There’s a clip buzzing around today featuring former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, who seems to have become a bit of a spooky figure for video game enthusiasts. On a podcast hosted by venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, alongside former EA executive Bing Gordon, Kotick admitted to a shaky acquisition attempt. He struggled to recall, saying, “We actually had a bad acquisition. The company was, um… in Manchester, that did the driving game for Xbox, and it was called, um…”
You can check it out yourself at about the 8-minute mark. It’s not the best look. But honestly, I get it. When I hit 62, I imagine I’ll be forgetting bits of what I got up to back when I was 44—which happens to be my current age, and let me tell you, I already feel a bit nostalgic. Will I remember writing this piece? Hard to say. But what stands clear in my memory is Bizarre Creations’ standout game — a game my family still enjoys today.
No, I’m not talking about Blur — all due respect to the fans out there — nor am I referring to “the driving game for Xbox,” though my hat’s off to the Project Gotham Racing fanatics. I’m referring to Geometry Wars, a game that paved the way for a new genre on Microsoft’s powerful second console and arguably stood out as the Xbox 360’s premier launch title.
Geometry Wars first made its appearance inside Project Gotham Racing 2 on the initial Xbox. It’s a straightforward twin-stick shooter: your left stick moves the ship, while the right stick controls the shooting. Simple, yet brilliant! During one of my early stints as a video game journalist (RIP Joystiq), I covered the Xbox 360 launch leading up to its November 2005 release, and Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved – known for its high-definition Xbox Live Arcade version — immediately caught my attention. I remarked, “If [Project Gotham Racing 3] isn’t the standout of the 360 launch, Bizarre’s other creation surely is!”
In the following weeks and months, my colleagues at Joystiq and I watched the global leaderboards, both amazed and surprised. They scored what now? The charm of this kind of retro game being played on a high-def console integrated with the internet was just a peek into the future of gaming, but it was incredibly telling. We tracked high scores (shout-out to Striker and xTHeDoGgx) and challenged each other on the friends’ leaderboards.
And today, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved continues to be a family favorite on the Steam Deck. Its quick gaming sessions, paired with some intense father-son competitions, remind me just how solid this game’s mechanics are, even nearly two decades later. So, even if you forget the studio’s name or its location — Liverpool, by the way — you should remember Geometry Wars. Sure, Activision ended Bizarre Creations in 2011 after releasing the racing game Blur. Still, a few team members regrouped at Lucid Games, eventually rolling out Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions in 2014, which was the franchise’s first appearance on PlayStation.
If you haven’t had the chance to play it yet, you’re in luck! You can snag the original version on the Xbox store for the same $4.99 price tag from 2005 or grab it on Steam for a cool $1.99 – cheaper than a convenience store coffee! If you’re a PlayStation user, you can get Geometry Wars 3 for $14.99, which is about the price of a fancy cup of coffee these days (don’t quote me on that).
I’d love to hear if any of you share my enthusiasm for this game; feel free to leave a comment below. Catch you on the leaderboards. 👀
