Company behind 'BioShock' series to shut down, re-emerge smaller and more focused

Company behind 'BioShock' series to shut down, re-emerge smaller and more focused
Irrational Games, the developers behind the hit 'BioShock' series will be shutting down, with most of the team being laid off.

Creative Director and co-founder Ken Levine posted a note on the homepage of the company's site explaining the shut down of the company:



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.


Take-Two will take full control of BioShock into the future and Levine says his next goal is "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."

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 19 Feb 2014 14:14
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Irrational Games Ken Levine
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  • 13 comments
  • nintenut

    After Infinite, this doesn't come as a surprise.

    "Levine says his next goal is 'to make narrative-driven games for the core gamer that are highly replayable.'"

    Sounds like dangerous, foreign territory for Levine.

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

    I about coughed up a lung.


    19.2.2014 18:26 #1

  • Kannz

    that what you get for ruining bioshock and turning it into "infinite"..

    19.2.2014 20:55 #2

  • Jemborg

    Great... more jobs lost in Oz.

    Its a lot easier being righteous than right.


    20.2.2014 00:51 #3

  • deucezulu22

    Originally posted by Kannz: that what you get for ruining bioshock and turning it into "infinite".. Not seeing how that could be the issue. Besides, majority loved the game and is a separate storyline from the original

    20.2.2014 14:22 #4

  • Kannz

    not really its more down the middle for that game. gamespot may have rated it "superpooper" but just read the comments on every board and you'll see everyone making fun of pretty much everything about it. I actually had fun playing bioshock. I could barely finish racism infinite or the aborted fetus dlc they released for the last cash grab before they fell apart.

    20.2.2014 14:57 #5

  • deucezulu22

    No way to dictate such a thing when you are talking about forums, especially when it comes to certain websites. Besides dl
    c (which is a whole other story), going by reviews it is one of the highest rated games of 2013. What's up with the racism comment?

    20.2.2014 15:06 #6

  • Kannz

    Half the game's map was a picture of what racism was back in its hayday. did you not go into the "colored bathrooms" covered in feces and broken toilets with all those happy white people having fun with all the black people working? Might as well of put a copy birth of a nation in with the collectors edition.

    20.2.2014 15:34 #7

  • deucezulu22

    Given the game's time period, I did not think that was a problem.

    20.2.2014 15:47 #8

  • Kannz

    It's not all that much of a problem to me it just seems like the most racism I've ever seen in a game so that's the label I gave it. Gotta select the well known parts of history and the stupid parts in cartoons and make a game. everyone seems to be using the forest gump way of writing...so lazy. pick a date in history and then put your character right in the middle. make him FDR's gay lover that never existed and you get to tell FDR what to do or you'll blab that your his "friend". You can pick to tell everyone right in the beginning or just wait till the end and kill him in the end or something or maybe your Truman's gay lover and you get to nuke france.

    20.2.2014 16:43 #9

  • hearme0

    Originally posted by Kannz: that what you get for ruining bioshock and turning it into "infinite".. Pipe down with your lame-opinionated comment!

    Infinite was awesome. Beautiful to look at, great story, super fun and great at connecting the story lines between the games while keeping the interest by changing things up.

    20.2.2014 16:44 #10

  • Kannz

    At least they wont be making anymore and the horse is dead.

    20.2.2014 16:47 #11

  • death-s

    Originally posted by Kannz: not really its more down the middle for that game. gamespot may have rated it "superpooper" but just read the comments on every board and you'll see everyone making fun of pretty much everything about it. I actually had fun playing bioshock. I could barely finish racism infinite or the aborted fetus dlc they released for the last cash grab before they fell apart. No, not really. It's pretty much in everyone's best games list of 2013.

    And this is not the last you've seen of Bioshock. Irrational Games won't be developing it, but other studios will. You think the company that owns this IP will just forget about a franchise worth millions?

    21.2.2014 08:44 #12

  • Jemborg

    Originally posted by Kannz: It's not all that much of a problem to me it just seems like the most racism I've ever seen in a game so that's the label I gave it. Gotta select the well known parts of history and the stupid parts in cartoons and make a game. everyone seems to be using the forest gump way of writing...so lazy. pick a date in history and then put your character right in the middle. make him FDR's gay lover that never existed and you get to tell FDR what to do or you'll blab that your his "friend". You can pick to tell everyone right in the beginning or just wait till the end and kill him in the end or something or maybe your Truman's gay lover and you get to nuke france. LOL Man, you've missed your calling... Talk about easy money! Go teach em how it's done!

    Calling Bioshock Infinite racist LOL... gee, we all missed that! WTF! How could we not have seen that? hahaha. Thanks man! roflmao.



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    Its a lot easier being righteous than right.


    21.2.2014 09:19 #13

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