Potential buyers hover over Bizarre

Things are looking up for staff at Bizarre Creations today, following yesterday's news that a trip to the job centre might be in the offing. Apparently a number of buyers are interested in picking up the Blur studio.

An inside source told Develop that, "there's multiple parties interested in buying us."

"We are still on consultation for 90 days," he added, "but things look much better than they did last night or this morning. Things here are changing at such a quick pace."

The source didn't name names but another Bizarre staffer earlier told Develop that Microsoft was among those sniffing around.

"Microsoft aren't stupid," he said, "they know we're talented and have spoken to Activision about us."

A Microsoft buy-out would make a degree of sense. After all, Bizarre Creations were the studio responsible for bringing the publisher's hugely successful racing franchise, Project Gotham Racing, into the world, prior to being purchased by Activision in 2007.

Microsoft is rumoured to be talking to a number of European developers about rebooting the Project Gotham series. Are we the only ones seeing a perfect fit here?

Yesterday, Activision announced it was winding down its involvement with Bizarre Creations. A statement from the publisher explained, "because of the broader economic factors impacting the market, we are exploring our options regarding the future of the studio, including a potential sale of the business."

Bizarre isn't the only Activision subsidiary getting thrown out with the bath water. Guitar Hero port factory Budcat Creations also received its marching orders yesterday.