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[Zornack]

Sad, but I want to see what Ken can do. I'm excited.

 

[aeolist]

probably a good thing in terms of levine's output. being constrained by AAA-style development really hurt infinite.

 

[Marceles]

So much for Bioshock on Vita

 

[mkenyon]

Sweet!

Looking forward to see what they can do without the constraints of a AAA budget.

Only downer is folks needing to find a new job. Hoping for the best for all employees.

 

[Silky]

OUTRAGEOUS.

 

[Otakumegane]

The AAA industry syndrome.

Say what you want about Nintendo but they saw this shit coming from miles away. A real shame the industry turned into this.

 

[sn00zer]

GOd dammit

 

[speculawyer]

WTF?

We just made a game that won many GOTY awards . . . so we are closing.

 

[Darksol]

Nooooooooooooooo!

 

[anexanhume]

This seems reasonable. The Bioshock games simply were not popular enough to justify their production costs.

This truth hurts so much. Dammit.

 

[inky]

Wow...

I guess Irrational was too big for its own good. This is so weird.

 

[astrogamer]

well this was surprisng

 

[Magwik]

This seems reasonable. The Bioshock games simply were not popular enough to justify their production costs.

Opiate
Depressingly Realistic
(Today, 12:43 PM)

sigh. anyways this is sad, sad news. Hopefully everyone that lost a job will find a new one.

 

[Zombie James]

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.

So Ken Levine wants to work on a new game with a smaller team, so the solution is to shut the company down and fire all but 15 people?

 

[GulAtiCa]

What?!?

 

[7DollarHagane]

Damn. I really hope by digital and replay able they have PC in mind, not smartphones...

Just.. Damn.


So angry at everyone pouring their money into the garbage dump of iOS right now

 

[ElTorro]

Sounds like he has enough of AAA.

 

[entremet]

AAA gaming will die a slow death outside of 1st party and some tentpole studios.

It's just not sustainable.

 

[def sim]

That's rough. I hope they all land on their feet.

 

[RoKKeR]

Woah. Didn't see this coming.

Thanks for the great games Ken and team.

 

[Jesb]

Starting to hate this industry... Quality dev's getting killed off, so often now.

 

[SlowRevolution]

Wow. That sucks.

 

[Fergie]

Pretty surprising. I've enjoyed the Bioshock series.

 

[I-hate-u]

Why didn't he just leave? Why did they have to close down the studio completely?

Oh and I guess this means the Bioshock Vita is not happening anymore.

 

[TheRealTalker]

they where leaking employees

guess some knew what was going to happen

 

[RPGamer92]

RIP Bioshock

 

[nbnt]

What the hell!

 

[F0rneus]

Oh wow, this is terrible news.

 

[The Elite]

What!?

 

[Rodney McKay]

Huh, I thought this was the Fuse developers when I saw the thread title, haha.

 

[Nuke Soda]

Now I'm sad.
I like 2K so hopefully they won't rush out a Bioshock sequel.

 

[GalacticMouse]

His letter makes it sound like Ken Levine is shutting the studio down by choice to pursue a new game with a smaller team...but I'd have to imagine that the closure/restructure is a financial issue. Otherwise, you'd think it would benefit 2K to keep Irrational making games while Ken Levine worked on a new project separately.

Either way, big loss for the industry and hopefully all the devs at Irrational are able to find new employment. Unfortunately, there's not much of an industry presence here in Massachusetts. :-/

 

[Barzul]

Definitely didn't see this coming.

 

[pretty done]

Bioshock Infinite must have been a loss for the company.

Rightfully so. Game is the definition of mediocre.

Still not happy to see them shut down. They could have made a fun game if it wasn't a shooter.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

Bioshock Infinite's development was so big, so long, and so costly, I'm not TOTALLY (bio)shocked by this development.

 

[Steve McQueen]

Just wow....

 

[Alcoholikaust]

Didn't the lead level designer jump ship last year?

 

[Mendoza]

Wow.
Didn't see that coming.


Damn. Hopefully Shawn Elliott is part of the illustrious 15.

Edit: He isn't.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

This isn't shocking. Levine was clearly restless during Bioshock Infinite's development and was even more clearly restless after it.

I guess now he saw his chance to get out and do something like Bioshock Infinite without all the things that were holding it back.

 

[conman]

Awesome. From my perspective, Infinite was a mess. I can only imagine how big of a headache it was on his end. It shows.

I hope this means he can make games that retain a coherent vision, with tighter control over content and design. I feel bad for the other folks at the studio, but I feel great for what this means for us gamers.

 

[Gorillaz]

What the hell were the expectations for it? It sold over 4m units in four months.

it went through a bunch of changes and development hell tho didn't it? that probably made it worst budget wise

 

[Tyrax]

But Bioshock Vita...

ouch, too soon

 

[zenosparadox]

This sounds more like a creative decision than a financial reason. Sad and unexpected, but why assume the worst?

 

[thelatestmodel]

What, why? Whyyyyyyy?

 

[Puru]

AAA still slaying.

 

[DukeBobby]

End of an era. Best of luck to everyone.

 

[Leotarius]

I have a feeling that 5 years from now gaming will be vastly different than how we know it today.

Things are changing.

 

[Paznos]

What? Wow. and like others my first thought was Bioshock Vita too lol.

 

[jaypah]

Well this is fucking crazy. Best of luck to all involved though.

 

[Baroquemantic]

This is crazy. Best of luck to those being laid off.