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Multiple parties are interested in buying Blur developer Bizarre Creations, a source from inside the studio has revealed to Develop.
The news comes at the end of an emotional 24 hours for the Liverpool-based studio. Yesterday it was confirmed that current owner Activision was seeking to sell the studio, admitting that action-based racing title Blur and James Bond action title 007 Blood Stone had failed to achieve commercial targets.
This morning Develop was informed that job cuts at the studio were very likely, but this afternoon news of potential buyers gave new hope to the 200 staff.
“That meeting really lifted the mood here, I think, because we’ve been told that there’s multiple parties interested in buying us,” the anonymous source said.
He added: “We are still on consultation for ninety days, but things look much better than they did last night or this morning.”
“Things here are changing at such a quick pace.”
The source declined to name the interested parties, but a second source from within the studio, speaking to Develop in a separate conversation, revealed that Microsoft is one of the parties showing interest.
“Microsoft aren’t stupid,” he said. “They know we’re talented and have spoken to Activision about us.”
Having worked on Microsoft’s Project Gotham Racing franchise since its conception, and with the platform holder said to be seeking a studio to work on a new instalment in the franchise, there’d be no one better to fill the void than Bizarre Creations.
It would, however, be a remarkable outcome for the studio. Last summer creative director Martyn Chudley revealed that the studio had become “disillusioned with Microsoft” and that PGR4 didn’t get the “exposure and the marketing” that the title deserved.
