Ken Levine, grand daddy of the successful Bioshock franchise, has stated today that Irrational Games will be no more via a letter on the Irrational Games website.
Here’s a link to the full letter.
This announcement comes at a bizarre time, since Irrational hasn’t yet released the second half of its Burial at Sea DLC. Which is naturally, still coming.
The letter reassures that Irrational employees will be able to finish up at the office, get a bit of financial support and have a chance to put their portfolios together before hitting that old dusty trail, as explained here:
“Besides financial support, the staff will have access to the studio for a period of time to say their goodbyes and put together their portfolios. Other Take-Two studios will be on hand to discuss opportunities within the company, and we’ll be hosting a recruiting day where we’ll be giving 3rd party studios and publishers a chance to hold interviews with departing Irrational staff”
So it seems there will be other opportunities within Take-Two Interactive for employees as well. As for Ken Levine?
He isn’t going anywhere, he’s taking a 15 member team to start a “smaller, more entrepreneurial endeavor at Take-Two.” with the goal of starting more narrative driven titles for what he calls the “core gamer.” It’s unsurprising Ken Levine would cite this as his future goal given the direction of Bioshock Infinite and his overall focus on narrative over options.
What is more surprising is having to say goodbye to such a talented studio. Not every editor on this website is on the same page as to the overall course of the System Shock/Bioshock games, but I do generally think Irrational was able to bring their games to life in a way not explored by other game studios.
It will be interesting to see where Ken Levine’s future with Take Two leads us, with content he says will be digitally delivered to foster a more direct interaction with gamers. Hopefully the other Irrational employees can find good homes, while Ken continues to work his mojo on future content.
