Bizarre Creations

Template:Use British English
Template:Use dmy dates

**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 phone 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.

## History

 File:Bizarre Creations 2000 Logo.png
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. for $107.4m; $67.4m immediately payable with a further $40m contingent hitting certain goals over a 5-year period.

Activision announced that *Project Gotham Racing 4* would be Bizarre Creations' last game for Microsoft Game Studios, 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". Activision later stated that no buyer could be found and that the studio would close.

Pete Collier, Ben Ward and Stephen Cakebread of Bizarre Creations founded mobile game developer Hogrocket in 2011, and shut it down the following year.

## References

1. ↑ Wesley Yin-Poole (18 February 2011). "Bizarre says goodbye with farewell video News – - Page 1". Eurogamer.net. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-02-18-bizarre-says-goodbye-with-farewell-video#cm-2156706. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
2. ↑ Studio News – Bizarre Creations Template:Webarchive
3. ↑ "Bizarre Creations for Activision\_Blizzard (ATVI)". Wikinvest.com. http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Activision\_Blizzard\_(ATVI)/Bizarre%20Creations. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
4. ↑ "Activision buys Bizarre – News". www.developmag.com. 26 September 2007. http://www.developmag.com/news/28531/Activision-acquires-Bizarre-Creations. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
5. ↑ Rainier (16 November 2010). "Activision Looking To Close Or Sell Bizarre Creations". WorthPlaying. http://worthplaying.com/article/2010/11/16/news/78258/. Retrieved 16 November 2010.
6. ↑ Fred Dutton (19 January 2011). "Activision finalises Bizarre closure News – - Page 1". Eurogamer.net. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-01-19-activision-finalises-bizarre-closure. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
7. ↑ http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/182190/UK\_indie\_studio\_Hogrocket\_closes\_down.php
8. ↑ "James Bond 007: Blood Stone Leaks". IGN. 16 July 2010. http://ps3.ign.com/articles/110/1106580p1.html. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
9. ↑ "James Bond 007: Bloodstone confirmed". GameSpot. 16 July 2010. http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/driving/jamesbondbloodstone/news.html?sid=6269363. Retrieved 16 July 2010.

## External links

* "Official website". Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110716022624/http://www.bizarrecreations.com/. Retrieved 2 April 2005.

Template:Activision
Template:Bizarre Creations