Bizarre backs away from Geometry Wars

While Bizarre Creations built its reputation on critically successful racing games like Project Gotham Racing and Blur, the studio has developed a number of games outside the genre, none more successful than the Geometry Wars series of twin-stick shooters. Bizarre is apparently rethinking its hostility toward shapes, as a recent interview with level designer Peter Collier suggested the studio could be done with the series for some time.

"It's a great and very proud feeling having something that the fans adore so much, but we don't want to over-saturate it by carrying on with it," Collier told Videogamer.com. "It's maybe something that we keep as something we love, and move on to other things, you know?"

Collier stopped short of ruling out a Bizarre-developed Geometry Wars at some undetermined point in the future but did tell the site there was nothing on the horizon planned.

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved on Xbox Live Arcade was the surprise hit of the Xbox 360 launch in November 2005, spawning numerous imitators and prompting Bizarre to step up its intellectual property protection efforts. The game also spawned legitimate offspring with help from other developers, including a 2006 mobile phone adaptation and Geometry Wars: Galaxies on the Wii and DS. In July 2008, Bizarre developed a proper sequel to its original Xbox Live Arcade game with Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2.

Bizarre was purchased by Activision in September 2007 as part of the publisher's plan to expand its presence in the racing genre. Retro Evolved 2 was the first game to come out of the developer in the wake of that acquisition, but the studio has since been working on four-wheeled action titles like Blur and James Bond 007: Blood Stone.