Activision dropping Bizarre Creations

this has been going on for a while not new news this is y were not gettting dlc for blur and its a great game and by doing this they create a good game then scrap the support for it when the units sold alot and the consumer wants more out of the game Activision f'd up ill hang up blur on the shelves and remember the good ol times ( day dreaming) OMG f'ing campers well least i got black ops to keep me busy and castlevaina lord of the shadows

@Trogeton: Activision is a publisher, that's quite different from being a 'developer'. Sure, they a have a good line of games, I can tell you that since I loved prototype (even if they apported to it little more than a release date), along other games like CoD, but it will be a problem if they just homogenize everything in play-safe FPSs -most rental category right now-. Mostly here we hate the sin, not the sinner (Activision). And if you can't see what bad is being done here with talended people losing their jobs because 'experiments' of a big company (along with Radical Software and Budcat) then you need at least to check those articles. I really hope you are not trolling.

@ricardo-sene Very good points. I'd say this is on Activision in both cases.

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I hope Microsoft pick Bizarre back up and get them working on a PGR5. PGR4 was one of the best arcade racers I have played. Activisions loss in the end really, Seems they are just off loading any developers that they are unable to milk every year for sequals. The next generation of games are looking very dire if this current trend continues...

damn shame to see such a good developer end up like this. I think ill go play blur....

Noooooo I wanted Geometry Wars 3 :cry:

@DemonWolfFenrir Bungie won't have the same problem as Bizarre Creations as they are still an independent studio and not owned in any way by Activision. They only have a publishing contract with Activision, so the worst Activision could do is cancel the contract which would leave Bungie free to peddle the new IP to other publishers as they retain the rights to the new game IP.

wow activision is going to buy up all these game companies and put them down for the count bye bye bungie and thanks for helping the economy activision your as bad as EA.

When a games reviews well but doesn't sell well, I take that to mean it wasn't advertised like is should have been. That, or it went up against a high profile title like COD or Halo. Either way, if it's a weak launch it's the publishers fault. Tis wouldn't be the first time Activision has done this. They shut down Harmonix for bad Guitar Hero sales. It was Activision that pushed the release of so many Guitar Hero games to begin with. They were practically coming out on top of eachother.

activision is still one of the top 3 developers out there and still the haters hate like someone is forcing them to buy activisions games gah stop bashing activision already grow up no one wants to see the whinning on these news posts

something is very wrong in the video game industry. Many, many great games come out, but they all sell so poorly... this was not the industry I remember in the previous generation.

Ugh, reading some comments here reminds me of how Activision is closing devs, exploiting them, cut some games financing (Brutal Legend), giving them concrete release date/budgets, or poor marketing that shows the lack of faith in some of their product, treating them like Stray Dogs (ie Singularity, Prototype and obviously the 2 last Bizarre Games). I know Activision loves money: thats why they market so much their Cash-in cows like rythm games etc-hero and CoD, but their experiments to find new cash-ins (this is what's all about) are hurting the industry. They just treath those poor developers like stray dogs that need to be 'put to rest'. I know it's weird to use cows and dogs, but believe me: is basic Administration. And I'm still mad at Activision for this. You know Kotick: You'll have 50 dollars from me if you made Singularity aviable in my Region, but that only shows the lack of faith in your non-CoD products. When FPS begin to stale (in selling therms, cuz in quality therms...) Raven software can kiss it goodbye, maybe even earlier. Edit: brain-dead IW, you are next.

Good reviews + bad sales usually = inadequate marketing. That would be the publisher's fault, not the developer's.

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Well, if Blur and 007 got solid review scores, but wasn't comercially successfull, that means the developer did theyre job and the publisher not..

Kodick strikes again. Don't you normally get three strikes before your out?

I hope they don't shut the studio down. Bizarre make grea games. Okay, Blur didn't sell very well, but it was a great game. Bizarre did their part. They can't go out and force people to go and buy it. This is the problem with Activision. They're too quick to shut down anything that isn't making it enough money. It's a shame Bizarre got mixed up with them in the first place. They should've stayed with Microsoft.

@lover001 GTA was created by a Scottish developer (DMA Design) and published by Take-Two, DMA were then bought by Take-Two and became part of Rockstar, and were then renamed to Rockstar North, who are based in Edinburgh, Scotland, which is part of Britain. The GTA games are made by them...so get your facts straight before you post your ignorant s*** spouting comments.

Activision`s the new EA...

Blur did have a commercial audience but Acti did naff all to advertise it like Singularity.

Good thing microsoft owns the project gotham ip (anyone get the feeling they had a psychic premonition about something like this?? lol)

Why not sell it to MS since they used to work for them anyway, even though I didn't like PGR at all this is the best option. Activision should really make commercials for other titles besides Spider-Man and CoD and maybe games with solid reviews might sell better. Especially since they had good reviews on Blur and 007, thats enough to keep them because their next title could be a cashcow.

And there goes another studio... Great job acticrap...

Another company got screwed again. Nice job, Activision! /sarcasm

i see microsoft snagging this studio. its a shame actihell is doing this.

Aaaaand heres another one of those activision "dick" moves.

what ever. Dont worry Bizzare employees you are really talanted and am sure Microsoft will want you to create another Project Gothem game.

@vectorman88 id Software is owned by Zenimax, not Activision.

@lover001 why do you hate the British so much???? I live in Britian and they make really good games like Batman Arkham Asylum

Bobby K. and Activision administration automatically win the biggest d-bag of 2010 award. All year, they brought the axe to their own devs. First luxoflux, then the guys that made prototype, infinity ward, and now bizzarre. Expect Raven and id software along with high noon to eventually get taken out as well. Activision is the vein of all evil in this industry. WHat we as gamers have to do is stand up and say no to activision. for now, dont buy black ops. im not (especially since there no excuse for the mw2 glitches coming right back in) otherwise, his vision of a colorless gaming industry may just happen.

I really liked Blur. It's too bad the game didn't make a splash.

"Although we made a substantial investment in creating a new IP, Blur, it did not find a commercial audience. 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." Translation: you guys didn't make a series that we could exploit every year and run into the ground. You're fired. Screw you, Activision. I hope that the guys at BC either get picked up or find work elsewhere. They're too talented to just sit around.

@Petch1984 "I'm guessing you are not British or at least not educated. GTA, Little Big Planet, Tomb Raider, Wipeout... and countless other games from the last 20+ years have been made in Britain. You have no idea what you're on about. The US and Japan are no doubt the leading countries in game development but the UK has certainly contributed." lol hahahaha im laughing hard @lover001, he better need more information than just blabbering about.. nice try Petch1984

to the guys at bizarre...geometry wars wii is my most played wii game this gen, and one of my fav games of all time. the day i get an xbox360, it will be for geometry wars 2. but i keep waiting to see if it will come out on wii. please make more.

Maybe MS should pick the4m back up. they did say they were looking for PGR4

@lover001 I'm guessing you are not British or at least not educated. GTA, Little Big Planet, Tomb Raider, Wipeout... and countless other games from the last 20+ years have been made in Britain. You have no idea what you're on about. The US and Japan are no doubt the leading countries in game development but the UK has certainly contributed.

and nothing of value was lost.

For a moment i thought it was blizzard!!! *smiled*

I hate all british studios , what these studios know abot gaming ?. I think they dont understand anything, threy cannot deploy a masterpiece game ... they have big balance but they dont have mind, yes it is the fact .. any british gamer knows this ... please , I dont want anybody to comment or vote about my opinion as I am sure he will tell that they are successful .

bizzare was one of the few companies that care about innovation. but activi$ion wants money not art.

Bizzare offer year long placements to students doing games courses at some Universities. I'm one of those people that was hoping to end up there on my placement year, but so much for that! Screw you Activision. Screw you. It just got personal.

I hope MS take them back under their wing, I liked Bizarre and their racing games.

@BigStik Why are you feeling sorry for Bungie? They knew (and know) exactly what they've signed up for. They bartered their Activision deal whilst the company was fending off a massive lawsuit from Infinity Ward. Bungie saw the horns on the devil it's dealt with, of that you can be certain.

why don't they fire that Kotick guy. Man what an idiot is that. Wasted talent ....

"Oh, what's that? Blur didn't make a quarter billion on release? Well then, tear down the team and set up a new one to take over the other succesful series they made." Yeah, not greedy at all. I think id be less pissed if they didn't have plans to make a new studio and give them PGR. Money money moneymoneymoneymoney.

Idiots.

Capitalism at its best ...

Activision is swimming in money,and Bizarre Creations is extremely talented and innovative, so of course yeah. Drop them on account of Blur - which was probably over-managed by the same corporate talking heads.