Earlier this afternoon, mini-blogging and rumor-fanning site Twitter blew a freaking gasket over the supposed shutting down of Project Gotham Racing and James Bond 007: Blood Stone creators Bizarre Creations. The Liverpool studio was said to have been axed by Activision mere hours ago, with the news originating from a statement on Giant Bomb that the studio will be subject to a “90-day consultation period, statutory redundancy.”
How this translates to the studio being shut down, necessarily, is beyond me. Seems like someone skipped a few steps when reaching that conclusion. Then again, I’ve seen Office Space, and I know what happens when a company hires outside consultants to do their dirty work (“Oh hi, Bob. Bob,”).
Outpourings of love and good wishes from the Twitterverse demonstrate that the studio of 200 plus employees holds a dear place in the hearts of many, despite the lukewarm reception Blood Stone and Blur met with this year. It’s no wonder; Geometry Wars was one of the first XBLA hits, and PGR did a lot to shape the early Xbox brand into what it is today.
As the cries of “Rabble, rabble!” continued to echo across the internet late into the afternoon (well, it’s 3:30 in Boston), Activision finally released the following statement to several sites:
“Over the past three years since our purchase of Bizarre Creations, the fundamentals of the racing genre have changed significantly. 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.”
Can’t argue with that. So while the future of the 22 year old studio may look grim for now, there’s a possibility they’ll pull through. A rescue from Microsoft wouldn’t be completely remiss, given their history with the ‘Box. Maybe they’ll even go independent again. We’re certainly anxious to watch it unfold.
