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Irrational Games shutting down, 2K takes over BioShock, KL in new 15 person DD studio
- Thread starter Quentyn
- Start date
DeejayKnight
Member
Holy shit. :O
Byron Bluth
Banned
I don't understand? Where does it say Irrational is done? Just seems like a reduction in staff for a new vision.
Seems like a move Levine would make.
If Infinite was the reason I doubt they would have stuck with Take Two or for Take Two to trust him with more money?
Seems like a move Levine would make.
If Infinite was the reason I doubt they would have stuck with Take Two or for Take Two to trust him with more money?
Take-Two loses money every year they don't release a GTA game with the one except of RDR's release year.
Take-Two has promised investors for the second time that they will make a profit going forward, and the executives want to keep their jobs.
BioShock Infinite, like the XCOM TPS and Mafia 2, were not sufficiently profitable ventures for Take-Two to even want to keep the studios that made them open, especially given the development cycle of the games.
Take-Two is taking BioShock to a new studio that can get it done faster/cheaper while it has Ken Levine make DD games for them in a 15 person studio where the cost risk is low and the ROI potential is high.
Take-Two asked Ken Levine to write a letter acting as the fall guy and he did it.
Suzushiiro
Banned
Yeah, BI probably sold well enough by mortal standards, but you have to do more than that for a AAA game that went through the development hell that BI appeared to have gone through.
Sectorseven
Member
Always sucks seeing stuff like this :-/
Best of luck to you fine folks
Why don't they start their own dev team?
Doc Holliday
SPOILER: Columbus finds America
I bet 2k wants them to focus on a different business model aka f2p, dlc and microtransactions
This shit is killing the industry.
This shit is killing the industry.
Maaaan seems like narrative is more and more fucked in video games. I didnt like the gameplay that much in Bioshock Infinite but it did have a very cool story and a great and original ending. Now that the franchise will be in other hands I doubt the story will have the same impact. Other than that, Zero Escape 3 is also facing problems and its another narrative driven game. Fuck man...
Frostinferno
Member
Aww man, this is shitty news. Loved their games.
=(
Hope things work out for all the members of the team.
Always sucks seeing stuff like this :-/
Best of luck to you fine folks
=(
Hope things work out for all the members of the team.
Tesseract
Banned
you have a really fine mind, best of luck.
wastedyears
Member
Fuck this. I wanted to see Bioshock in space with Levine at helm.
You mean something like System Shock? Bioshock was basically System Shock/SS2 all over again, but not in space.
AlphaTwo00
Member
Boston takes another blow in two weeks? First Turbine, now this?
Byron Bluth
Banned
Like stuffing a sausage into a meat grinder.
CosmicQueso
Member
The costs required to meet the desires of the customer base... ugh.
Costs rising faster than revenues. Blockbusters and indies are the only things on the menu in the near future.
Thank you to everyone at Irrational for making some damn fine games. Good luck to you all.
Costs rising faster than revenues. Blockbusters and indies are the only things on the menu in the near future.
Thank you to everyone at Irrational for making some damn fine games. Good luck to you all.
Elvin Atombender
Member
Same day as I start playing Bioshock Infinite.
Father_Brain
Banned
There's also the matter of all the staff that quit late in BSI's development.
sammyCYBORG
Member
I hope Shawn Elliot lands somewhere where he can shine.
The combat-heavy Infinite always seemed like something he'd dislike back in his GFW days.
The combat-heavy Infinite always seemed like something he'd dislike back in his GFW days.
Neuromancer
Member
Aside from all the layoffs, which are terrible whenever they happen, I don't think is such bad news. I feel like Ken Levine's talents would be better put to use making smaller, less expensive games where he can be innovative and take risks. Infinite felt held back by how safe it had to be.
This. Hopefully he'll go back to making System Shock 2 non dumb down gameplay. No more Infinite type gameplay please.
Well, that's actually very risky and they might have families they need to provide for with a stable high income.
Whiskeymatt
Member
Or AAA games could just scale back the budget a bit from the ridiculous levels they're at right now. It's not as clear cut as pumping obscene amounts of money into a game's development or having practically no funding whatsoever, and finding that healthy medium would help the industry immensely. AAA gaming is always going to be around if the market is there for it, but it's probably going to look different in the pretty near future, and that's probably for its own good.
TheExecutive
Member
thought I was reading the title wrong... came in thread and was SHOCKED. wowzers.
Because not everyone wants to live the starving artist lifestyle. Those with families to support can't.
Always sucks seeing stuff like this :-/
Best of luck to you fine folks
They are super talented so I know they'll be fine, but I'm certain this must be a really difficult time for them as it is for anyone. Hope they find a new home quick
PrimaNocta
Member
awwwww man....I was really looking forward to a Bioshock Vita(if that was every legit to begin with).
Suck for the employees. Good Luck on the job search.
Suck for the employees. Good Luck on the job search.
For god's sake... best of luck man, I'm sure you and the rest of the team will find a new job really soon, you are incredibly talented.
Honestly it doesn't sound that bad (as far as how studios are shut down). Ken Levine is taking some key people to put together a new studio that doesn't require nearly the team size as Irrational. Meanwhile the staff is getting a good amount of time to hang around, get their portfolios together, explore different opportunities in the company, and getting recruiters from other studios to hire. Could even work out well by giving other studios a nice talent infusion. Irrational did some amazing work. Usually when there are layoffs at a major company security just escorts you out of the building with little prior warning Still sucks though, but I have a hard time seeing most of these folk staying unemployed for long.
Still sucks though, but I have a hard time seeing most of these folk staying unemployed for long.
Unmoses
Member
Having played all of the games in some form (including Freedom Force and Tribes: Vengeance! haha) that Ken has worked on, I can say I've enjoyed every one of them.. Kudos to him for seemingly attempting to get back to a more agile development cycle.
I do take his comments at face value, and frankly I'm surprised more people aren't ecstatic that they are removing the irrational studio name.. Keeping a studio name going without the reasons why it earned the praise always irks me (like Infinity Ward sans the creators, Bioware sans the creators, etc
I do take his comments at face value, and frankly I'm surprised more people aren't ecstatic that they are removing the irrational studio name.. Keeping a studio name going without the reasons why it earned the praise always irks me (like Infinity Ward sans the creators, Bioware sans the creators, etc
maquiladora
Member
I loved the rich, hugely detailed world of Infinite. It seems we won't be seeing Ken's vision on that kind of scale with a 15 person studio making DD games. That makes me sad...
Rockstar released a game/year for the last couple of years that are multi-million sellers. Borderlands/DLC and NBA2K are also multi-million sellers. How is T2 not profitable?
Mr.Monitor
Member
After BioShock Infinite, this actually sounds ideal. I felt like Ken knew something had to change, and this sounds like a perfect solution. I'm actually interested in what he's gonna make next; after Infinite, Irrational was more or less dead to me.
BloodMoney
Banned
Nice ending
"*If youre a 3rd party interested in interviewing some of the best game developers in the world, please contact chris.bigelow@2k.com"
"*If youre a 3rd party interested in interviewing some of the best game developers in the world, please contact chris.bigelow@2k.com"
Interfectum
Member
Smaller, more nimble development studios seem to be the smart way forward. I'm sure Levine would rather get a game out to consumers in some form in a year or two instead of 5-6 years where he basically skips most of this gen.
Aquamarine
Member
Another fantastic studio bites the dust. RIP.
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