17 replies to this topic

[K1Bond007]

Activision closing Bizarre Creations

Blood Stone developer getting the ax after 90-day consultation period.

Blood Stone’s Bizarre recommended for closure

Parent Activision fails to find a buyer for UK developer.

[Quantumofsolace007]

man now who will create the new bond games

[DamnCoffee]

Activision?

[Matt_13]

Good lord. Poor guys.

[Blonde Bond]

Aww shoot!

There's still a chance that Blood Stone's cliffhanger finale will be answered. But by another team and better or worse gameplay to accompany it. I just would've wanted for Bizarre creations to do it. I rather enjoyed their effort and would've wanted them to make the next (Blood Stone - The Sequel) game too.

Well , as long as the story gets finished.

Shame about BC getting the axe though.

[Quantumofsolace007]

Activision?

i meant which devloper Eurocom, Raven, etc

obivously

[K1Bond007]

Activision?

i meant which devloper Eurocom, Raven, etc

Well, they don't have to go with an in-house developer. Eurocom isn't owned by Activision. In-house they could go back to Treyarch or Raven or maybe even Infinity Ward. I'm sure there's already a game in the works by someone.

[LoneWolf]

I own Blood Stone and I think it's a great game. The single player alone is a lot of fun and worth keeping. The shooting mechanics and the takedowns are incredible. The multiplayer was a bit disappointing. I enjoyed the multiplayer on Quantum of Solace but this one was lacking.

[PlayItBogart]

I don't know whose bright idea it was, but Activision had to be out of their minds releasing Blood Stone (A) on the same day as Goldeneye, and ( a week before the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops. Follow that up with virtually no advertising (if there was a commercial I never saw it), no film release to tie it to (i.e. Quantum of Solace: Casino Royale Edition), and no demo on PSN/XBL, and is it any wonder that nobody is particularly interested in this game?

Activision feels like it's slipping back into EA's old self-destructive ways. Their Guitar Hero 6 is a massive flop compared to Rock Band 3, Infinity Ward (as they were before) will never develop another Call of Duty game, and Bobby Kotick has created such a massive stigma about Activision that many gamers just avoid the company completely.

[K1Bond007]

I don't know whose bright idea it was, but Activision had to be out of their minds releasing Blood Stone (A) on the same day as Goldeneye, and ( a week before the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops. Follow that up with virtually no advertising (if there was a commercial I never saw it), no film release to tie it to (i.e. Quantum of Solace: Casino Royale Edition), and no demo on PSN/XBL, and is it any wonder that nobody is particularly interested in this game?

Activision feels like it's slipping back into EA's old self-destructive ways. Their Guitar Hero 6 is a massive flop compared to Rock Band 3, Infinity Ward (as they were before) will never develop another Call of Duty game, and Bobby Kotick has created such a massive stigma about Activision that many gamers just avoid the company completely.

Well, it's not like GoldenEye and Blood Stone were in competition with one another since they're on different platforms and in different genres. If that's all it was then they should have stood on their own and done well on their own. The problem was that they released them a week prior to the black hole that is Call of Duty. I enjoy that series, I admit, but Activision marketed the hell out of it and not much else. I saw some ads for GoldenEye here and there, but never anything for Blood Stone. It's just a bad idea to release a game of yours around Call of Duty which is also yours. Both Quantum of Solace and Blood Stone have now suffered. They admitted it was a bad idea for Quantum. So leave Call of Duty in November, but at least make Bond a summer release or something. I know that's not good for tie-ins, but the original GoldenEye came years after the film and it did fantastic. The extra time away from the movie can only be good for it anyway if you ask me.


Activision is doing poorly with a lot of their games. They released a Tony Hawk game in October and since then it's only sold only like 3000 copies in North America. That's pretty bad.

Infinity Ward will make another Call of Duty game. Their heads left and a good number of their personnel, but the company still remains. They're probably working on Modern Warfare 3 for next year.

[Matt_13]

Looks like they are closing for good http://xbox360.ign.c.../1144777p1.html

Infuriating.

[commanderblond]

Looks like they are closing for good http://xbox360.ign.c.../1144777p1.html

Infuriating.

Speaking to my old flatmate Vince, who works for Bizzare Creations, he was quite frustrated by some of the reviews that complained Bond doesn't use many gadgets in Bloodstone, as of course Daniel Craig's Bond doesn't use gadgets at all, bar his cellphone. It does strike me as odd that Activision released Bloodstone and Goldeneye Wii at the same time - that's not to say the Goldeneye remake isn't good - it is - but it seems odd to release a game based on a previous Bond adventure with the current Bond at the same time as you're releasing an entirely new title. I don't think it helps they chose Goldeneye - that game has legendary status for many gamers, and as such, it was always going to give the Wii game a headstart. Would people have cared so much if they'd made a new game based around Die Another Day, for example? It's not so much that the two games were on different platforms, but if you're going to buy a Bond game this month, which do you get? The cheaper Wii game based on a beloved game? Or the one for which there isn't even a demo?

And yes - putting them out the week before Call of Duty was a huge mistake. Activision is definitely the new Electronic Arts. Hopefully, they'll realise their mistakes quicker than EA did.

Still, what's done is done. Bizarre Creations is closing. Vinny's ok though - lots of job offers ;D.

In fact, his portfolio has some rather fun Bloodstone title sequence ideas:

Edited by commanderblond, 03 February 2011 - 03:47 PM.

[Matt_13]

Those are cool! Love how the cars are driving through the 007 logo. That would have been terrific!


He spelled "Starring" wrong but that's fine.

[K1Bond007]

He spelled "Starring" wrong but that's fine.

haha. I just noticed that. That's cool. Whattya gonna do. They're just concepts. Nice looking too.

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

"Music By David Arnold"

?

[Matt_13]

They were just concepts, probably before Jacques was even involved.

[commanderblond]

They were just concepts, probably before Jacques was even involved.

Exactly. It's probable that they didn't know who'd be doing the music, so just put David Arnold in as a placemarker.

Right - off to tease my old mate about his heinous spelling errors now.

[marktmurphy]

I like that second one with the oil mixing.