Irrational Games Shutting Down

The studio behind the excellent Bioshock Infinite is being shut down, all but 15 members of the staff being laid off and lead Ken Levine is looking to work on smaller narrative-driven games, he has revealed. This isn’t entirely surprising – Levine had previously expressed doubts about the future of the Bioshock franchise – but it isn’t good news for anybody involved.

The only silver lining is that out of the ashes of Irrational will come a new 2K studio dedicated to pushing single player narrative games, and that they’re going to offer a huge amount of support to help everybody get on with their lives.

From the Irrational Games website:

Irrational Games is about to roll out the last DLC for BioShock Infinite and people are understandably asking: What’s next?

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.

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.

Thanks to Irrational and 2K’s passion in developing the games, and the fans who believe in it, BioShock has generated retail revenues of over a half billion dollars and secured an iconic place in gaming. I’m handing the reins of our creation, theBioShock universe, to 2K so our new venture can focus entirely on replayable narrative. If we’re lucky, we’ll build something half as memorable as BioShock.