Blood Stone's Bizarre recommended for closure
The worst case scenario for UK developer Bizarre Creations is apparently occurring. Parent company Activision has recommended that Bizarre be closed. Previously Bizarre Creations went through a “90-day consultation period, statutory redundancy” which is required by UK law prior to shutting down a business. It was thought that during this time Bizarre would find a buyer. One likely buyer was Microsoft who published Bizarre’s Project Gotham Racing series on their consoles.
Coddy Johnson, Activision Worldwide Studios’ chief operating officer said, “I want to be clear, our first choice was to try and keep this group together and find a buyer for the studio. This decision comes after a few months of exhausted examination of a number of different options across the board.” “But unfortunately, so far we’ve not been able to find any interested parties. So we’ve made as a last resort, a recommendation to the team for closure,” he added.
Bizarre Creation’s last released game was James Bond 007: Blood Stone which got “okay” reviews but was practically DOA for sales. That said, Blur’s failing to find commercial success appears to be the main reason for Bizarre’s closure.
Bizarre Creations has almost 200 staffers.