Bizarre Creations shutting down

[Zeether]

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/3251 ... ations.php

Shame on you, Activision.

[louisg]

That sucks. I never played any of the Project Gotham games, but MSR had a lot of potential. Those guys were definitely responsible for ushering in the last generation (first racing game I know of, besides the horrible and failed Vette, where you were racing around meticulously modeled real cities).

[Skykid]

Blur was actually decent too.

Oh well, another one bites the dust. Not sure I really give a shit anymore anyway, bedroom coding is the future now.

[Specineff]

Activision is the new EA.

[louisg]

All these companies that started off making original games are now basically just soulless distributors. It's funny to think EA and Activision both initially made a big deal of giving the designers credit (it was called Electronic Arts for a reason!). Once you get past the mid 90s, you can't imagine either company doing anything but making lots of dough in the most risk-adverse way possible.

[Battlesmurf]

: / What will happen to my Geometry Wars?

[drunkninja24]

All these companies that started off making original games are now basically just soulless distributors. It's funny to think EA and Activision both initially made a big deal of giving the designers credit (it was called Electronic Arts for a reason!). Once you get past the mid 90s, you can't imagine either company doing anything but making lots of dough in the most risk-adverse way possible.

Yeah, I always wonder sometimes what the Activision of the Atari 2600 days would think of the Activision of today.

[BulletMagnet]

Yeah, I always wonder sometimes what the Activision of the Atari 2600 days would think of the Activision of today.

"Holy crap, I wish that WE could be swimming in so much money" would be my guess.

[Shatterhand]

Oh damn, I was waiting for a Blur 2 with System Link support. They said they would do it.

Goddamn it.

Blur is excellent. It's a shame it was eclipsed by the extremely hyped overrated Split Second, as Blur is a LOT better than Split Second.

[Vyxx]

Yeah, I always wonder sometimes what the Activision of the Atari 2600 days would think of the Activision of today.

"Holy crap, I wish that WE could be swimming in so much money" would be my guess.

Or, "God we're a bunch of dicks!"

[junkeR]

Hopefully someone finishes 007: Blood Stone's sequel. I will miss these guys. I've been meaning to beat Fur Fighters for years now.

[Skykid]

Hopefully someone finishes 007: Blood Stone's sequel. I will miss these guys. I've been meaning to beat Fur Fighters for years now.

Wasn't that game meant to be terrible?

[headcaseGames]

it's a shame, but this is just the consequence of the way things are in the industry these days. A few years ago everybody was making money hand-over-fist and it seemed like things were just getting started. A semi-big compay would suddenly double their size (at least) since they "might as well do 2 and a half projects rather than one and a half." Proprietary engines were still the order of the day and it made sense to build and maintain them over the course of a not-very-long generation. YOY there was just more and more growth all over the place. People were making money and very happy, and there was usually no shortage of work on the high end (devs looking for publishers) or the low end (devs looking to staff up) or the low-low end (independent contractors picking up work for smaller devs).

Anyway, it made sense for a company like Bizarre to sign up with Activision. It was taking so much money and so much more time and manpower to make a single AAA title. If you want to get that kind of funding, you need a big pub to foot the bill and help you sell it. Long and short of it, it cost the same amount of $$ to hire a studio to build a AAA game as it did to just buy them, and this is what started happening a lot. It was a positive thing for all involved and it seemed that there wasn't really much alternative if you really wanted to be "taken seriously" - and it was absolutely the gateway to a lot more money for everyone on all sides of the equation, and the stability and promise of "a steady future" as well.

Then of course the S hit the fan and it all went haywire. Not one thing ruined it, but more like a carefully-constructed house of cards finally getting too top-heavy. TOO MANY GAMES IN PRODUCTION. Too many $60 games competing with one another. Too many new IPs fighting against the established ones. I remember the tremors in 2006 when for the first time, Madden was charting lower than it had, well, ever. A sign of things to come.

It got to the point where a game needed to sell 1 million just to break even. That used to be a thing of novelty! It used to be the case where a studio could poop out a few 60%-70% games, and they'd still make money, and have a decent reputation "to just get by." It's totally the other way around now. A strong company with solid history can spend 4+ YEARS on a game, costing tens of millions in development (not sure how much more on marketing, maybe the same?) If that thing doesn't make some serious cash, then what's the outcome?

- years of development "wasted" on an unsuccessful IP - cannot build off of a strong franchise
- tons of money down the drain, tons of extra people around
- people wanna buy whatever's big and what all their friends are playing. Perhaps games like Halo or COD which have lasting value, as opposed to "short burst experiences" (beat the game in a weekend or 2)
- people will check out the games they are "kinda interested in" when it rushes to the bargain bin, if they even remember. The press is so jaded, they often carve games up in previews nowadays and say "meh. More of the same. Don't buy this. No one cares." and they don't. "Sleeper Hit" games are interesting, but business failures that will never go anywhere.

People rag on the big houses like Activision and EA, but they don't understand that it is such a crazy system to put out games on that level, that consistently, and of such quality. People on the shmups board won't really care for many of their "mainstream games," and I don't much either, but the majority of modern gamers are extremely happy with the cream of what these guys put out year-in-and-out. These are huge games which are loaded with tons of features that probably never get used (multiplayer in Uncharted and Bioshock) but which "need to be there" in order to have that back-of-the-box bullet point.

Why do studios close? They don't make money. Their overhead is WAY too high. The people working in them on such ill-fated games easily see the writing on the wall years in advance, and get trapped stuck on longterm projects that seem like inevitable dead-ends. It kills their morale, and the games suffer because the people building these games don't have the heart and drive they once did.

Sorry to sound so jaded. In spite of my tone it is an extremely exciting time in gaming, and it's cyclical - things go really good for awhile, then bad, then good, bad, etc. It's still "great" for these big guys (as they cut off their ear to spite their face) but as what gamers buy/want is changing drastically, and how they do it, they are trying to prepare for these big changes. Not supporting limping, bleeding devs is a necessary part of this. I don't mean to sound harsh, and I have personally suffered because of this (layed off plenty of times), but it's the nature of this beast.

[Vexorg]

: / What will happen to my Geometry Wars?

It'll probably get farmed off to Treyarch or someone like that and shovelwared into oblivion.

[BPzeBanshee]

: / What will happen to my Geometry Wars?

It'll probably get farmed off to Treyarch or someone like that and shovelwared into oblivion.

NEW GAME COMING OUT DECEMBER 21 2012

"Call Of Duty: Geometry Warfare"

Now with Marijuana Mode and amazing brown blurs on the screen!

[Lordstar]

living in Liverpool this is a big hit to me. About 10 poeple i know are in that studio. Most of the people have seen this comming for months so have been applying for jobs. Most of the tallent is staying in the UK though.

[neorichieb1971]

I don't see why companies need the big companies. In the end it only spells doom and gloom. The big companies just want to pinch the best talent and let the rest to rot.

[junkeR]

Hopefully someone finishes 007: Blood Stone's sequel. I will miss these guys. I've been meaning to beat Fur Fighters for years now.

Wasn't that game meant to be terrible?

Which one? Blood Stone wasn't mind-blowing, but I had a fun time enjoying it. I am a huge sucker for the James Bond movies and video games. I believe I have all the 007 games since Goldeneye on the N64.

Fur Fighters seems like a real fun third-person shooter. It definitely appears to be an extremely large game with plenty of exploring. I've only played the first two levels or so.

[Skykid]

Hopefully someone finishes 007: Blood Stone's sequel. I will miss these guys. I've been meaning to beat Fur Fighters for years now.

Wasn't that game meant to be terrible?

Which one? Blood Stone wasn't mind-blowing, but I had a fun time enjoying it. I am a huge sucker for the James Bond movies and video games. I believe I have all the 007 games since Goldeneye on the N64.

Sorry I was talking about Bond. And that explains it.

[xris]

Lame, they seemed like a pretty solid dev. I'm only concerned because I would want another Geometry wars game. What the hell is the deal with larger companies buying then trying to sell off devs? Seems like a poor business model to me. They made a game that was good because you didn't put in your two cents in, then when you monkey it up you try to get rid of them or shut them down. Sounds like a 12 year old is running this, and doesn't like his new friend during play time and wants to now get rid of them.

[headcaseGames]

Lame, they seemed like a pretty solid dev. I'm only concerned because I would want another Geometry wars game. What the hell is the deal with larger companies buying then trying to sell off devs? Seems like a poor business model to me. They made a game that was good because you didn't put in your two cents in, then when you monkey it up you try to get rid of them or shut them down. Sounds like a 12 year old is running this, and doesn't like his new friend during play time and wants to now get rid of them.

like I said - if you want to compete in the console space, you need a big publisher to back you. The amount of time, money and manpower it takes to build a competitive AAA title (that anyone will take seriously) is enormous now, and the marketing is just as crucial (and just as expensive). It's a very big risk, more than it's ever been.

If you want to point the finger at someone, blame the studio heads who agreed to turn over the reigns to the publishers in the first place. No one forced their hand - although it would surely have seemed like the most sensible option at the time, considering.

[louisg]

It's a good point. Given how long it took to make the first game, Sega must've been kicking in some serious money back in the MSR days. It's too bad making blockbuster games is so expensive now. But, I suppose games have wound up in the same place movies have been at for a while: most people will see the blockbusters, and you can't go too wrong funding a spectacular movie in which lots of stuff blows up, but so often it's the low budget crap most people won't give a chance (or don't know about) that have the ideas (not that I don't enjoy a good mainstream game). It also makes me wonder if a lot of bloat could be cut out and most consumers wouldn't care or notice.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Damn shame another UK dev house has gone down the drain. I wonder how much can be attributed to those cancelled tax breaks that was planned for the UK games industry so that it could stay competative against countries like Canada

[louisg]

Damn shame another UK dev house has gone down the drain. I wonder how much can be attributed to those cancelled tax breaks that was planned for the UK games industry so that it could stay competative against countries like Canada

RIP Bitmap Brothers

[gameoverDude]

Ew. First Red Octane and Infinity Ward's West & Zampella get screwed without a kiss, now it's BC's turn. Let's hope they don't fuck over Raven like this someday.
Activision is now owned by Vivendi. Could that merger in 2008 be when the shitstorm started?
I'm a little jaded of the CoD franchise. Black Ops can wait until I find it for $30 or less.

[Vyxx]

Black Ops can wait until I find it for $30 or less.

So like in 2016

[BPzeBanshee]

Ew. First Red Octane and Infinity Ward's West & Zampella get screwed without a kiss, now it's BC's turn. Let's hope they don't fuck over Raven like this someday.
Activision is now owned by Vivendi. Could that merger in 2008 be when the shitstorm started?
I'm a little jaded of the CoD franchise. Black Ops can wait until I find it for $30 or less.

I got Black Ops for $94 at JB-Hifi and was quite happy with the purchase considering I don't do online multiplayer nor am I a fanboy of the series. The only way you'll see Black Ops reach $30 is to get it pre-owned at a Cash Converters (or similar) store...in 2016.

[burgerkingdiamond]

Ew. First Red Octane and Infinity Ward's West & Zampella get screwed without a kiss, now it's BC's turn. Let's hope they don't fuck over Raven like this someday.
Activision is now owned by Vivendi. Could that merger in 2008 be when the shitstorm started?
I'm a little jaded of the CoD franchise. Black Ops can wait until I find it for $30 or less.

I got Black Ops for $94 at JB-Hifi and was quite happy with the purchase considering I don't do online multiplayer nor am I a fanboy of the series. The only way you'll see Black Ops reach $30 is to get it pre-owned at a Cash Converters (or similar) store...in 2016.

What am I missing here? $94 for a COD game?

[neorichieb1971]

Bizarre have technical ability. Activision should let them try different genres and games before letting them go. Just because Blur didn't hit bullseye and letting them go is quite insane imo.

I would sign them up myself if I had the money.

[BPzeBanshee]

Ew. First Red Octane and Infinity Ward's West & Zampella get screwed without a kiss, now it's BC's turn. Let's hope they don't fuck over Raven like this someday.
Activision is now owned by Vivendi. Could that merger in 2008 be when the shitstorm started?
I'm a little jaded of the CoD franchise. Black Ops can wait until I find it for $30 or less.

I got Black Ops for $94 at JB-Hifi and was quite happy with the purchase considering I don't do online multiplayer nor am I a fanboy of the series. The only way you'll see Black Ops reach $30 is to get it pre-owned at a Cash Converters (or similar) store...in 2016.

What am I missing here? $94 for a COD game?

If you're thinking that's hugely expensive, that's because I'm talking Australian dollars. If the opposite is true, I went to JB Hifi who had a deal on (otherwise it wouldve been 100 dollars, not much off really) as opposed to EBGame's $120 deal.