Developer 'Bizarre Creations' Up For Sale, 'Budcat' Closed
Minds behind Project Gotham look to be up for sale soon as another smaller outlet closes altogether.
Published: November 16, 2010
Some studios may be riding high, but in the past few weeks, many have been closed. To add to the list, Bizarre Creations, a studio that just launched Blood Stone 007. I don't think Paji's review had any impact on the studio's fate.
Today, many a message board and twitter account lit up with many industry players wishing a possibly early farewell to the Project Gotham creator. What originally sprung from a few hardcore gaming forum posts around the web, indicating the end was near according to some insiders, the rumor has gone to become more than it needs to be. Simply put, the current holding publisher, Activision, has not said they are closing the studio outright. However, they have this to say on the rumor:
"Over the past three years since our purchase of Bizarre Creations, the fundamentals of the racing genre have changed significantly," reads the company's press statement. "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."
At this time, things seems final in that Activision will try to get as much as they can from Bizarre Creations, and selling the studio might be their final option. What will happen to the 160-some-odd employees is also unknown, as no official or rumors of actual layoffs have hit.
Not to be outdone, the lesser-known studio Budcat Creations, officially closed its doors today. Budcat was responsible for many PlayStation 2 and Wii ports of the popular Guitar Hero series. The Activision studio, which comprised of approximately 1% of Activision's entire workforce, last developed Band Hero for the PS2 and has seemingly not worked on any titles since.
It has become quite commonplace in recent years to layoff or sell an entire studio after their major title ships, even if the first batch of sales figures aren't even hot. LucasArts is continuing to ax the rest of their staff as the company moves further away from internal development and becomes purely a license holder (no more Battlefront for you).
Today, many a message board and twitter account lit up with many industry players wishing a possibly early farewell to the Project Gotham creator. What originally sprung from a few hardcore gaming forum posts around the web, indicating the end was near according to some insiders, the rumor has gone to become more than it needs to be. Simply put, the current holding publisher, Activision, has not said they are closing the studio outright. However, they have this to say on the rumor:
"Over the past three years since our purchase of Bizarre Creations, the fundamentals of the racing genre have changed significantly," reads the company's press statement. "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."
At this time, things seems final in that Activision will try to get as much as they can from Bizarre Creations, and selling the studio might be their final option. What will happen to the 160-some-odd employees is also unknown, as no official or rumors of actual layoffs have hit.
Not to be outdone, the lesser-known studio Budcat Creations, officially closed its doors today. Budcat was responsible for many PlayStation 2 and Wii ports of the popular Guitar Hero series. The Activision studio, which comprised of approximately 1% of Activision's entire workforce, last developed Band Hero for the PS2 and has seemingly not worked on any titles since.
It has become quite commonplace in recent years to layoff or sell an entire studio after their major title ships, even if the first batch of sales figures aren't even hot. LucasArts is continuing to ax the rest of their staff as the company moves further away from internal development and becomes purely a license holder (no more Battlefront for you).
