News by Shaan J.
Some shocking news indeed, but yes, it’s true. Irrational Games, the studio behind Bioshock, Bioshock Infinite, and System Shock 2, is shutting down. Ken Levine, the studio’s co-founder and creative director announced the closing today on the developer’s website.
Levine, who served as the director and creator of both Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite, will be “starting a smaller, more entrepreneurial endeavor at Take Two”. All but 15 employees will be laid off, although Take Two is working with said employees, helping them both financially and working to transition them to other studios, both within and outside the 2K development environment.
This doesn’t come as a huge surprise though. As successful as Bioshock Infinite was (it generated over $500 million in revenue), it was no doubt a costly production, and was burdened with multiple delays and restarts. This provides context for Levine’s new focus: “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.”
Other than the final episode of Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea, Irrational won’t be producing any more titles, and as of now, the future of the Bioshock series is up in the air.
This doesn’t come as a huge surprise though. As successful as Bioshock Infinite was (it generated over $500 million in revenue), it was no doubt a costly production, and was burdened with multiple delays and restarts. This provides context for Levine’s new focus: “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.”
Other than the final episode of Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea, Irrational won’t be producing any more titles, and as of now, the future of the Bioshock series is up in the air.
– Shaan J.
News Editor
