Having confirmed last year that the future of Liverpool-based studio, Bizarre Creations was hanging in the balance, Activision has now announced that it had has definitely decided to pull the plug on the creators of the Project Gotham Racing franchise, after failing to find a buyer for any of the studio’s franchises.

After acquiring Bizarre Creations in 2007, Activision published titles such as The Club, Blur and the arcade hit Geometry Wars. The relative success of those titles wasn't enough for Activision to invest any further in the developer, who will close down officially on Friday. Activision Worldwide Studios COO Coddy Johnson told website Develop that the decision was a “last resort”.

"I want to be clear, our first choice was to try and keep this group together and find a buyer for the studio," he said. "This decision comes after a few months of exhausted examination of a number of different options across the board."

Activision is currently under-going an intensive pre-Spring clear-out of some of its franchises, having confirmed recently that it has ditched its Guitar Hero, DJ Hero and True Crime franchises. Rumours suggest that the publisher is locked in talks with 2K Games and a potential takeover may well be imminent. If that happens, Activision will be replacing those franchises with the likes of Grand Theft Auto, Mafia and Red Dead Redemption.