# Irrational Games is shutting down



## αshɘs (Feb 18, 2014)

Just saw this on GAF



> A Message From Ken Levine
> When Jon Chey, Rob Fermier and I founded Irrational Games seventeen years ago, our mission was to make visually unique worlds and populate them with singular characters.
> 
> 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.
> ...





....

edit: in case people are wondering if Levine really closed it down just because he wants to pursue smaller projects Nirolak from GAF posted this



> No, Take-Two told him he couldn't keep the studio going as is and offered him this as the only option to keep anyone on board, but obviously he's not going to say that publicly.
> 
> They didn't mention BioShock Infinite in their recent fiscal report. It's pretty obvious it was not up to expectations sales wise and they're unwilling to keep going with Irrational's cost structure and dev lengths



I'd like to think this is the "full" story

edit2: another post by him



> Take-Two loses money every year they don't release a GTA game with the one except of RDR's release year.
> 
> Take-Two has promised investors for the second time that they will make a profit going forward, and the executives want to keep their jobs.
> 
> ...


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## Reyes (Feb 18, 2014)

........


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## Reyes (Feb 18, 2014)

Jeff Gerstman on his mixlr stream saying Ken is leaving and taking 15 members of Irrational with him to start something new in 2K


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## Deathbringerpt (Feb 18, 2014)

Seems like he finally ditched Bioshock, good thing IMO. Infinite wanted to reach for the sky and be the next Half Life 2, ended up toppling down under its own ambition and its revision version ended up being very run of the mill. Maybe with a smaller team, he can do more focused shit. The emphasized "replayability" is good.


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## Reyes (Feb 18, 2014)

This seriously came out of no where


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## Xeogran (Feb 18, 2014)

I never played any Bioshock though so guess nothing important for me gaming-wise.


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## αshɘs (Feb 18, 2014)

by Nirolak



> No, Take-Two told him he couldn't keep the studio going as is and offered him this as the only option to keep anyone on board, but obviously he's not going to say that publicly.
> 
> They didn't mention BioShock Infinite in their recent fiscal report. It's pretty obvious it was not up to expectations sales wise and they're unwilling to keep going with Irrational's cost structure and dev lengths



well, Infinite did have a rather troubled development

still this is crazy man


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## Death-kun (Feb 18, 2014)

Well, that happened.


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## The World (Feb 18, 2014)

nooo fuck why


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## Deathbringerpt (Feb 18, 2014)

αshɘs said:


> by Nirolak
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Infinite had a complete fucking disaster of a development cycle. Almost nothing that we saw in the amazing original demos transitioned to the final product. Levine himself said that they cut enough content to fill several games.

That would make much more sense rather than Levine leaving on his own accord. Still, I think it's for the best.


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## Cromer (Feb 18, 2014)

....


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## Reyes (Feb 18, 2014)

Well at least 2K is giving the guy another chance.


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## Xeogran (Feb 18, 2014)

Vita lost another title though
I feel for them


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## Reyes (Feb 18, 2014)

Hopefully other studio's will hire Irrational Employees or even they form there own studio.


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## Reyes (Feb 18, 2014)

Bethisda parent company is hiring.


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## The World (Feb 18, 2014)

no thanks         .


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## Reyes (Feb 18, 2014)

Deathbringerpt said:


> Infinite had a complete fucking disaster of a development cycle. Almost nothing that we saw in the amazing original demos transitioned to the final product. Levine himself said that they cut enough content to fill several games.



Pretty much this.

BSI was in development for 4-6 years, mismangaement with the budget, constant changes and cut content and some of the senior staff leaving near the end.  There was alot of money put into this.

Hopefully these guys find jobs soon and Levine ccan get his titles out quicker.


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## MF NaruSimpson (Feb 18, 2014)

that's too bad, but the DLC did kinda suck, what a rip off.  if all this shit was going down during DLC development, it would explain the sub par product


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## αshɘs (Feb 18, 2014)

I think recently two 2K studios were shut down too iirc? The one that made the The Bureau and the one that made Mafia 2

edit:
more from Nirolak



> Take-Two loses money every year they don't release a GTA game with the one except of RDR's release year.
> 
> Take-Two has promised investors for the second time that they will make a profit going forward, and the executives want to keep their jobs.
> 
> ...


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## The World (Feb 18, 2014)

well fuck

rip bioshock

here comes BiOShick: fuck yhou space marines edgy mc nukem

and the subsequent sequels every 6 months


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## Malvingt2 (Feb 18, 2014)




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## Slice (Feb 18, 2014)

This makes me kinda sad. I loved all the WhateverShock games.


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## Sasaki Kojirō (Feb 18, 2014)

That's a shame, I just recently beat Bioshock Infinite and I really enjoyed it.  

Guess I didn't do much for their sales either though since I got it off ps+.


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## Kaitou (Feb 18, 2014)

That's a shame, SystemShock 2 and the two Bioshock games they made were quite good.


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## Linkdarkside (Feb 18, 2014)

dat retro...


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## Canute87 (Feb 18, 2014)

soaking up all the talent.


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## Bungee Gum (Feb 18, 2014)

I always disliked Bioshock. Glad this happened, maybe put that team into the development of games I might care about


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## Inuhanyou (Feb 18, 2014)

goova being goova  that's just mouth vomit

on the other hand its suprising but it isn't. Irrational blew 6 years in development hell of Infinite. They weren't going to recoup their costs even if Bioshock Infinite was a relative commercial success which it was. 

I don't think the team was anywhere near as competent as they had to be. Part of it is probably the hardware not being able to fulfill the vision they initially had set out for(you could tell the cutbacks were there and obvious), but the other was probably a lack of cohesive vision in general for the project. Ken's script was basically the only thing probably keeping it together by the end.


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## Death-kun (Feb 18, 2014)

Yes, Retro. Suck them up and put them to work on the next Metroid Prime.


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## Ben Tennyson (Feb 18, 2014)

Irrational shutting down is  Irrational .


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## Furious George (Feb 18, 2014)

This bites.


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## Bungee Gum (Feb 19, 2014)

Oh whatever, Bioshock Infinite sucked and only teenage ^ (not the meaning of the word "respect".) liked it because of the story that blew their feeble minds when it was in fact lame as fuck


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## The World (Feb 19, 2014)

you'd be wrong, but that's okay.


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## Shirker (Feb 19, 2014)

Nom, nom.

Heh, I've never been very big on Irrational or the Bioshock series, but I'm hoping they take the bait. Increasing Retro's team can only be good, especially if their from a team like Irrational, who have a fair amount of good will under that belt.



Goova said:


> I always disliked Bioshock. Glad this happened, maybe put that team into the development of games I might care about





Goova said:


> Oh whatever, Bioshock Infinite sucked and only teenage ^ (not the meaning of the word "respect".) liked it because of the story that blew their feeble minds when it was in fact lame as fuck



 Well, I did say a "_fair_" amount.


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## Overwatch (Feb 19, 2014)

Bummer. I loved Infinite, even though it couldn't fill daddy's shoes.

Best of luck to Ken and the others. This supposed focus on replay value sounds encouraging.


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## blakstealth (Feb 19, 2014)

now quit making DK games


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## αshɘs (Feb 19, 2014)

Overwatch said:


> Bummer. I loved Infinite, even though it couldn't fill daddy's shoes.
> 
> Best of luck to Ken and the others. This supposed focus on replay value sounds encouraging.



Something like Deus Ex or SS2 would be nice.


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## Mael (Feb 19, 2014)

All these dropping flies...yet Yager still remains strong.


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## dream (Feb 19, 2014)

While I was never really fond of the Bioshock series this is unpleasant news.  They were a fairly talented developer.  Here's to hoping that most of their talented is absorbed into other devs.


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## Overwatch (Feb 19, 2014)

αshɘs said:


> Something like Deus Ex or SS2 would be nice.



Alas, I'm having a hard time believing that a game with such depth and complexity can be made in this day and age, with AAA development being what it is.


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## Zaru (Feb 19, 2014)

Mael said:


> All these dropping flies...yet Yager still remains strong.



>Brought out one great game in their history
>Remains strong

They're not in a bad position but come on, those are completely different situations


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## Mael (Feb 20, 2014)

Hush you, I won't let you ruin a good thing.


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## St. YatōKiri_Kilgharrah (Feb 20, 2014)

Fucking 2k, fucking Levine.

Megalomania.


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## αshɘs (Mar 6, 2014)

Polygon posted a long article about the final years from the perspective of a couple of devs


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