Bizarre Creations
 | |
| Industry | Computer and video games |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1994 |
| Defunct | 18 February 2011 |
| Fate | Acquired, then dissolved |
| Successor | Lucid Games Hogrocket |
| Headquarters | Liverpool, United Kingdom |
| Products | Video games |
| Parent | Activision |
Bizarre Creations was a development studio that specialized in racing titles, namely Metropolis Street Racer (for Dreamcast) and the followup Project Gotham Racing series (for: Xbox, Xbox 360). The company has developed games in other genres, including the Geometry Wars arcade series, plus third-person shooters Fur Fighters and The Club. Bizarre Creations was acquired by publisher Activision in 2007, and subsequently completed its racer Blur in May 2010.
On 20 January 2011, Activision announced Bizarre Creations would close, and later confirmed the date. Bizarre marked the closure by releasing a retrospective video of its life's work.[1]
History
Bizarre Creations evolved from Raising Hell Software, a developer of video games founded in 1988 by Martyn Chudley. Sega pressured them over the use of "Hell" in the name so the company went nameless for a short time. In 1994 a submission to Psygnosis/Sony forced the need for a new name. The founder initially put "Weird Concepts" on the submission documentation. Later a staff member used Microsoft Word's thesaurus on the name and "Bizarre Creations" was the suggestion that stuck.
The Bizarre Creations team started off with five people working on a concept project called 'Slaughter'. After seeing the demo, Psygnosis signed on the developer to develop Formula 1 for the PlayStation. Formula 1 became the best selling game in Europe in 1996.
In 2006, the studio announced a departure from their usual racing genre. The Club is a third-person shooter, released on 7 February 2008.
On 26 September 2007, Activision acquired Bizarre Creations.[2] It announced that Project Gotham Racing 4 would be their last game produced for Microsoft Game Studios,[3] who own the rights to the Project Gotham Racing brand, so any future releases to the series will not be developed by Bizarre Creations.
On 16 November 2010 Activision announced that it was considering closing the developer as well as "exploring our options regarding the future of the studio, including a potential sale of the business.[4] Activision have since confirmed that no buyer could be found and the studio is to close.[5]
Games
- The Killing Game Show / Fatal Rewind — Amiga (1990), Atari ST (1990), Mega Drive (1991)
- Wiz 'n' Liz — Amiga, Mega Drive (1993)
- Formula One — PlayStation, PC (1996)
- Formula 1 97 / Formula One: Championship Edition — PlayStation, PC (1997)
- Metropolis Street Racer — Dreamcast (2000)
- Fur Fighters — Dreamcast, PC (2000)
- Fur Fighters: Viggo's Revenge — PlayStation 2 (2001)
- Project Gotham Racing — Xbox (2001)
- Treasure Planet — PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance (2002)
- Project Gotham Racing 2 — Xbox (2003)
- Project Gotham Racing 3 — Xbox 360 (2005)
- Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved — Xbox Live Arcade (2005), Windows Vista (2007), Windows XP (via Steam) (2007)
- Boom Boom Rocket — Xbox Live Arcade (2007)
- Project Gotham Racing 4 - Xbox 360 (2007)
- Geometry Wars: Galaxies - Nintendo DS, Wii (2007)
- The Club — Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC (2008)
- Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 — Xbox Live Arcade (2008)
- Geometry Wars: Touch - iOS4 (via iTunes App Store) (2010)
- Blur - Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC (2010)
- James Bond 007: Blood Stone - Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC (2010)[6][7]
Future of Bizarre Creations employees
On 26 February 2011 GameSpot reported that a group of senior members of Bizarre Creations were forming a new independent gaming studio known as Lucid Games.[8]
On 23 March 2011, Geometry Wars creator Stephen Cakebread, Peter Collier, a level designer on Blood Stone and Bizarre Creation's former community manager Ben Ward announced that they were starting a new company called Hogrocket.[9]
References
- ^ Wesley Yin-Poole (2011-02-18). "Bizarre says goodbye with farewell video News - - Page 1". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 2011-05-15.
- ^ Studio News - Bizarre Creations
- ^ "Activision buys Bizarre - News". www.developmag.com. 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2011-05-15.
- ^ Rainier (2010-11-16). "Activision Looking To Close Or Sell Bizarre Creations". WorthPlaying. Retrieved 2010-11-16.
- ^ Fred Dutton (2011-01-19). "Activision finalises Bizarre closure News - - Page 1". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 2011-05-15.
- ^ "James Bond 007: Blood Stone Leaks". IGN. 2010-07-16. Retrieved 2010-07-16.
- ^ "James Bond 007: Bloodstone confirmed". GameSpot. 2010-07-16. Retrieved 2010-07-16.
- ^ "Bizarre Creations vets form Lucid". Gamespot. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
- ^ "New Studio Emerges from Ex-Bizarre Staff". IGN.com. Retrieved March 24, 2011.