FARE THEE WELL BIZARRE IT WAS A RIDE

So, as most of you probably know, Bizarre Creations shut up shop today as part of Activision cutting their development teams.

So we wave goodbye and farewell to one of the most talented studios to produce games for the past sixteen or so years. What is interesting is that Bizarre were doing very well under the umbrella of Microsoft but when they decided to part company after Project Gotham Racing 4 to try something new they probably had no idea that a few short years later they would be closing down for good. When they were hoovered up by Activision they probably envisaged more stability being under the so called protection of one of the largest games publishers on the planet.

Yet as of today they are no more as Activison decided not to fund them anymore. It is probably fair to say that their last two games, Blur and Bloodstone could have sold more, but then again, Activision should have done more to market these titles. Blur was a great racing game which was enjoyable to play offline and online yet compared to the same predictable cash cow releases like Call of Duty it received very little exposure.

In many ways Bizarre were very unlucky when it came to James Bond: Bloodstone. This was supposed to be tied into a new Bond movie release but the film got delayed leaving the project high and dry. This was compounded by the fact that the game was also released in the same period as the Goldeneye reboot on the Wii and it became overshadowed. Having yet to play the game myself, I cannot comment as to whether it is any good or not, but I doubt it was a significantly worse game than other Activision releases this past year. What isn't in doubt is that it would have sold a darn sight more if the Bond movie had come out.

In my opinion, Activision have acted far too swiftly in letting the axe fall on Bizarre. Again the money men who know absolutely nothing about video games call the shots and another studio bites the dust. I hope that the staff find new homes so that their creativity can continue but it won't be the same.

With impunity Activision have swept away an excellent studio that has provided some truly excellent games down the years. The next time you buy Call of Generic Seen It All Before Shooter 37 and are bored of it, just spare a thought for Bizarre Creations and what they brought to the gaming table since 1994.