Activision pockets Project Gotham dev Bizarre Creations
by Jason Dobson 
{ Sep 26th 2007 at 12:29PM }
That said, Bizarre Creations will still release its visceral shooter The Club as an indie for publisher Sega this February for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The upcoming Project Gotham Racing 4 will be the studio's final game for Microsoft.
While it's always somewhat disheartening to see once independent developers sapped up like this, in some ways it's inevitable, especially given the high costs associated with console game development. Still, according to a blog post on Bizarre Creations' website, Activision's ownership will be "hands off," leaving creative control in the studio's capable hands, for now at least. In addition, the post adds that the company will have "absolutely no redundancies," no doubt causing a sigh of relief from those in the trenches.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
bearxor @ Sep 26th 2007 12:45PM
NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
why not the LS2/LS7? @ Sep 26th 2007 12:45PM
New Metropolis Street Racer games coming I guess?
I think Bizarre could expand their racing catalog to have games more like the upcoming Burnout: Paradise, where the online is more jump-in/out instead of all the waiting for races.
T3H WICKERMAN @ Sep 26th 2007 12:48PM
Hey cool now activison can water down geo wars like they did tony hawk, guitar hero, spiderman, and more! w00t!
chathampax @ Sep 26th 2007 12:49PM
The PGR exclusivity to Microsoft will go away for sure. I'm shocked that Microsoft didn't buy them up; I'm sure it would have been more profitable for them than the Rare purchase.
bearxor @ Sep 26th 2007 12:57PM
I could be mistaken but I think the PGR brand is owned by Microsoft, like the Gears of War brand is.
Howevere, because of this situation, if Microsoft wanted to continue the PGR series, they would likely need to find a new developer (Hey, Rare's not doing anything!) while the spirtiual successor to the PGR series would be published by Activision, yes, on multiple platforms.
Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler). @ Sep 26th 2007 1:12PM
In other words there won't be a PGR game for the PS3 or Wii but a PGR Spin off/successor obviously named different will be pulished for the consoles mentioned above and the game will look like ass thanks to Activision lazy porting.
For example S:foF,instead of doing something different for the PSP they decided to do a PSP game and port it to the Wii,XB360 and Ps3.Yes that’s why the XB360 version doesn’t counts with better graphics, the use of the second analog stick or the use of triggers.
Damn it, Activision IMO last great game was Mech Warrior and they haven’t done anything near as good since then.
Martin (GGDF) @ Sep 26th 2007 1:41PM
WTF is S:fOF? Don't just throw out acronyms because you are lazy, assuming everyone knows what you are talking about.
samfish (MSDF- Nurse Outfit!) @ Sep 26th 2007 2:31PM
Spider-Man: Friend or Foe
Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler). @ Sep 26th 2007 2:44PM
I didn’t feel like typing Spiderman: Friend of foe also for F*cks sake an Activision game starting with “S” I thought that was pretty damn obvious.
Well the next time I won’t overestimate your intelligence.
k0llateral @ Sep 26th 2007 4:49PM
Actually I would say the fact that we haven't familiarized ourselves with games like "S:foF" makes us more intelligent, WordoftheStreet...
chathampax @ Sep 26th 2007 1:07PM
@Bearxor
Hmmm I didn't know that Microsoft owned the PGR brand...can anyone else shed some light on this? Rare working on this title? Fuck that, they need to work on a new Killer Instinct game and put up a refresh version of the original on XBLA. No good fighters on 360; hate Virtual Fighter and Dead or Alive. Soul Calibur looks decent though without Ivy's milk jugs.
Martin (GGDF) @ Sep 26th 2007 1:42PM
You honestly want Rare to drag Killer Instinct through the mud like they've done with every other good memory that you have of their games? Fuck that.
tcc3 @ Sep 26th 2007 3:19PM
All in all PDZ wasnt *that* bad. I'd like to see what that game would have been before it was in dev hell for 3 different systems and then became a rushed launch title.
Hey Apples @ Sep 26th 2007 1:15PM
Not too surprising... a company that produces tired rehashed franchises gets purchased by a publisher that releases tired rehashed franchises.
Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler). @ Sep 26th 2007 1:21PM
Actually I find PGR games very refreshing compared to the activision ports and poorly done sequels Sir.
For example Tony hawk Downhill, there isn't a most appropriated title for that game.
Synner @ Sep 26th 2007 1:24PM
Surprised no one else said it : PGR on PS3 Confirmed!
skix @ Sep 26th 2007 1:54PM
no one said it because the name pgr is owned by microsoft
Synner @ Sep 26th 2007 5:02PM
it was a joke, douche
KNS @ Sep 26th 2007 2:51PM
Metropolis Street Racer 2 ?
nick @ Sep 26th 2007 3:26PM
It's a little surprising that Microsoft didn't purchase Bizarre Creations, but the writing has been on the wall for a while now, as you may have noticed companies other than Microsoft have published some recent Bizarre Creation offerings (non PGR related), and they've branched out to other platforms.
Microsoft SHOULD have bought Bizarre Creations, as PGR has been tremendously successful, and on the other end of the spectrum, Geometry Wars was a hit on XBLA. And didn't Sony just recently buy the developer of Motorstorm? Hmmm..
Microsoft still owns the rights to PGR and can produce another version if they desire, however it's doubtful the new Activision owned company would have any involvement.
Makes you wonder if the developers responsible for PGR are still with Bizarre Creations. Developers leave companies all the time, no?
Also makes you wonder what Microsoft is thinking or perhaps has up their sleeve. Hopefully they have a sleeve with something up it.
As far as the comment about Rare working on PGR, I know you're kidding (at least I hope you are). Rare is working on other projects, however outside of the next Banjo, not much is publicly known.
bearxor @ Sep 26th 2007 3:27PM
Just to clear this up.
Metropolis Street Racer 2 will not happen. Sega owns the naming rights to it. Sega can make another MSR title but not Bizarre.
I'm assuming it's a similar situation with PGR. Microsoft likely owns the rights to the franchise and, basically, hired Bizarre to do the game since they liked MSR.
Now, Sega has done nothing with MSR. It's entirely possible that the PGR series will die. Microsoft could decide it's not worth the investement to bring another developer on to do an entry in the series (guys, I was completely kidding about Rare doing PGR5. It was a joke).
But, If Microsoft does own the naming rights to PGR, then they can give it to another devoloper to work on. This game would likely play nothing like the Bizarre-created PGR series.
Bizarre, meanwhile, is free to make a game that would be what you call a "spiritual successor" to the PGR series on whatever platform Activison will publish it on. It just won't be called PGR but it will play and operate like PGR, just like PGR1 was a spirtiual successor to MSR.
It's just like the Rock Band/Guitar Hero thing. Activision bought the company that had the naming rights to Guitar Hero but didn't do the actual development. Red Octane couldn't do the development, so it was farmed out to Neversoft. Meanwhile, Harmonix, who did devolop Guitar Hero, was bought by EA. Rock Band would be the spiritual successor to Guitar Hero.
However, I can't find anything (not that I've looked very hard) that says Microsoft does indeed own naming rights to the PGR franchise. I'm simply assuming here, because thats the way it would normally work. If Microsoft does I imagine they will keep the franchise going but, suffice it to say, the next entry will not be an immediate purchase for me like PGR4 is. I'll definitely need a demo and have to give it a whirl first.
bearxor @ Sep 26th 2007 3:31PM
Completely kidding about Rare.
dsub @ Sep 26th 2007 3:43PM
Yet another developer that MS should have bought while the had the chance.
Benny @ Sep 26th 2007 4:31PM
But had Microsoft bought Bizarre, there would likely be groans all round that they were just throwing their weight around.
I'm not really bothered. As long as there's more Geometry Wars I'll be happy.
VampireHunter Z @ Sep 26th 2007 5:00PM
Damn it I love PGR and Geometry Wars. It really sucks that to see them merge with Activision.