Activision’s decision to pull the curtains down on Bizarre Creations last Friday boiled down to “a perfect storm of unfortunate circumstances,” says ex-design boss, Gareth Wilson.
Wilson, who has since been snapped up by UK-based studio Sumo Digital, pointed to the troubled launch of racer Blur as an example recent misfortunes, with the IP failing to pull in the punters upon its release last May.
“The landscape of the industry has changed massively even in the time from when Bizarre was acquired,” Wilson told Eurogamer. “In particular getting a new IP noticed at this stage of the console cycle combined with the global economic situation meaning gamers are less willing to ‘take a risk’ is really difficult.”
Wilson further noted that the quality bar has been raised considerable in recent years, with games tending to either sell like hotcakes or struggle to break even. Blur itself is noted for moving 31,000 units in North America in five days.
“The release date probably didn’t help,” Wilson conceded, adding, “but nowadays that ‘middle ground’ of two to three million sales is getting harder to find. Games either ‘break out’ and sell four million plus, or really struggle to break even. Also the quality bar has risen enormously. Did you know there were more 80 per cent plus rated games in 2010 than any other year?”
Bizarre Creations was responsible for a number of highly successful racing games, including Formula One ’96, Metropolis Street Racer and Project Gotham Racing.