Activision plans to go head-to-head with its rivals by speeding into the popular racing game category following the acquisition of driving game specialist Bizarre Creations, says Euro boss Joerg Trouvain (pictured).

The purchase of the Liverpool studio sees the top five publisher finally secure a foothold amongst UK games development – and will help to widen the publisher’s product portfolio. Activision has historically lacked a racing game in its release schedule, even through the genre represents a huge ten per cent slice of the market.

The company plans to do battle with the likes of EA, THQ, Sony and Microsoft – who all have at least one or two brands in the space – via the launch of its first internally-made racing game, expected around Christmas 2009.

But the key to the company’s success will be the talent at Bizarre, Activision’s European boss Joerg Trouvain told MCV.

He said: “It’s true there is a lot of competition out there but Bizarre Creations is not just a studio – it’s one of the very best studios in the world, and we will be able to deliver an outstanding racing game to the market.”

Activision’s executive vice president of publishing Robin Kaminsky added: “We believe Bizarre’s development capabilities coupled with Activision’s world class marketing and distribution resources should enable us to take the racing genre beyond where it is today.”

The news has no doubt raised eyebrows at Microsoft Game Studios in the US. Bizarre Creations has just completed work on Project Gotham 4, which is due out in two weeks.