The decision to close Bizarre was ”as much to do” with that shrinkage than ”anything specific to Bizarre.” It was no longer worth their ”competitive energies.”
”“The thing that Bizarre is best at and what they’re known for and what their signature is is in the racing world,” said Eric Hirshberg of Activision.
”And the decision had as much to do with our assessment of what was happening to the racing genre as it had to do with anything specific to Bizarre. We just didn’t think that was the best place for us to put our competitive energies.”
”The racing genre had shrunk, pretty precipitously,” he continued. Bizarre’s Blur released around the same time as Disney and Black Rock Studios’ Split/Second racer. Activision placed a sizable bet on the new Blur IP that didn’t pay off.
”It was a big investment,” he said. ”It was a big investment in marketing. And sometimes you pour the chemicals into the beaker and nothing explodes.” It wouldn’t be besting the genre’s finest especially as they’re all fighting for a ‘deflating market’.
”There are these big, very well established franchises that we would be competing against, fighting for a shrinking opportunity.” Activision gave Bizarre Creations a chance at getting bought out before closing its doors but no suitor was found.
