Bizarre Creations

Bizarre Creations Limited
FormerlyRaising Hell Software Limited
(1988–1994)
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded1988; 36 years ago (1988)
FounderMartyn Chudley
DefunctFebruary 18, 2011; 13 years ago (2011-02-18)
FateDissolved
SuccessorLucid Games
HeadquartersLiverpool, England
Key people
Products
Number of employees
200[1] (2011)
Parent
Website[1]

Bizarre Creations Limited was a British video game development studio based in Liverpool, best known for their racing titles Metropolis Street Racer (Dreamcast) and the follow-up Project Gotham Racing series (Xbox, Xbox 360, mobile phones and Zune HD). The company has also developed games in other genres, including the Geometry Wars arcade series, plus the third-person shooters Fur Fighters and The Club. Bizarre Creations was acquired by publisher Activision in 2007, and subsequently completed its racer Blur in May 2010.

On 20 January 2011, Activision announced Bizarre Creations would close, and later confirmed the date. Bizarre marked the closure by releasing a retrospective video of its work.[2]

History

A screenshot taken from Metropolis Street Racer on the Dreamcast showing the Bizarre Creations logo used during the year 2000–2001

Bizarre Creations started as Raising Hell Software, founded by Martyn Chudley. Sega scorned "Hell", and the company went nameless for a short time. In 1994, a pending submission to Psygnosis/Sony forced the decision of a new name. The founder tentatively left "Weird Concepts" on the submission documentation. Then a staff member used Microsoft Word's thesaurus, and "Bizarre Creations" stuck.

The Bizarre Creations team was initially five strong, and worked on a concept project called "Slaughter". After seeing the demo, Psygnosis signed the team onto Formula 1 for PlayStation. Formula 1 went on to become the best-selling game in Europe in 1996.

On 26 September 2007, publisher Activision acquired Bizarre Creations[3] for $107.4m; $67.4m immediately payable with a further $40m contingent hitting certain goals over a 5-year period.[4]

Activision announced that Project Gotham Racing 4 would be Bizarre Creations' last game for Microsoft Game Studios,[5] and Microsoft did retain the rights for the Project Gotham Racing franchise.

On 16 November 2010, Activision announced it was considering closing Bizarre and "exploring our options regarding the future of the studio, including a potential sale of the business".[6] Activision later stated that no buyer could be found and that the studio would close.[7] The studio would conclude with a two minute farewell video, put together by in-house editor Eamon Urtone.[2][8][9][10]

Pete Collier, Ben Ward and Stephen Cakebread of Bizarre Creations founded mobile game developer Hogrocket in 2011, and shut it down the following year.[11] A week after the closure of the studio, many former employees went on to found Lucid Games, which continued development on the Geometry Wars franchise, among various other ventures.[12]

Games developed

Year Title Platform(s)
as Raising Hell Software
1988 Combat Crazy Commodore 64
1990 The Killing Game Show Amiga, Atari ST, Sega Mega Drive
1993 Wiz 'n' Liz Amiga, Sega Mega Drive
as Bizarre Creations
1996 Formula 1 PlayStation, Microsoft Windows
1997 Formula 1 97 PlayStation, Microsoft Windows
2000 Fur Fighters Dreamcast, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2
2000 Metropolis Street Racer Dreamcast
2001 Project Gotham Racing Xbox
2002 Treasure Planet Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2
2003 Project Gotham Racing 2 Xbox
2005 Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
2005 Project Gotham Racing 3 Xbox 360
2007 Boom Boom Rocket Xbox 360
2007 Project Gotham Racing 4 Xbox 360
2007 Geometry Wars: Galaxies Wii, Nintendo DS
2008 The Club Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
2008 Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 Xbox 360
2010 Geometry Wars: Touch iOS
2010 Blur Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
2010 James Bond 007: Blood Stone[13] Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Cancelled Games

References

  1. ^ "Former members of Bizarre Creations found a new studio". Gamerant. 25 February 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  2. ^ a b Yin-Poole, Wesley (18 February 2011). "Bizarre says goodbye with farewell video". Eurogamer.
  3. ^ "Hello Activision! Bizarre to spearhead exciting new projects..." Bizarre Creations. 26 September 2007. Archived from the original on 5 October 2007.
  4. ^ "Bizarre Creations for Activision_Blizzard (ATVI)". Wikinvest.com. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  5. ^ Parfitt, Ben (26 September 2007). "Activision buys Bizarre". Develop. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007.
  6. ^ Van Autrijve, Rainier (16 November 2010). "Activision Looking To Close Or Sell Bizarre Creations". WorthPlaying.
  7. ^ Dutton, Fred (19 January 2011). "Activision finalises Bizarre closure News". Eurogamer. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
  8. ^ Chalk, Andy (18 February 2011). "Bizarre Creations Says a Video Goodbye". The Escapist.
  9. ^ Mattas, Jeff (18 February 2011). "Bizarre Creations Video Editor Makes Beautiful Farewell Clip". Shacknews.
  10. ^ Urtone, Eamon (17 February 2011). Farewell Bizarre...it's been an absolute pleasure! (Video) – via Vimeo.
  11. ^ Rose, Mike (23 November 2012). "UK indie studio Hogrocket closes down". Gamasutra.
  12. ^ Martin, Matt (25 February 2011). "Former Bizarre Creations staff form Lucid Games". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 3 March 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  13. ^ "James Bond 007: Bloodstone confirmed". GameSpot. 16 July 2010. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
  14. ^ "Blur 2 (Bizarre Creations) [Cancelled – Xbox 360, PS3, PC]". Unseen64. 19 October 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2024.