| Industry | Video games |
|---|---|
| Fate | Acquired, then dissolved |
| Successor | Lucid Games Hogrocket |
| Founded | 1988 (as Raising Hell Software) 1994 (as Bizarre Creations) |
| Defunct | 18 February 2011 |
| Headquarters | Liverpool, United Kingdom |
| Products | Geometry Wars Project Gotham Racing |
| Parent | Activision |
Bizarre Creations was a video game development studio, best known for their racing titles: Metropolis Street Racer (Dreamcast) and the followup Project Gotham Racing series (Xbox, Xbox 360). The company has also developed games in other genres, including the Geometry Wars arcade series, plus 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 life's work.[1]
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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 them on to Formula 1 (for PlayStation). Formula 1 went on to become the best selling game in Europe in 1996.
In 2006, the studio announced a break in its racing genre sequence with The Club. A third-person shooter, the game was released on 7 February 2008.
On 26 September 2007, publisher Activision acquired Bizarre Creations.[2] The developer announced that Project Gotham Racing 4 would be their last game for Microsoft Game Studios[3], and did not pursue the rights for the Project Gotham Racing franchise.
On 16 November 2010, Activision announced it was considering closing Bizzare and "exploring our options regarding the future of the studio, including a potential sale of the business.[4] Activision lated stated that no buyer could be found and the studio would close.[5]
On 26 February 2011, GameSpot reported that a group of senior members of Bizarre Creations were forming a new independent gaming studio known as Lucid Games.[6]
On 23 March 2011, Geometry Wars creator Stephen Cakebread, Peter Collier, a level designer on Blood Stone, and Bizarre Creation's former community manager Ben Ward announced that they were starting a new company, Hogrocket.[7]
as Raising Hell Software:
as Bizarre Creations:
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