Irrational Games shutting down

Twirlywoos

Twirlywoos

Twirlywoos

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A Message From Ken Levine
When Jon Chey, Rob Fermier and I founded Irrational Games seventeen years ago, our mission was to make visually unique worlds and populate them with singular characters.
We built Rapture and Columbia, the Von Braun and The Rickenbacker, the Freedom Fortress and some of the nastiest basements a SWAT team ever set foot into. We created Booker and Elizabeth, the Big Daddy and the Little Sister, MidWives and ManBot. In that time, Irrational has grown larger and more successful than we could have conceived when we began our three-person studio in a living room in Cambridge, MA. It’s been the defining project of my professional life.

Now Irrational Games is about to roll out the last DLC for BioShock Infinite and people are understandably asking: What’s next?

Seventeen years is a long time to do any job, even the best one. And working with the incredible team at Irrational Games is indeed the best job I’ve ever had. While I’m deeply proud of what we’ve accomplished together, my passion has turned to making a different kind of game than we’ve done before. To meet the challenge ahead, I need to refocus my energy on a smaller team with a flatter structure and a more direct relationship with gamers. In many ways, it will be a return to how we started: a small team making games for the core gaming audience.

I am winding down Irrational Games as you know it. I’ll be starting a smaller, more entrepreneurial endeavor at Take-Two. That is going to mean parting ways with all but about fifteen members of the Irrational team. There’s no great way to lay people off, and our first concern is to make sure that the people who are leaving have as much support as we can give them during this transition.

Besides financial support, the staff will have access to the studio for a period of time to say their goodbyes and put together their portfolios. Other Take-Two studios will be on hand to discuss opportunities within the company, and we’ll be hosting a recruiting day where we’ll be giving 3rd party studios and publishers a chance to hold interviews with departing Irrational staff.*

What’s next?

In time we will announce a new endeavor with a new goal: To make narrative-driven games for the core gamer that are highly replayable. To foster the most direct relationship with our fans possible, we will focus exclusively on content delivered digitally.

When I first contemplated what I wanted to do, it became very clear to me that we were going to need a long period of design. Initially, I thought the only way to build this venture was with a classical startup model, a risk I was prepared to take. But when I talked to Take-Two about the idea, they convinced me that there was no better place to pursue this new chapter than within their walls. After all, they’re the ones who believed in and supported BioShock in the first place.

Thanks to Irrational and 2K’s passion in developing the games, and the fans who believe in it, BioShock has generated retail revenues of over a half billion dollars and secured an iconic place in gaming. I’m handing the reins of our creation, the BioShock universe, to 2K so our new venture can focus entirely on replayable narrative. If we’re lucky, we’ll build something half as memorable as BioShock.

We do our best to update an FAQ in this space as questions come in.



-Ken Levine
@iglevine

*If you’re a 3rd party interested in interviewing some of the best game developers in the world, please contact [email protected]
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http://www.irrationalgames.com/
 
Good riddance Bioshock 1 :D was ahead of its time but Infinite :mad: was a ridiculous waste of dev time/money to create....wait for it an FPS heavy shooter set in the clouds using the same old tired Unreal Engine....after 5 years that's all they could create :rolleyes:

They are not shutting down as such just laying off all staff except for 15 core people who will create something new. On their timescales expect to hear something in 3-4 years :rolleyes:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...ps-away-from-bioshock-to-create-something-new
 
Sad news for sure. Funny enough with my newly built rig I just recently started and finished Bioshock Infinite. I really enjoyed the game and story.
 
Great news!

One of the already-more-interesting bigtime developers is going to be getting the creative freedom to be producing exactly the games they want to be making.

Will be great to see what they come up with when less weighed down by the need to recoup such big investment in their projects.
 
Might be for the better, keep in mind that Bioshock: Infinite took around 7 years to make (they said development started right after Bioshock), and only about 2 years worth of actual content made it into the game. Hopefully this allows them for more creative freedom without restrains of managing a big AAA title.
 
I only really liked System Shock 2 on that list. And that was as much Looking Glass Studios work as Irrationals.

BioShock, I hate to say, was not nearly as good.
 
An interesting new direction for Ken Levine. I look forward to seeing what he will produce with the change of structure to his team. I'm guessing the success of Kickstarter games is allowing developers more freedom to collaborate with fans to produce what they want rather than go for the money makers publishers like so much. I hope he adds to the wealth of new interesting titles that are coming out now.
 
Am I missing something here or is this just incredibly selfish? I mean laying 15 people off because he wants to work with a smaller team? Why not just hand the company to someone else who can take over Irrational Games with the staff structure intact then he can leave and do his own thing?
 
flibby said:
Am I missing something here or is this just incredibly selfish? I mean laying 15 people off because he wants to work with a smaller team? Why not just hand the company to someone else who can take over Irrational Games with the staff structure intact then he can leave and do his own thing?
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No, it's not selfish.

There's no such thing as a job for life.

Also, when you're a creative endeavour, there's nothing worse than having to create just to pay the bills. It leads to compromise.
 
flibby said:
Am I missing something here or is this just incredibly selfish? I mean laying 15 people off because he wants to work with a smaller team? Why not just hand the company to someone else who can take over Irrational Games with the staff structure intact then he can leave and do his own thing?
Click to expand...

That's exactly how I read it too. Surely he can do something else without laying people off, you know, like most people that are bored with their current work would do? Very strange choice that does indeed come across as selfish :/ Condolences to those affected by his decision, hope they find work without trouble. Too many studios closing these days :/
 
Also they aren't laying off 15. They're laying off all but 15. Probably more than 15 people are losing their jobs.
 
Bioshock is one of the greatest games I've ever played. Ever.

Must've done at least 25-30 playthroughs and still find a new layer every single time
 
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