BioShock Studio Irrational Games Is Shutting Down

[DrasticAutomatic]

I don't see why everyone is so sympathetic towards him. 

 

He laid off all but 15 people in order to pursuit his own interests, some of these people may struggle to find another project. 

 

Seems selfish to me. 

[One Jedi More]

Irrational Games, the studio that makes BioShock, is shutting down. BioShock creator Ken Levine said today that he plans to move on to smaller, narrative-heavy games that will be released digitally.

 

Levine, who ran Irrational, announced the news on the Irrational Games website today, noting that he'll be starting "a smaller, more entrepreneurial endeavor at Take-Two" and laying off all but 15 people.

 

"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," Levine wrote. "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."

 

The troubled development of BioShock Infinite was no secret—Levine's latest game was an expensive production, affected by multiple delays and scrapped features, which might explain his new focus.

 

Levine's new goal, as he wrote today: "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."

 

Irrational's final project will be part 2 of the BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea downloadable content,which is out next month.

 

Via Kotaku

 

[tofu341]

All I'm getting out of this is that hundreds of people are getting laid off because some douche wanted to pursue something else. Could Levine really not have left by himself, or maybe taken those 15 special people with him? Unless there's something we're not being told, of course... 

[silverstag88]

Layoffs always suck but seeing Irrational shut down?  

[Bullstomp]

I thought Bioshock 1 was AWESOME. But I also thought Bioshock Infinite was hella overrated. Still have to force myself to sit through it to complete the platinum. So meh. /shrug

Edited February 18, 2014 by Bullstomp

[ASSASSIN-987_]

Bioshock will still be a great series under the new developer. We all saw what 2kMarin did with Bioshock 2. Sure it wasn't as great narrative wise, but it gave us the best combat and an amazing single-player DLC.

[MorrisonCamaro]

Well that's more of a shocker than anything, I hope everything goes well for the guys laid off and it'd be interesting to see what this new studio will come up with. Hopefully SS3   I just hope it doesn't become a habit to open a new studio like every yet (I'm looking at you Jaffe). 

[x-Alec_J-x]

This is sad news. The first Bioshock was ground breaking and Infinite was a heck of a ride. Remember, Levine didnt make Bioshock 2, hence the retread of setting and less innovate effort. I imagine that if we see another Bioshock it will be most like Bioshock 2 and play it safe while using the world and ideas Levine invented. Thats really not enough to continue the franchise for more than one more game, but id rather it not go on as a bad imitation of what Levine created anyway.

 

I will look forward to whatever Ken Levine does in the future, even if its making a big AAA game. I feel bad for all those at Irrational Games that are losing their jobs after making such great games. The game industry is moving forward in some great ways, but also crappy ones that force studios like Irrational to close because of the skyrocketing costs of development.

 

Knowing we will never see another Bioshock from Ken Levine is quite disappointing.

[Paige-ID]

I've just lost all respect for Ken Levine. He always seemed like kind of a douche, but he made good games so it was whatever. However, now he's laying off hundreds of people just because he wants to make smaller games. It's not a huge deal that he wants to make smaller games, but he should have done what countless developers before him did, and just step down and let someone else run the company. Then move on to make whatever they want. But no, Ken decided that it was a better idea to put hundreds of people out of work even though they've all been doing a good job. I definitely won't be buying any game made by him, because I simply can't support such a selfish decision.

You're not very well educated on how businesses seem to work, in any field, so allow me to alleviate some of the confusion.

 

During development of a high profile game, a company will hire in bulk in order to complete said game. Then once the game is finished, they get laid off. This is 100% normal, acceptable, and rational. It's called contract work, and it's simply how life goes. You know you're going to eventually be cut when you first hire on. It's absolutely necessary that companies do this. And before someone says that they should just not do the mass hiring; that's impossible. You can't finish a big title like Bioshock Infinite without doing that. 

 

Afterwards, they can't just keep everybody employed with nothing to do while they collect checks for folding paper planes in the office. The DLC has been completed so the workforce has to be drastically reduced. This happens in construction on a daily basis. Surely you don't think that all the people who built your local power plant are still hanging out collecting a paycheck every day, right? Once a project is done, the upper management stays to start planning the next project while the craft hands get laid off. 

 

Also, Ken Levine is actively setting up interviews for the people laid off with other companies, and is helping them as much as he can so they can find new contract work. This is much more than most employers would do. Not to mention, he made 2 extremely critically acclaimed games, inspired countless of others to do the same, built his own studio, and supplied jobs for hundreds of people for long periods of time. What have you done with your life recently? If you lost all respect for him, then you must've done something tremendous that would warrant your high standards.

Edited February 19, 2014 by Paige-ID

[Tomato]

Highly doubt 2K would even consider shutting down the series and with Bioshock infinite ending they can make as many games as they can think, will it be good though? Only time will tell I guess. Bioshock 2 was decent but story wise just k.

[ExHaseo]

You're not very well educated on how businesses seem to work, in any field, so allow me to alleviate some of the confusion.

 

During development of a high profile game, a company will hire in bulk in order to complete said game. Then once the game is finished, they get laid off. This is 100% normal, acceptable, and rational. It's called contract work, and it's simply how life goes. You know you're going to eventually be cut when you first hire on. It's absolutely necessary that companies do this. And before someone says that they should just not do the mass hiring; that's impossible. You can't finish a big title like Bioshock Infinite without doing that. 

 

Afterwards, they can't just keep everybody employed with nothing to do while they collect checks for folding paper planes in the office. The DLC has been completed so the workforce has to be drastically reduced. This happens in construction on a daily basis. Surely you don't think that all the people who built your local power plant are still hanging out collecting a paycheck every day, right? Once a project is done, the upper management stays to start planning the next project while the craft hands get laid off. 

 

Also, Ken Levine is actively setting up interviews for the people laid off with other companies, and is helping them as much as he can so they can find new contract work. This is much more than most employers would do. Not to mention, he made 2 extremely critically acclaimed games, inspired countless of others to do the same, built his own studio, and supplied jobs for hundreds of people for long periods of time. What have you done with your life recently? If you lost all respect for him, then you must've done something tremendous that would warrant your high standards.

 

Except for the part where the team had been together for years and had been making games with consistently high sales. Teams only get dissolved like that if they're not needed anymore or if their games sell badly, and usually the people just get moved around the company anyway. And unless you used to actually work at Irrational, then you have no idea if they even worked with a contract system. Not every company hires all contractors for every project, and they wouldn't be laying anyone off if they were contractors. Contractors work their project and then move on to the next one. Had that been the case, they wouldn't have said anything about layoffs, they would have just not renewed the contract.

 

He never said he was setting up interviews for anyone. He's not personally doing anything. He's just letting people come to the office and interview, if they want to. The whole situation would have just resolved itself if he had just left the company and taken the people with him that he wanted. You know, like numerous other developers have done, like Keiji Inafune did when he left Capcom or when Hironobu Sakaguchi left Square or when Peter Molyneux left Lionhead. Can you imagine if instead of those two just leaving, if they fired their entire staff and downsized to just 15 people instead? Levine put other people's job, and therefore livelihoods, at risk. All because he's selfish and wants to pretend he's an indie developer. Even though he wasn't really limited artistically with his larger team and was able to do basically what he wanted to do. He's being incredibly selfish and playing with other's lives, the same people who have been working hard and making great games for years now. It's not right in the slightest.

[Goro]

https://twitter.com/SonySantaMonica/status/435909708193341440

[Cherry]

I was reading about this a few minutes ago. I just hope that if anyone does decide to continue with the Bioshock series,that they don't completely butcher it. Bioshock is an amazing series and I would really be disappointed to see it get ruined. Infinite was amazing,I really enjoyed it,but it doesn't compare to how perfect I found its two predecessors. The world they created with Rapture was something I won't forget. 

Edited February 19, 2014 by CherryLollipopx3

[Light_Infinite_]

[Memnoch]

He obviously didn't believe that a majority of the employees could take the company where he wants, or maybe he just couldn't pay them. You don't downsize if you don't need to.

 

Would people have preferred he sell the studio to EA or Activision?

 

I see noone is saying any harm against take two, who are the company behind irrational (not saying that people should, but in other circumstances people would be crying bloody murder)

 

Noone knows why this happened exactly, so to say he's being selfish is complete tripe - I doubt anyone will end up knowing either.  He's not exactly going to say : we lost a shitton of money on my last idea, so I'm going to lay off people and then create a whole new IP which I'll need a publisher for.

 

I also know for a fact that whatever happens now will not stop people buying the next game if it is anywhere near as cult as the bioshock series has become.

[RisewithBane]

Levine is smart. Not only is he lowering the costs of paying staff. He is also saying goodbye to retail. I'm more intrigued about his up-coming project(s) now. What is he planning to do? 

[allenbird]

I hope this doesn't affect online play for Bioshock Infinite. I haven't even start6ed playing it yet.

[GREAT_HAVOK]

I guess right now that's the most rational thing to do for Irrational games. Life goes on for 2K anyway.

[Arkthur]

I hope this doesn't affect online play for Bioshock Infinite. I haven't even start6ed playing it yet.

There is no multiplayer on it?

[allenbird]

There is no multiplayer on it?

Sounds good to me!

[HardXDXtraga]

I'm gonna start the bioshock trilogy in 2/3 months, should I be worried about servers shutting down?

[DrBloodmoney]

I'm gonna start the bioshock trilogy in 2/3 months, should I be worried about servers shutting down?

No.

Bioshock 1 and Infinite dont have multiplayer. Bioshock 2 does (and its actually very good), but has nothing to do with Irrational - its also still popular, and the Bioshock collection only went on sale last year, so 2K wont be shutting those servers for a good long time.

[HardXDXtraga]

No.

Bioshock 1 and Infinite dont have multiplayer. Bioshock 2 does (and its actually very good), but has nothing to do with Irrational - its also still popular, and the Bioshock collection only went on sale last year, so 2K wont be shutting those servers for a good long time.

I knew only 2 had multiplayer, was just wandering about the servers, good to know that it's still popular and good!

 I heard from a friend that 2 isn't very good singleplayer wise, he said I could just skip it and play Infinite, any thoughts on that?

[DrBloodmoney]

I knew only 2 had multiplayer, was just wandering about the servers, good to know that it's still popular and good!

 I heard from a friend that 2 isn't very good singleplayer wise, he said I could just skip it and play Infinite, any thoughts on that?

2 is definetly the weakest story in the main game (you friend aint no liar!) BUT the dlc "Minerva's Den' for 2 is arguably the best story content in the whole trilogy, so dont miss that - its only about 3 hours but its fantastic. (Its the same team who went on to make 'Gone Home' for PC)

[Mog]

Hopefully the next Bioshock game(s) won't suck.