Ex-Bizarre Creations Staff Form Lucid Games

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Richard Walker

Former staff and senior management from the recently closed Bizarre Creations have formed a new studio called Lucid Games, in the wake of their previous dev house's closure by Activision last week. Headed up by managing director, Peter Wallace, Lucid Games will be looking to employ new staff, of which there's around 50 positions now available.

Bizarre Creations was the creative force behind games like Geometry Wars, Project Gotham Racing, The Club, Blur and 007: Blood Stone.

"With the great history of Bizarre behind us, we are proud to be part of Lucid and are committed to the UK game development community," said Wallace. "We plan to build a studio which encourages open communication with its partners, customers and other developers."

With backing from local economic development company Liverpool Vision, who is keen to keep the renowned talent from Bizarre in the region, Lucid Games is looking to hire new development staff to start work on new projects.

"Liverpool Vision has been keen to keep what is some of the best games talent in the global games market in Liverpool and from day one we have been very supportive of this initiative," said Steve Smith, digital industry director for Liverpool Vision. "This world class talent combined with a very credible and experienced management team, we believe offers the best future for a sustainable and viable business within the significant Liverpool gaming sector.

"It should be stressed that Bizarre was very successful and Activision's actions were driven by global economics and not by any failure of the creative talent based in Liverpool," Smith added.

"Our approach is to create for fun, quality and simplicity – it's how our games make you feel that matters to us. We are committed to hiring character, hiring talent and training skill," Wallace stated.

[Via GamesIndustry.biz]

Comments
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  • Hope it lasts for them and they can make some good games out of it
  • Good news for those involved. I wish them nothing but success for the future. Would also be nice to see a PGR5 :)
  • who they with now? good to see them back but think they should have kept the bizarre name.
  • @3, we all would of wanted that, but 'bizarre' was trademarked then shut down, i.e: the name can't be used again, however i am hoping PGR5 could still be in the works? im sure a drift in studio name wouldn't hold them back... glad to see bizarre has one final lifeline though!
  • @3 They are independent now with funding as it says above. As for the name Bizarre, that was good. More than likely owned by Activision though. New start, new name. Does anyone know if they own the PGR IP. Or if acti do? I can see good things coming out of this new dev. They need a good project, ability to hodl the IP for themselves and good publicity.
  • #5, PGR is owned by Microsoft and is rumored to be under work but a small team of current/former employees of TURN10
  • Good to see they found a new home. One where they will be appreciated for their talents and for not being a part of the Call of Duty monopoly.
  • Best news of the day lets hope the good people at Lucid stay as far away from Activision as possible
  • What was the point in shutting them down? That's like apple buying out microsoft, than microsoft make a new brand called microhard.
  • Awesome. Good for them.
  • Hopefully they stay far away from activision's oppressive regime.
  • I'm very glad to hear this as it would be such a shame to lose their talent just because of glorified budget cuts.
  • And from the ashes of the phoenix,Lucid Games is born! I'm Happy =]
  • Their games of late sucked (Blur, Bond to name a few), I wish them best of luck and hope they can make somethign noteworthy this time around!
  • Glad they are back working on games I just picked up Blur and I think its awesome. Not a big sim race game kinda guy so the arcade ones stand out at me.
  • Down, but not out. Good to see they're starting out fresh. Can't wait to see what the future holds for Lucid! Welcome back, guys.
  • Perhaps they'll be able to make a Geometry Wars 3 now ... *Hopes*
  • Can someone explain how this works First they are a big studio or whatever, then they disband that and like 2 days later they have a new studio? There is nothing new beside their name? Its happening to like fucking 90% of all the game studios that have gone down the drain
  • Thats good news. And by doing sothey've also just doubled the employment rate in Liverpool :P
  • Good Question Andreas_loel .. Could anyone explain?
  • PGR5!?
  • @18 You know what they say. There's no bad publicity. It could easily be just to get their name out there and being talked about. Not that it is by any means. If I recall, Bizzare was around 200 employees and this will only be 50.
  • @ 8 and 11. You do realize that Activision wanted a profit while any Pulbisher would close a company if it wasn't making a profit especially when games cost millions of dollars to develope. They're better off by staying away from EA and MS. @ 18. Nobody wanted to buy Bizarre and I'm sure that some people didn't want to stay with the same group of people. Some of the game studios have been closing in the Industry while only a few of those studios comeback to Life.
  • Good luck to the new group. Sad to see a successful outfit sacrificed. Now they're out from under a publisher, maybe the will have more freedom and latitude to develop as they wish and strike their own deals with a variety of publishers.
  • Dear Lucid Games, please stay independent, yours faithfully, Me.
  • This is good news. Just hope what has happened with Activision won't effect them too much
  • @ 25. They won't stay Independent because no Company can last long without having a Developer especially when Valve is having their games Published by EA now. @ 26. There shouldn't be any problems with Activision unless if Lucid decides to make a Club, Blur, or Bond game without their permission.
  • great news i will look forward to see what they are going to release, no doubt a racing game but what type.
  • MICROSOFT! Buy them right now.
  • Awesome wait till acti shut down bizarre then form a new studio. No money for kotick :D
  • @ 30. Its sad that you know nothing about the Business World. You do know that Activision closed down Bizarre and Lucid was started by former senior staff/management of Bizarre by using their own money. You also forget that Lucid could go Bankrupt because they are a new company with no pedigree. Kotick gets money either way because he can selling the building that housed Bizarre and there's no more Bizarre left for paychecks, which means its a Win Win.
  • this is gonna be good. I mean it sucks that Bizzare as a company was thrown away by activision, who are and always will be blinded by quantity over quality, but lucid games gets my vote! will have to see what great games come from them, as I'm sure there will be dozens in time. but as for now, activision, please go and suck a big one. thank you.
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