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Bizarre's Wilson: 'perfect storm' led to studio's death
Less than a week after we said "goodbye" to Bizarre Creations, the Blur-ry details of what killed the developer are starting to come into focus. Eurogamer has an interview with Gareth Wilson, former design manager at the studio, who has since gone on to take a position at Sumo Digital. Wilson called Bizarre's death a "perfect storm of unfortunate circumstances." Wilson explained that getting attention for Blur, a new IP, at this point in the console cycle, was difficult -- especially with high-quality breakouts and juggernaut competition on the field. He believes that the quality of the competition, along with the state of the global economy, meant that gamers weren't ready to "take a risk." He points out several other quality IPs like Enslaved, Alan Wake and Vanquish that also struggled in 2010. Wilson now feels that the "middle ground," selling two to three million units is "getting hard to find," explaining "Games either 'break out' and sell four million plus, or really struggle to break even."
Bizarre Creations lead Gareth Wilson now Sumo Digital lead designer
Bizarre Creations was a UK studio well-known for its street racing games, the first of which was on a Sega console. So if there's anywhere else design manager Gareth Wilson would feel at home, it's at Sumo Digital, the British studio responsible for developing the modern OutRun games and Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing for Sega. Wilson is the first known Bizarre staffer to announce a new position after the sad closure of that company. He is now the lead designer at the Foundation 9-owned Sumo, and will no doubt be in charge of a great many racing games.
