Ex-Bizarre Employees Form New Studio Lucid Games

Former employees of developer Bizarre Creations, the studio behind racing releases such as Blur and Project Gotham Racing, have formed new company Lucid Games. Publisher Activision announced last month that it was closing the Bizarre Creations studio after disappointing sales of its street racer Blur. A team of ex-Bizarre developers have now opened Lucid Games for business, led by Pete Wallace, originally a development director at Bizarre. Speaking to UK-based news site Liverpool Daily Post, Wallace said that he hopes the new studio can employ around 50 ex-Bizarre staff. "The idea is to take the spirit of Bizarre Creations and see if we can improve on that" Wallace noted. Commercial director for Lucid Games, Andy Davidson, said "We know people are being targeted by headhunters and being asked about moving, particularly to Canada." "We want to get back to the levels of innovation and creativity at Bizarre that made Activision so keen to acquire it." Discussing the closure of Bizarre Creations, ex-Bizarre design manager Gareth Wilson said yesterday "It was a perfect storm of unfortunate circumstances. The landscape of the industry has changed massively even in the time from when Bizarre was acquired."