Brian Woodhouse says life is a Blur at Liverpool video game studio Bizarre Creations, as it prepares to launch its first big release for two years.

Brian Woodhouse says life is a Blur at Liverpool video game studio Bizarre Creations, as it prepares to launch its first big release for two years.

INSIDE a faceless South Liverpool shed, Brian Woodhouse and his team at Bizarre Creations build new worlds.

From behind banks of computers, the team at Bizarre has developed some of the best-selling video games to come out of the UK in recent years, including the Project Gotham Racing series.

Now it is set to launch new “powered-up racing” game Blur, a game its studio director Brian Woodhouse hopes will spin off more sequels and cement Bizarre’s place among the country’s leading games developers.

He may be a trained accountant who leads a 200-strong team, but Woodhouse isn’t your typical corporate suit – and Bizarre doesn’t look like a typical business.

Inside that understated South Liverpool shed, a bright orange wall bearing a grinning pumpkin welcomes you to the world of Bizarre, where T-shirt and jeans combos are the norm, and where artists and programmers come together to create games enjoyed by millions worldwide.

As studio director, Woodhouse is in charge of the business, with all the responsibility that implies. He led the negotiations in 2007 that saw Bizarre taken over by US developer Activision, while retaining its own identity, independent strategy and all its staff.

Now that Blur is ready for release after 30 months of work, Bizarre’s team is turning its attention to other projects. These reportedly include a new James Bond title, though Woodhouse is staying tight-lipped.

Sitting in his purple-walled office, adorned with huge Blur posters and Liverpool FC memorabilia, Woodhouse is a passionate and relaxed host, clearly itching for the chance to get his new game to the market and make it a success.

He may be the boss, and may have spearheaded a takeover deal, but he insists it hasn’t changed the way he works or the way he relates to Bizarre’s team.

“We all wear T-shirts and jeans to work,” he said.

“We have an understanding that we have to work hard, but always be open and honest. There’s room for opinions – there has to be.

“There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to building a game.

“We’ve got people with many different skillsets. There’s a guy here who worked at CERN on the Large Hadron Collider. There’s a guy who used to calculate missile trajectories. They have all sorts of varied backgrounds, and everybody has a valid opinion. You’ve got to be honest, open and tolerant.

“We’ve no room for large egos or bull---t at this business. Some of the quietest people have the best ideas.”

Being taken over by a US company with a $4.3bn turnover has, he says, not changed Bizarre.

“We continue to follow the indy studio model, building great games, without room for large egos,” he said. “It’s not that type of company.

“There’s some people at games companies that go about thinking they’re like rock stars. But we don’t. We build games. It’s a team effort. It’s hard work.”

Even Woodhouse’s office, despite its personal touches, isn’t for his use alone. It is also used as a meeting room, leaving Woodhouse to hot-desk himself around the building.

“We don’t have office snobbery,” he said.

“It’s not a reflection of my ego that we have a large table and large screen in here. It’s practical. We need them for when we hold meetings in here.

“Other people regularly use this office. I just take my lap-top and go and work somewhere else.

“I’m not like a CEO with a green lamp and a leather chair,” he added with a grin. “Those days are over.”

There is a refreshing lack of management speak from Woodhouse. But then that’s no surprise if you look at the way Bizarre announced its deal with Activision. There was no talk of synergies or cost-benefit analyses. Instead, the company vowed to “continue to create kick-ass games”.

And, addressing gamers on its website, it said: “Bizarre are happy because it means we’re completely safe as a company, we all get to stay exactly the same, and we now have the opportunity to stretch our legs with some brand new game concepts. This is going to be fun.”

At just 39, Woodhouse may seem young to be leading a company of Bizarre’s size. But that – and the company’s relaxed approach to corporatespeak – merely reflects the youth of the video gaming sector, which took root in Liverpool in the 1980s with the success of companies such as Psygnosis, which is now part of Sony.

“There is quite a lot of energy in the business,” he said. “I’m one of the oldest at 39. But even I’m relatively young to be running a 200-man studio.

“They’re a young group but they’re smart, well-educated, experienced, and they’ve a lot of confidence in their abilities and in what they do. There’s no reason why age comes into it.

“But we have got people who are older than me who are real guiding lights.

“We’ve got people who’ve had 20-year careers in this industry. That’s akin to starting off in silent movies, it really is.”

After taking his accountancy exams, Liverpool lad Woodhouse started his career at Sony – which still employs hundreds at its studios and development centres in Liverpool and Runcorn.

His work with Sony took him to the West Coast of the US – one of the world hubs for video game development – where he spent six months at the company’s San Francisco studios.

“There’s more work and more opportunities there,” he said.

“If you go down the coast – in Seattle you have Microsoft and Nintendo; in San Francisco, there are large headquarters for Sony, EA and Sega, and then in LA you have Activision and Vivendi.

“Then you have other studios feeding into that. There are more companies.

“There’s also a different way of working. They work more hours, which in some senses isn’t healthy but it gives them a different outlook.”

Woodhouse joined Bizarre in 1998 after 3½ years at Sony and has risen up the management ranks, becoming studio director in 2007.

“I’ve left behind the day-to-day production side because we’ve got guys who are really good and who have probably forgotten more than I’ll ever know,” he said.

“But the business side of this industry is what I really enjoy.

“Working with Activision gives us a more secure and stable platform for us to build games.”

Bizarre Creations was founded in 1992 by Martyn Chudley, who today concentrates on the creative side of the business.

Bizarre grew steadily with successes including the Project Gotham Racing series for the Microsoft XBox console, which has sold more than 6m copies, and Geometry Wars.

But the biggest change in the company’s history came in 2007 when it was bought by US group Activision.

The negotiations, which ran from January to September, were led by Woodhouse.

Bizarre sought a deal because it wanted new investment to make games for other gaming platforms, as well as the XBox.

“We were talking to Microsoft about our future,” said Woodhouse. “We’d pushed up and we’d expanded considerably and we had a fairly large cost base.

“We were getting to the point where we were looking to go multi-format, and we were looking for long-term security for the studio as well.

“We started talks with a number of interested parties. But Activision came to the table pretty established and, quickly, we were very keen on them.

“For Activision, we made a lot of sense. It added a string to their bow that they didn’t have – they didn’t have anybody who specialised in racing games.

“We had a great relationship with Microsoft for a long period of time.

“But the ability to produce games in multiple formats for a major publisher under a much more secure deal was just too tempting.

“But it was definitely with some sadness that we parted ways with Microsoft. We still have a strong relationship with them now.”

After the merger, Bizarre released its final Project Gotham Racing game in late 2007 and then in early 2008 released The Club for Sega.

But since then the company has been investing in the systems it needs to build games for new platforms, while work on Blur continued.

“It’s all cost so far,” said Woodhouse.

“But the business can be very lucrative. Around 5% of released games generate 95% of the revenue. So, if you get that hit, it can be very profitable.

“The average development cost of a game is in the region of $25m. That’s why the retail price is relatively high.”

Blur is a racing game, but is not a typical one where drivers do laps of ultra-realistic Formula One circuits.

Woodhouse says it is suited to gamers who “don’t have the patience” to tweak the depth of a tyre tread to gain milliseconds of speed over your rivals.

Instead, you can use “power-ups” to give yourself a sudden speed boost or to take out your rivals, sending them spinning around the track.

“It’s not just about going round a track,” said Woodhouse. “It’s interacting with your opponents and your friends. You can do stuff you can’t do in any other racing game.

“It’s not just about a simulated race. It’s not about doing a time trial 86 times. It’s more interactive. It’s chaos.”

The first plans for the game were sketched out 30 months ago.

Woodhouse said: “We wanted to break away from the traditional racer and produce something for the mass market, rather than just something where you do laps and try to break somebody’s time.

“We wanted to break into an area we’d never been into before – and an area no-one else was going into.

“If you’re a hardcore racer it will appeal, because of the multi-player mode and because it’s great fun. But it will also appeal to the mass market – it’s something you can pick up and play, whether for ten minutes or ten hours.”

The first Blur game is out on May 28, but the team at Bizarre is already planning a sequel and hoping it will become a long-running franchise.

“We’re hoping this game sets a really strong benchmark and gives us something to build on. We’re not really looking at numbers.

“We’re going to get huge marketing support from Activision to sell this title. I hope it gets enormous exposure and that people are really receptive.

“We want to produce something that customers love and that we can build on.

“This is a long-term strategy for us. We’ve built a new game that’s almost a new sub-genre in the racing category. We’ve got a lot to build on.”

Bizarre’s team is now building a new racing game. Woodhouse will not be drawn on what that game will be, and kept his poker face when asked about the many online reports that it will be a James Bond game.

“We are committed to building an action game that’s going to be released later this year,” he said. “We can’t name it yet. The studio is really busy.”

Woodhouse isn’t expecting Bizarre’s workforce to grow any further, no matter how successful its games become.

“I feel that 200 is our optimum number.

“I’m proud of the fact that I know everyone’s name at the studio. Once we got past that 200 level, it would feel very different. I don’t think I could remember more than 200 names.”

“My job is like herding cats some days. But I’m not dealing with folk with a factory mentality.

“I have a team of creatives who are very smart. They can be both tough and sensitive at the same time.

“I’ve got to have a strong belief in how I want the business set up culturally.”

Liverpool has become a hub for the video gaming sector, with Bizarre and Sony – which bought Psygnosis in 1993 – as its leading lights.

Woodhouse wants to play his part in making the sector a success, including building links with universities to make sure graduates have the talent gaming firms need.

“I want to collaborate more closely with academia and really make Liverpool the key city in the country for game development talent,” he said.

“There’s a terrific opportunity there, and a will to succeed. And there’s no question about the talent.

“There’s some great talent in this country and we cannot let it get sucked away to the West Coast of the US.

“I’m from this city, and I’m proud we’ve got a large and successful studio in the city I’m from, and that we’ve been able to build it and support the local economy.”

Video games firms have also been calling for the sector to receive tax relief, as has happened in other countries, to help them retain talent. The previous government had committed itself to such a measure before the election, but Woodhouse remains confident it will be introduced.

“All three parties committed themselves to tax breaks similar to the movie business tax breaks. It’s similar to what countries like France and Canada have done,” he said.

“For us to compete properly, we as a business expect to be treated on an equal footing.

“The point is that it keeps talent, secures jobs, and retains intellectual credibility.

“With the right government support, the industry will grow and attract even more inward investment.

“Put simply, more games will get built in the UK. ”

Woodhouse is a huge Liverpool FC fan, as demonstrated by the club memorabilia in his office, including a framed shirt and a flag for the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul, which he attended. But mention of the club’s recent woes prompts a rueful grin.

“I don’t love them as much at the moment,” he said, “not because they’re not successful but because they’re not very entertaining.

“If you produced a game based on the season that Liverpool have produced, I don’t think it would sell very well.”

Woodhouse insists he is not a man for expensive hobbies – apart from following Liverpool FC – preferring to cycle round the parks of South Liverpool, or catch up with friends.

“I’m pretty down-to-earth,” he smiled. “I don’t fly helicopters for a hobby.”

In one small concession to the life of a more stereotypical chief executive, Woodhouse does admit to a small golfing habit.

“But I’m a lousy player,” he said.

“Once a year I’ll have a good game. I play about six times a year, and once a year I’ll win.”