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[Ban Puncher]

They take 5-7 years for almost every game they make, so even when they sell millions upon millions they can still lose money.

A single game bombing also becomes a huge problem because when even things like Spec Ops cost $50+ million, you have to sell a ton of copies to make up that loss.

Borderlands and NBA come out on a regular schedule, but Gearbox and the NBA have significant profit sharing on those as they own their respective IPs.

Coming Holiday 2015 from Gearbox - Bioshock Forever Rises Ultimate Colonial 2KMarin's Lands!

 

[Lautaro]

Who's going to pay the bills? I'm sure at least some of them would be up to it if you can hook them with an investor.

Some of them should try a Kickstarter before going to another company I think.

 

[ghst]

This industry is eating everyone - and some people want to double-down on the things that make it do so.

Hope everyone involved lands on their feet...

including a not insignificant portion of GAF posters judging by the cliffy b thread on disc-based games.

 

[Dead]

I hope we still see a GOTY PS4 edition of Infinite + DLC

Aside from that, this really bums me out. Artistically, Irrational were on a totally other level compared to most every other studio out there

 

[Iksenpets]

It's possible that Levine expressed a desire to leave Irrational to the 2k higher-ups, and without him there it's possible that they didn't foresee a bright future for the studio given Infinite's troubled development.

Obviously I'm just speculating, but it seems like Levine and his creative vision was the only thing keeping Irrational alive.

This is what it sounds like to me. Levine was no longer interested in working with the large team, and 2K had no interest in floating the team without him.

 

[ultron87]

It seems like they must have been a fairly small studio if only 15 people are being laid off. You'd think they'll probably be absorbed pretty easily.

Fifteen people aren't being laid off. Everyone except for fifteen people are being laid off.

 

[Eusis]

As much as I would love that it sounds like he is still with 2K.

Given the small studio I wonder if 2K sees this and hopes to make something that takes off at a small budget? But that's the best case, very likely this ends up a mobile division I fear. :/

 

[Triggerhappytel]

This is both super sad but also super exciting as a direction.

I have no idea what the small group's next project is but digital delivery only, "as part of fostering a relationship with fans", could be an indication of regular update cycles. For a narrative driven games, that could get quite interesting. I'm in! Best of luck to all of them on their transition

It is an exciting prospect, but does the rest of the studio really have to be closed down while Levine takes 15 staff to cultivate some small projects? Is there really no-one else there who can lead the studio (assuming the other two founders have left already), or maybe keep 80 or 100 staff to work on 2 or 3 small digital projects, or even a retail game with a smaller scale than BioShock or its like. It just seems like such an extreme answer. Especially given that 2K also recently closed down 2K Marin, and I doubt their new San Francisco studio is anywhere near up and running yet.

 

[SolidsnackooFoxhound]

I like Sledgehammer. But... uhm... hey guys at Irrational, if you have the choice, please don't waste your talent at a studio that seemingly is the next gear in the Call of Duty milking machine.

Lol. I was just thinking the same thing.

 

[Volotaire]

Oh wow.

 

[Hupsel]

Ken Levine joins Spike Chunsoft and helps Zero Escape 3 come true yay!

 

[famousmortimer]

On the human side of things this is awful. I'm glad the 2k is doing things to help them find new jobs and that other companies are already openly recruiting... but even if most of the team has jobs by the end of the day it likely means uprooting and moving to the other side of the country. On the plus side... less blizzards.


On the gaming side, I loved Bioshock, but AAA doesn't play to levine's strengths. His best work was with small teams. I'm more excited about what he does next now than I was when I figured it was going to be another 5 year developed Bioshock arena shooter with a neat story.

 

[IAmRandom31]

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.

Yeah but when they do release a GTA .. good lord they bring in a billion+ dollars! Then the money they make from GTA DLC and such going forward.

Hell as long as the companies broke even or got even close with every single other project, you could survive off that for many years ... many many years. Unless you are spending like 300,000,000 per project. Which I hope would not be the case.

 

[Marvel]

Outta nowhere, holy shit!

 

[Fox318]

For as great as Infinite was it simply took too long for irrational to develop. The game took almost 5 years to make.

I hope everyone finds jobs though.

 

[Mass Effect]

This is awful. This is only going to get much worse before it gets better, isn't it?

 

[Hurt and Scared]

Best of luck to those looking for a new job

 

[molnizzle]

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.

That's a tall motherfucking order.

In Ken we trust.

 

[Gorillaz]

Studio that makes GOTYs all the time is left to die, while studios with insanely shitty games keep on getting funded by AAA publishers.

Insane. Hilarious.

Their games will live on forever, and sequels will be bastardized but I'm glad they existed.

They didn't have anything big between Bioshock and Infinite. BS2 was another studio. It's develoment and mismanaged to hell to work like that

7 years....7

 

[Tadale]

It is hard to be excited about video games when shit like this happens.

 

[Barkley's Justice]

To foster the most direct relationship with our fans possible, we will focus exclusively on content delivered digitally.

haha, so many hurt luddites incoming

 

[foxtrot3d]

Why does everyone keep assuming Irrational was shut down because Infinite somehow wasn't profitable? He says right there in his letter why he did what he did and support his decision if it leads to a better more hardcore game, I just hope the production value doesn't take a massive dip as well.

 

[Aquamarine]

Irrational Games
1997-2014

1999
System Shock 2 (Win, Mac)

2002
Freedom Force (Win, Mac)

2004
Tribes: Vengeance (Win)

2005
Freedom Force vs. the 3rd Reich (Win)

2005
SWAT 4 (Win)

2007
Bioshock (360, PS3, Win, Mac)

2013
BioShock Infinite (360, PS3, Win, Mac)

RIP.

 

[Sotha_Sil]

This has nothing to do with him wanting to try new things. Irrational must have lost a ton of money from Infinite. There would be no need to lay off all those other employees otherwise.

 

[King_Moc]

It sucks that people have lost jobs and i hope they can get new positions without too much hassle.

This really needs to serve as a warning to developers though. You can't spend 6 years on a game with a AAA team behind it. I wonder how many sales they needed to break even? People really need to remember that not everything needs to be full on AAA with all the graphics and polish. You don't always have to shoot for Call of Duty esque sales.

 

[Nzyme32]

So he and CliffyB are going to team up, huh? Weirdness.

Not sure if serious... but..

You have to wonder whether this is a sign of things to come. It seems clearer each year that the AAA bombastic budget route is just not realistic in the long term with the way gaming is going. Perhaps things will get better...

 

[Drencrom]

Nice to see studios reaching out to the employees of Irrational.

Edit: Beaten.

It's a nice gesture and all, but ending up at sledgehammer churning out Call of Duty forever doesn't sound that appealing to me.

 

[kirblar]

It is an exciting prospect, but does the rest of the studio really have to be closed down while Levine takes 15 staff to cultivate some small projects? Is there really no-one else there who can lead the studio (assuming the other two founders have left already), or maybe keep 80 or 100 staff to work on 2 or 3 small digital projects, or even a retail game with a smaller scale than BioShock or its like. It just seems like such an extreme answer. Especially given that 2K also recently closed down 2K Marin, and I doubt their new San Francisco studio is anywhere near up and running yet.

They can always attach another team to Levine's or hire additional staff if they need them later in the development process. But having a large standing army doesn't make sense while you're going through the initial experimental design/prototype/concept phase. It's a huge amount of money that Take-Two doesn't see any real return from.

 

[Intheflorsh]

I never even considered this would happen... Best of luck to those laid off.

 

[Salvor.Hardin]

It's more than likely logistics. You're not going to keep hundreds of people to make what will probably amount to an indie game.

Yeah it's probably this.

In any case, I think it's a bit unfair to criticize Levine for this. He can't be expected to work at Irrational and maintain a massive team for no other reason to keep people employed. If his goal is to work on smaller projects, he should be allowed to do so.

 

[Zeppelin]

Sounds great. Infinite was somewhat of a disappointment and if rolling with a smaller team allows based Levine to return to former glory I'm all for it.

 

[Nirolak]

Yeah but when they do release a GTA .. good lord they bring in a billion+ dollars! Then the money they make from GTA DLC and such going forward.

Hell as long as the companies broke even or got even close with every single other project, you could survive off that for many years ... many many years. Unless you are spending like 300,000,000 per project. Which I hope would not be the case.

Post GTA V Take-Two has $972.17M in cash and $448.74M in debt. If they're unprofitable for four more years until GTA VI they will be back to the borderline again or in the red again, since they tend to lose money in the $100-$200 million range in off years.

 

[The perfect Dark]

This is a sad day now, fuck.

 

[IAmRandom31]

Irrational Games
1997-2014

1999
System Shock 2 (Win, Mac)

2002
Freedom Force (Win, Mac)

2004
Tribes: Vengeance (Win)

2005
Freedom Force vs. the 3rd Reich (Win)

2007
Bioshock (360, PS3, Win, Mac)

2013
BioShock Infinite (360, PS3, Win, Mac)

RIP.

Yeah ... it is a sad day. Damn shame. System Shock 2, Bioshock, the best Tribes, etc.

Post GTA V Take-Two has $972.17M in cash and $448.74M in debt. If they're unprofitable for four more years until GTA VI they will be back to the borderline again or in the red again.

I am glad I am not in accounting lol. I would look at having nearly 500,000,000 on hand as a pretty good situation.

 

[Souldestroyer Reborn]

What the hell?

Why wind down the full studio?

 

[Spirit of Jazz]

Irrational Games
1997-2014

1999
System Shock 2 (Win, Mac)

2002
Freedom Force (Win, Mac)

2004
Tribes: Vengeance (Win)

2005
Freedom Force vs. the 3rd Reich (Win)

2007
Bioshock (360, PS3, Win, Mac)

2013
BioShock Infinite (360, PS3, Win, Mac)

RIP.

I love all of these games. Best of luck to everybody who's looking for work.

 

[Sadist]

This will never happen because fans would not accept it. People want the graphics, voice acting, motion capture, etc. A lot of this stuff is nice to look at and listen to, but on the flip side it limits games and extends development time.

I'm not talking about returning to midtier development entirely;

I would love if the industry would continue with some big budget projects, but overall it should be a few mega releases complimented by several mid/smaller budget games. But alas, it's only a dream.

 

[Wyndstryker]

I just see this as another sign that the AAA focus that consoles strive for is unsustainable. If you get a critically acclaimed franchise doing relatively ok and still not meeting publisher expectations then there are major problems.

If it wasn't for the indies there would be no hope. I'd say give a gen or two and the indies will flourish into the new big devs.

 

[Steez]

What? Nooooooooooooo!

 

[ReturnOfTheRAT]

Sounds like Ken is making himself the fall guy from what he's written here.

 

[keit4]

It's a nice gesture and all, but ending up at sledgehammer churning out Call of Duty forever doesn't sound that appealing to me.

Well, better a job at Sledgehammer than nothing.

 

[Lakitu]

This news has made me depressed.

Digital only titles from now on, then.

 

[SwiftDeath]

While sad to hear Irrational is spinning down, I'm glad to see Ken getting an opportunity to work on New IP.

I hope those at Irrational who do not get to stay with Ken, either find new jobs at Take Two or elsewhere quickly

 

[border]

I wonder if this is Levine's decision, or purely a financial decision from Take2's side of things.

 

[graywolf323]

wow didn't see that coming :O

 

[jackal27]

AAA game development is time bomb, I swear. Hit the reset button guys. Something isn't working.

 

[Awful Falafel]

Just yesterday I was thinking that since the last BI DLC was almost out maybe they'd find time to start up Irrational podcasts again, guess not.

Is there a word for being incredibly wrongly optimistic about something? Because that's how I feel right now

I want to be hyped for whatever Ken Levine cooks up with this team but now I'm afraid it'll backfire horribly if I look forward to it.

 

[Oersted]

It's a nice gesture and all, but ending up at sledgehammer churning out Call of Duty forever doesn't sound that appealing to me.

You must be new to the videogame industry.

 

[JohngPR]

Irrational is Ken Levine. They're not going to keep funding the studio without his involvement. I'm sure he had no interest in making another massive Bioshock game and they weren't happy about the timeline of development compared to the yield from sales. It seems like they must have been a fairly small studio if only 15 people are being laid off. You'd think they'll probably be absorbed pretty easily.

Re-read it...they are only KEEPING 15 people.

 

[Brazil]

Hm, where does it say Irrational will shut down?

What I'm getting from the letter is that Irrational will, moving forward, be a 15-person team... But not that it'll close down.