Irrational Games restructuring, all but 15 members leaving
BioShock series creator Ken Levine is closing the doors to Irrational Games and will take an unspecified new role with Take-Two. Most of the remainder of Irrational's staff will be laid off.
With BioShock Infinite about to conclude its final story, series creator Ken Levine made the shocking announcement that developer Irrational Games will be restructuring significantly. Levine and a select few others will take new roles within parent organization Take-Two, while the remainder of Irrational's staff will be laid off.
"I am winding down Irrational Games as you know it," Levine said in the announcement. "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."
He explained, "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."
Levine plans to transition to an unspecified new role that involves "narrative-driven games for the core gamer that are highly replayable." He adds that any new projects will be exclusively downloadable. It is unclear if the new venture will continue with the Irrational Games banner. He noted that 2K will take the reins of the BioShock universe, so this may not be the end for the series.
He added that other Take-Two will try to help affected members land new jobs, whether elsewhere within 2K or with other developers, for whom it plans to hold a recruiting day.
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replyOzzie Mejia posted a new article, Irrational Games restructuring, all but 15 members leaving.
BioShock series creator Ken Levine is closing the doors to Irrational Games and will take an unspecified new role with Take-Two. Most of the remainder of Irrational's staff will be laid off.-
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Well, not exactly.
"I’m handing the reins of our creation, the BioShock universe, to 2K..."
Think of the next one as the Halo 4 or the Gears of War: Judgment of the series.-
So it will disappoint?
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completely disagree
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the only good part of 2 was Minervas Den
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Maybe today we can celebrate the people who worked really fucking hard to make two games for people to enjoy (and then a lot of them lost their jobs) instead of racing to talk about which game they gave years of their lives for was shittier.
I'm all for the celebration part, but maybe that's just me.-
people have differing opinions regarding games and want to express them on a gaming forum? color me surprised
I don't think anything said above was said to disparage the creators of any of the games -
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You don't have to empathize with them. For fucks sake they got paid to do a job and then got laid off. I paid money to play the game. That was my tribute to those people. I don't call the cook at a restaurant I ate at five years ago and ask him if I can jerk him off because of the awesome burger he made me.
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That already happened sort of with BioShock 2. Irrational spun off a piece to be 2K Marin.
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*ahem* http://www.shacknews.com/article/81637/significant-layoffs-at-2k-marin-developer-of-the-bureau-xcom
The SF bay area 2K studio that was originally to be headed up by Rod Fergusson still exists, though.
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The whole way that letter is written kind-of makes Levine look like a bastard. I want to leave and do something different, but don't want to give anyone else the helm at Irrational, so screw it, shut it down
Perhaps I'm just scared for Bioshocks future......-
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Or maybe 2K doesn't want to run a Boston-area studio. Rent and cost of living aren't exactly cheap here. It's close to colleges like Harvard and MIT, but that doesn't seem to matter much when prospective employees could either work remotely, or get relocation assistance to the SF bay area.
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Could also be a long time until they spin up full development on a sequel, probably don't want a full staff onboard until they figure that out.
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If you're interested in hearing Patrick Klepek and Alex Navarro talk over this, have a view / listen: http://www.giantbomb.com/videos/let-s-talk-about-irrational-games-closing/2300-8521/
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I'm interested!
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Really weird, and doesn't make Ken Levine look good. Why not just leave and start a new studio without laying off over 100 people. I guess there could be other factors we don't know about though.
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I apologize ahead of time, but.... "Saying goodbye without LEAVING?!?!"
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I don't think you understand, they had to discard the dead weight that preventing Ken Levine from achieving his vision. It's not personal, it's just business. The studio that Ken Levine built himself ultimately came to be just a burden on the genius that is Ken Levine and thus had to be discarded. Take Two is completely behind his decision to cast off the dross that was preventing Ken Levine from being the success that Take Two had always assumed he would be. Good luck former Irrational Employees, I'm sure other Take Two studios will take you on considering how you failed Ken Levine. You have a great future at other Take Two properties.
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I don't get it. They just laid off people and changed their name? It's not really closing the company when you're staying with your publishers and keeping the 15 employees that probably don't want to kill you.
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https://theconversation.com/games-by-humans-23399
Really good article id recommend you all read in regards to this news.-
It's odd how he describes the relative mundanity behind the design decisions onto which we as gamers project layers of meaning and purpose, then goes right into "reading between the lines" of the press release. Not that he doesn't have a point—the face- and voiceless masses of talent behind the layoffs definitely need acknowledgement—but I wonder why he thinks the latter is any different than the former.
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think of a game like a house... once the house is built, the workers need to find a new job....
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If Levine is no longer involved with Bioshock, I expect Bioshock to continue as only a shell of it's previous self. We may get another solid shooter in terms of gameplay, but I doubt the story/narrative would continue with it's classic political philosophy hallmark.
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Interested to see what this next "narrative-driven" game that is highly replayable will be. I like that he is paying attention to having a relationship with the people who are actually playing the games.
Corbin from www.highgroundgaming.com
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