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Activision closes the doors on Bizarre Creations.

ErichWK
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ErichWK polycounter lvl 12
Major bummer today to our fellow brethren as Activision shuts down Bizarre Creation.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/32519/Activision_Moves_To_Close_Bizarre_Creations.php

They did the Project Gotham Racing games, Blur and more recently a James Bond game. Hopefully they will find work soon.
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  • JFletcher
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    JFletcher polycounter lvl 13
    That's very sad, I hope anyone affected can quickly recover.

    ...Why do you only ever hear bad news from Activision? :(
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  • greevar
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    greevar polycounter lvl 6
    JFletcher wrote: »
    That's very sad, I hope anyone affected can quickly recover.

    ...Why do you only ever hear bad news from Activision? :(

    Ever since Kotick took over, it seems that way. It's really sad, seeing as Activision was started by people who left Atari because they didn't like the way they were being exploited. Now it seems, they've become what they tried to get away from. They buy up blockbuster development teams, pump them for everything they're worth, and finally dump them when they no longer are capable of making huge gobs of money. Though I doubt many, if any, of the original members are even still there.:poly141:
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  • SHEPEIRO
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    SHEPEIRO polycounter lvl 17
    The Suits got their claws in
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  • eld
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    eld polycounter lvl 18
    sb10064369a-001.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=8A33AE939F2E01FF664BA7C6B008408E1C8B733DE2CC9794D613A5439813F4CB77F9049EB06448B0
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  • Pseudo
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    Pseudo polycounter lvl 18
    They buy up blockbuster development teams, pump them for everything they're worth, and finally dump them when they no longer are capable of making huge gobs of money.

    That's business. You make an investment and then you expect to see a return on that investment. If at some point your investment stops making money you get out.

    Why does Activision always catch hell for running a business?
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  • bounchfx
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    bounchfx mod
    argh. sorry to hear they didn't find a buyer :(. They were a talented bunch. If there's anyone reading this from Bizarre, I hope you land on your feet quickly!
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  • Arcanox
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    Arcanox
    That's disappointing. I really thought they did a fantastic job with Blur and it's one of best racing games I've played in a long while, and I don't like many racing games.

    I hope those guys can find themselves back on the horse soon enough. They did really good work.
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  • eld
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    eld polycounter lvl 18
    Pseudo wrote: »
    That's business. You make an investment and then you expect to see a return on that investment. If at some point your investment stops making money you get out.

    Why does Activision always catch hell for running a business?

    Because it feels like publishers are letting talented developers go just because they stumbled, by stomping on their hands until they let go and fall, When they instead could give them a hand so they could get up and continue making cash for the publisher.

    Every developer will have its bad day, even the best ones.
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  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    Pseudo wrote: »
    That's business. You make an investment and then you expect to see a return on that investment. If at some point your investment stops making money you get out.

    Why does Activision always catch hell for running a business?

    People hate them because Activision tends to push out tons of yearly sequels, and ditch the studio once its milked it for all its worth.
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  • ErichWK
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    ErichWK polycounter lvl 12
    And B.C didn't develop bad games. Blur was great, and Bloodstone, though from what I hear not an amazing title, wasn't a bad Bond Game either. Activision is a business, yes.. but they also just seem so cold and heartless.. They make more money than god and yet it seems never wanna create something new. I honestly can't think of an Activision title published in 2010 that wasn't COD, or affiliated with Blizzard or a crappy movie tie in or music game.
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  • PhattyEwok
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    PhattyEwok polycounter lvl 9
    I dunno Activision with all its millions could afford to let some of these companies experiment and take a loss from time to to time considering their cash cows provide a pretty stable income but it's not like these "small" companies were forced to sell themselves to Activision in the first place.
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  • Cyrael
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    Cyrael polycounter lvl 10
    PhattyEwok wrote: »
    I dunno Activision with all its millions could afford to let some of these companies experiment and take a loss from time to to time considering their cash cows provide a pretty stable income but it's not like these "small" companies were forced to sell themselves to Activision in the first place.


    qft.

    /* rant
    No matter if it's a business or not, the only way you make more money besides sequels is going out on a limb, experimenting and trying something new. They make enough off from their COD franchise to sustain a few losses here and there. Didn't the new COD title sell like 7 million on it's first week or something? Go ahead and line your pockets a little bit thicker Kotick. Don't think we don't realize who's driving the machine.

    */ rant over
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  • Autocon
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    Autocon polycounter lvl 15
    Cyrael wrote: »
    qft.

    /* rant
    No matter if it's a business or not, the only way you make more money besides sequels is going out on a limb, experimenting and trying something new. They make enough off from their COD franchise to sustain a few losses here and there. Didn't the new COD title sell like 7 million on it's first week or something? Go ahead and line your pockets a little bit thicker Kotick. Don't think we don't realize who's driving the machine.

    */ rant over

    Sorry to hear about this and hope everyone lands on there feet quickly.


    Now just to play devils advocate Activision dose try new things/projects.

    Off the top of my head for the last 2 years they published...

    James Bond, Blood Stone
    Blur
    Tony Hawk Ride
    Prototype
    Singularity
    Wolfenstien
    DJ Hero (yes a music game but diffrent enough from guitar hero its worth noting)

    None of them movie tie ins, call of duty, something done by blizzard and guitar hero.

    All these games beyond maybe DJ Hero were not a huge commercial success. Seems for Raven and BC that they both had 2 games that were not very successful and Activison thought after 2 attempts to cut its losses.

    I think it sucks really bad and I don't like Activision but I can see why.
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  • Guriamo
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    Guriamo polycounter lvl 17
    at least now we have the certainty....
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  • JacqueChoi
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    JacqueChoi polycounter
    46 million sales is nice n all, but what have they done for us THIS quarter?

    /sarcasm.


    But with 2 consecutive duds on Activisions short leash, it wasn't surprising.
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  • ScoobyDoofus
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    ScoobyDoofus polycounter lvl 20
    This sucks to hear guys. But wait a second...did I miss something? Raven closed down?
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  • JDinges
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    JDinges polycounter lvl 18
    Raven's still around....
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