BioShock Developer Irrational Games Closing

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Is it just me or does this story sound fishy to you guys too? Seriously, if the franchise is as successful as everyone says, why close the doors and put so many out of work?

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.
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Yeah... just got some more DLC to wrap up first...

See ya, Irrational.
 
I'm shocked and disappointed. I often don't like many of the decisions Mr. Levine makes but they usually turn out for the best.
With all the money they made I'd hope everyone got a golden parachute on the way out. I really do think they deserve it.
 
So basically, Ken Levine accepted a tremendous monetary incentive provided by Take-Two and had no qualms with basically stabbing everyone on the team in the back.
 
"I'm rich, and my team got too big, and I want to do something else now."
 
Irrational Games is still a name. Why not just hand the reigns over to someone else on the team to lead it to it's next level?

If he built it, its his right to burn it to the ground too.

Just too bad. It was like they were just beginning to open the door to something bigger with BS Infinite.
 
Well my dreams of seeing a System Shock 3 went out the window. It was always just a dream but the way they ended the second game it seemed like SS3 would come around one day. Salute IRG.. thanks for the memories.
 
Basically he's tired of making Bioshock games and wants to do something different. We do it also, but call it a "midlife crisis". Plus if he kept Irrational Games going but took 15 of the very best from it for his new business venture, then the studio would suffer. And Ken Levine's name / legacy would be tarnished as he is forever linked to the name Irrational Games. He's doing the right thing; it's up to 2K to hire those talented people for their next project.

Sometimes you have to follow your heart.
 
STrAYeR said:
Well my dreams of seeing a System Shock 3 went out the window. It was always just a dream but the way they ended the second game it seemed like SS3 would come around one day. Salute IRG.. thanks for the memories.
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Because it's been so long since SS2, we'd probably get a dumbed down consolitis disappointment with SS3.
 
{NG}Fidel said:
That is messed up.
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Indeed. Hopefully everyone on the team knew about this at least 6 months in advance and just had to sign an NDA or what not so they wouldn't say anything. Dropping people even with 3 months notice would be kind of a dick move since it seems like this guy knew a long time ago he really wanted out.
 
This is it.......Half-Life 3!!!

No really......DukeNukem Infinite :eek:
 
The reason is easy to figure out:
1. They operate in Massachusetts
2. Massachusetts has massive taxes against "the rich" and "corporations"
3. therefore, Irrational has likely been taxed to death.
 
"Wow! I sure made a lot of money off this company!"
"Yeah! So did we boss! Thanks for all the money"
"Oh shit, I forgot I have to pay you guys bonuses for every successful game we release, plus pay incentives etc, I know! I'll fire you all and start a new company! You're all free to work for me again, at a huge pay cut!"

Murrika business as usual
 
Don't like it, but wtf. We're just customers. We don't count for shit, really.
 
This makes perfect sense.

Why? ........ Casual gamers, Free-2-play, Pay-wall, Facebook, etc etc ... They can earn just as much money for 1/10th the work. This is fact and certainly no secret. This company can also restart and reduce it's tax-footprint / employee benefits, etc buy moving to a tax friendly state, restarting the company.
 
A shame. Really love all 3 Bioshock games. Not easy coming up with something that original and cool with excellent gameplay and a story too. Not my alltime favorite but still quite excellent and the gaming world is worse off without them.
 
After reading the headline I was expecting the reason for closing to be piracy, used-games etc.
 
dgingeri said:
The reason is easy to figure out:
1. They operate in Massachusetts
2. Massachusetts has massive taxes against "the rich" and "corporations"
3. therefore, Irrational has likely been taxed to death.
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Yeah - i'm thinking about voting straight Republican next election. I see them on Fox News a lot arguing against the entitlement attitude that has spread in recent decades. The rich and corporations are constantly demanding more taxpayer hand-outs instead of actually investing and working to make more money. I'm hoping if we put them in power they will put an end to the welfare state and allow the makers to start keeping more of what they make instead of it always being handed over to the takers at the top.
 
He just wants to dabble in aerospace and write mobile games.... ...oh wait... :D

hehehe
 
this doesnt sound like its coming from irrational... it sounds more to me like a restructuring coming from the 2k end.
 
GearChoices said:
Yeah - i'm thinking about voting straight Republican next election. I see them on Fox News a lot arguing against the entitlement attitude that has spread in recent decades. The rich and corporations are constantly demanding more taxpayer hand-outs instead of actually investing and working to make more money. I'm hoping if we put them in power they will put an end to the welfare state and allow the makers to start keeping more of what they make instead of it always being handed over to the takers at the top.
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QFT!

:D
 
GearChoices said:
Yeah - i'm thinking about voting straight Republican next election. I see them on Fox News a lot arguing against the entitlement attitude that has spread in recent decades. The rich and corporations are constantly demanding more taxpayer hand-outs instead of actually investing and working to make more money. I'm hoping if we put them in power they will put an end to the welfare state and allow the makers to start keeping more of what they make instead of it always being handed over to the takers at the top.
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Oh great, meanwhile, 3 pages later, Obama Care, Windows 8 and Fox news will be the only thing discussed in this thread. :D I hope those folks find new work quickly.
 
Well did anyone else read the rest of the open letter? ( Or did more appear after the initial posting on their website?) It sounds to me like he was out the door no matter how it happened. Sounds like it si up to take-two to decide if the existing function of irrational and it's employees is still going to happen. Taking your piles of money and doing something you find interesting instead of grinding out more cash beating a franchise into the ground isn't exactly the pinnacle of corporate greed.

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 will do our best to update an FAQ in this space as questions come in.
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GearChoices said:
Yeah - i'm thinking about voting straight Republican next election. I see them on Fox News a lot arguing against the entitlement attitude that has spread in recent decades. The rich and corporations are constantly demanding more taxpayer hand-outs instead of actually investing and working to make more money. I'm hoping if we put them in power they will put an end to the welfare state and allow the makers to start keeping more of what they make instead of it always being handed over to the takers at the top.
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The problem with a lot of republican candidates is that they are almost as whacked out as the liberal democrats. Almost the whole lot of them are of the mentality that they will just roll over and let the democrats do whatever they want. Bunch of losers is what they are.

What we really need is an almost complete wipe of the whole system by replacing all non-conservatives with actual honest to goodness conservatives.
 
Maybe he's just burnt out, but protective of the brands he helped create? There's an awful lot of assuming going on in this thread. I wouldn't get to judgmental before seeing what happens from here.
 
cyclone3d said:
The problem with a lot of republican candidates is that they are almost as whacked out as the liberal democrats. Almost the whole lot of them are of the mentality that they will just roll over and let the democrats do whatever they want. Bunch of losers is what they are.
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The real problem with the GOP is that they are so obsessed with "the gays" and reproductive rights that they have become unpalatable to a bunch of people who would like to vote for small government policies. Basically, they need to ditch the evangelical social crusades and focus on economics.
 
cageymaru said:
Basically he's tired of making Bioshock games and wants to do something different. We do it also, but call it a "midlife crisis". Plus if he kept Irrational Games going but took 15 of the very best from it for his new business venture, then the studio would suffer. And Ken Levine's name / legacy would be tarnished as he is forever linked to the name Irrational Games. He's doing the right thing; it's up to 2K to hire those talented people for their next project.

Sometimes you have to follow your heart.
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This. Levine doesn't owe anyone the obligation to keep the company open just so others can have a job.
 
GearChoices said:
Yeah - i'm thinking about voting straight Republican next election. I see them on Fox News a lot arguing against the entitlement attitude that has spread in recent decades. The rich and corporations are constantly demanding more taxpayer hand-outs instead of actually investing and working to make more money. I'm hoping if we put them in power they will put an end to the welfare state and allow the makers to start keeping more of what they make instead of it always being handed over to the takers at the top.
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:rolleyes:

Yea, because the GOP like, you know, really cares about the little people soooo much. :rolleyes:

99% of Washington is 100% corrupt. The reality is more like this...
poor-cow.jpg
 
cyclone3d said:
The problem with a lot of republican candidates is that they are almost as whacked out as the liberal democrats. Almost the whole lot of them are of the mentality that they will just roll over and let the democrats do whatever they want. Bunch of losers is what they are.

What we really need is an almost complete wipe of the whole system by replacing all non-conservatives with actual honest to goodness conservatives.
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yeah, cause that would obviously not increase the loony bin population in Washington. What we need is to give every current and future potential congressman/women or senator a basic logic and science test. If they fail, they are disqualified. Realistically, 90% of current elected representatives would fail.
 
drako said:
The real problem with the GOP is that they are so obsessed with "the gays" and reproductive rights that they have become unpalatable to a bunch of people who would like to vote for small government policies. Basically, they need to ditch the evangelical social crusades and focus on economics.
Click to expand...

Hahahahahaha..... breath, hahahahahahahahahah.... :D I see you honestly think modern day republicans are different from dems? Hahahahahahahahahaha.........:D
 
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