TGP: Merry Christmas, You’re Fired

This has been a horrible Tuesday for the games industry. Activision says goodbye to Bizarre Creations, Budcat Studios gets shut down, and Lucas Arts is laying off staff.

Happy Tuesday everyone.

[MGRogue2017]

Not going to be a very nice Christmas for everyone at Bizarre Creations, it seems :(

[AAACE5]

I wonder if people will still think MS letting go of Bizarre Creations was a bad idea?

Anyway, this sux for those developers, but more than likely, they will land a job somewhere else or form their own studios. Hopefully, they bring their AAA game next time!

[Acquiescence]

to lay them off AFTER Christmas and not a month before it. Ethics man, it's not as if Activision are scrambling for monies right now, especially seeing as how we're in the aftermath of Black Ops' release.

I'm genuinely starting to believe this man is a pure embodiment of evil. Whatever he is, he's cold-hearted and consumed by greed.

[Elven6]

I've heard the employees at Budcat for one are getting some really nice severance packages so as long as they get them it isn't all bad. Quite a few developers don't even get severance packages due to legal issues for quite some time after they are let go.

Bizarre is still around and on Activision's pay for at least another 3 months excluding severance that may follow.

[badz149]

anybody who he can't use to make CoD or GH or spiderman, will live in hell under him! Bizzare unfortunately falls under non-CoD dev type thus not interesting to this douchebag!

the philosophy is sickening! provide devs with limited resources but give them short time of development so games can be released quickly, of course games turned out bad but unlike CoD which people buy regardless of being broken, games like blur can't stand a chance!

[GlowingPotato]

on the picture, is evil... i'm just saying

[Quagmire]

And the Santa hat only makes it worse

[bailoutbenny]

made me laugh hard as hell, i love it.

[badz149]

Deathspank agrees!

[dredgewalker]

Nice picture of Satan Claus. I heard he gives coal to good gamers.

[LastDance]

It would be ironic if the staff who made Force Unleashed 2 had severly limited time to make the game.

[scar20]

Every time i see that smile someone is dying in mexico.

[dredgewalker]

I hope that's not true cause that would cause a genocide!

[MajestieBeast]

Sad to see this they are probably each gonna go their own way like pandemic did.

[Taz Yamauchi]

Bobby Kotic is the biggest Douche bag in the gaming industry followed by Wada

[orange-skittle]

Did any of you buy Blood Stone, Project Gotham, or Blur? Blame yourself for the studio's closing. It was a business decision because the studio wasn't making money for the company. Bizarre became a money pit.

[Ju]

If you are part of a big family and one is more successful than the other, wouldn't you expect that the family would balance things out internally? It could swing the other way at some point. Well, maybe family is not a good example. That's maybe exactly what it is. Big dady and the jealous cousins.

[MajestieBeast]

Its great to blame us the gamers.

1. I dont like racers except 1s with karts and powerups.
2. Activision launched it around the same time as RDR,split second,modnation racers,SMG2,Alan Wake way to crowded for a new IP.
3. Movie based games kill studios, they get so little time to make these games and the pressure is so high on the people resulting in a low quality product.

[antz1104]

I got RDR and Split/Second the same day. RDR was a must and it was a toss up on the racers but they were selling SS for $40 right off the bat. Blur couldn't compete.

[Trroy]

Activision was responsible for those games. In the end, its ALWAYS the boss' responsiblity. Activision should have refocused/retuned their efforts, rather than laying off the entire studio.

Some of Bizzare's games were resoundingly successful -- Geometry Wars and PGR, for example. It's Activision's fault they didn't go with what Bizzare appeared to be good at, not the Bizzare staff.

Its pretty clear that Activision's administrative staff is clueless, at this point. They burn WoW and CoD income like its kindle. Pretty soon the place will just fall apart.

[wat634]

Hes pleasing me as a stockholder.

EDIT: Sorry, but thats how businesses work.

[Dnied]

gross

[antz1104]

Maybe with that extra money you got from this crappy situation you can buy more bubbles.

[Trunkz]

Then don't forget to use extra lube...

[Trunkz]

On a serious note, this is how many businesses work.

[Ju]

The not so funny thing is, that usually happens every year. They do that to cut some cost for their year end reporting to satisfy the "bottom line" (whatever that is). Gaming is one of the worst in this job sector. Guess we need a Gaming Union, huh?

[Ocelot525]

☭Developers of the world unite!☭

Stand up, damned of the Earth
Stand up, prisoners of hunger
Reason thunders in its volcano
This is the eruption of the end
Of the past let us make a clean slate
Enslaved developers, stand up, stand up
The world is about to change its foundation
We are nothing, let us be all
This is the final struggle
Let us group together, and tomorrow
The Internationale
ill be human race

[raztad]

Developers surely are too elitist to consider an Union. It would be incredible if actually happens.

Bizarre latest game (Blur) was good. I didnt sell well, dunno why. It came close to Split/Second, perhaps the concept of licensed cars + powerups is not appealing, whatever the cause the effect is the same: not more money for Bizarre projects = 200 jobs lost. 200 desperate families with credits to pay and holidays around the corner.

I hope this goes as a lesson to indie developers/development houses. Keep independent, and keep your IPs. Bungie, Insomniac are doing the right thing.

[JacobIsHollywood]

I feel terrible that these people lost their jobs.

Maybe...make better games next time?

[Acquiescence]

There won't be a next time evidently.

[ngecenk]

blur and bloodstone is really a good game. blur is under advertised, shaded by split second, while bloodstone is just a stupid released with the same week as cod.

activision to blame for both failure.

[Ravenor]

That stupid Blur commercial taking a jab at Mario Kart played over and over again. For what felt like a month, it was "Racing for Big Boys" repeatedly. It was over advertised, combined with an absolutely awful ad.

It also didn't help that the PC version they released was a big pile of garbage.

[ngecenk]

so after receiving behemoth profit from cod, they fired people?

fuck kotick, this is why i wont buy their game, and you should too. blame the customers too for not giving a strong message to activision!

[raztad]

I just bought WaW second hand. I'll do the same in a year with Black Ops. My money goes to other companies I think deserve my support.

[Ducky]

Many companies have lay offs after a huge release.
That's how business works, it's nothing new and it isn't something Kotick started.

[Der_Kommandant]

Congratulations Bizarre!!!!

[YOUR-MUM]

Bet there so glad they split from Microsoft now. Bet they come back and say can we please make pgr for you please.