Bizarre Creations closing Feb. 18 - Report

This Friday will mark the end of an era for fans of the racing genre. According to a Develop report, Bizarre Creations will close its doors on Friday, February 18, marking the end of more than two decades of development. The closure was not unexpected, as the studio had been on notice since last November that a shutdown was a possibility. That fate was all but sealed in January, when parent company Activision announced it could not find not a buyer for the studio.

Bizarre Creations first came to prominence in 1996 for its Formula One game for the original PlayStation. In 2000, it released Metropolis Street Racer for the Sega Dreamcast. However, the studio became best known for its work on Microsoft's Xbox platforms, for which it developed the popular Project Gotham Racing series. The studio was also behind the popular retro-arcade game Geometry Wars, which was released for the PC and Xbox 360, with a spin-off hitting the DS and Wii.

In 2007, Bizarre Creations was bought by Activision, for whom it developed two games: last year's Blur and James Bond 007: Blood Stone. Neither title was a breakout hit, so as part of a round of cost-cutting late last year, Activision made the decision to close the studio--which, at its peak, employed around 200 people.