Bobby Kotick: Bizarre Creations was a bad investment

In a recent interview on the Grit podcast, former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick discussed the company's previous acquisitions, mentioning one that he considers particularly unsuccessful. However, he could not recall the name of it and described the acquisition as: "The company that was, um... in Manchester, that did the driving game for Xbox, and it was called, um...".

This, of course, refers to Bizarre Creations, the former Liverpool-based studio known for Project Gotham Racing, Blur, and Geometry Wars, among others, which was (sadly) bought by Activision in 2007 for around $67.4 million.

They were one of the UK's most respected developers but were sadly shut down by Activision after both Blur and James Bond 007: Blood Stone became commercial disappointments. Reflecting on the acquisition, Kotick noted that it was a mistake that went against the company's principles at the time, which also led them to write off the investment two years later. According to Kotick, it was an "expensive lesson".

What are your favourite memories of Bizarre Creation's many games, and would you like to see Project Gotham Racing resurrected again?