geometry Wars and The Club.
"Dedicated to all the talented guys & girls at Bizarre Creations," reads the video's subheading.
Bizarre began life in 1994. In November 2010 owner Activision announced its intent to offload the developer, citing poor sales of racing title Blur.
"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," said a statement released at that time.
However, no buyer came forward and last month its imminent termination was confirmed.
Activision exec Coddy Johnson explained that the publisher had "explored a lot of leads – pretty much anyone you can imagine in the industry. But unfortunately, so far we've not been able to find any interested parties. So we've made as a last resort, a recommendation to the team for closure."
Such a waste of an incredibly talented studio. I hope everyone there goes on to find work - in an ideal world another studio would rise from Bizarre's ashes, but one certainly could not and sustain that level of employees without some serious financial backing. Best wishes all. A sad day for videogames development.
Blur did it for me though - I think something clicked and I realised what a great game it is. There's a definite challenge on the default difficulty, but I wimped out and lowered it and realised it was a wholly different experience. There's plenty of nods to the PGRs of the past, but it still had a very Bizarre quality about it. Online is sublime and the presentation is super-slick. These days, fewer and fewer games have that personal touch - a recognisable personality. I think Bizarre-developed games had that trait in spades. Blur didn't deserve to be marketed the way it did - there was no real thought regarding release dates and that contributed to poor sales.
Any studio closure is a horrible thing, of which I was once a victim of. The fact that Bizarre were brilliantly consistent with their output and genuinely pushed boundries in some cases, I think that's what makes the closure such an injustice. The games industry is a much more different place now - studios which have heritage, history and a proven track record aren't safe from the shareholders; they don't give a damn about livelihoods affected. The industry I love seems to be diminishing by the week and that scares the bejesus out of me.
The real tragedy is the team which made up Bizarre will no doubt be split up and scattered throughout different development studios. Two decades of team building... suddenly gone.
Best of luck to those affected.
These guys deserved better for everything they've done in this industry, not to be kicked out the door like a drunken uncle on the holidays.
Best of luck where you all land - stay in touch with even better games and other projects.
To everyone who might be reading this who worked at Bizarre...thank you so much for all of your efforts. You've helped bring many moments of happiness to someone who has struggled with major depressive disorder his entire life. I appreciate it more than words can say. I wish them all the best of luck. Amazing talent and decades-long experience should not go to waste.
Hope all the people find something maybe at Sony Liverpool who does racing games or open a new studio.
Good luck to everyone there, hope you guys can find a way to climb back up!
I still can't believe they are gone, especially when they are one of the elite developers out there and certainly one that the UK can be proud of. Good luck to everyone from the Bizarre team. If its possible, please bring the old team back together and open up a new studio.