Irrational Games Shuts Down

News broke today that Irrational Games is shutting down.  Originally founded in 1997 by three developers of now defunct Looking Glass Studios, Irrational grew to become one of the world’s premiere game development studios with widely popular and critically acclaimed games such as System Shock 2, BioShock, and BioShock Infinite.

Today, a message is posted on the Irrational Games website from the man who is synonymous with Irrational Games: Ken Levine.  In it he briefly takes a stroll down memory lane mentioning some of the important characters to come from his studio.

Then, he drops the bomb that Irrational is winding down.  He plans to pursue a new and different type of game and it sounds like he will pick out 15 or so of the Irrational team to pursue this new vision and the rest of the studio will be out looking for new jobs.

The letter details how those losing their jobs will receive some financial recompense and that Take-Two (parent company) and 2K (subsidiary) will make at least some attempt to help with finding new jobs.

There’s obviously a lot of wondering that goes along with a drastic move like this.  The easiest conclusion to reach even though the letter makes note that the BioShock franchise will be left in the hands of 2K is that BioShock is now dead.  We have all seen many times how this goes.  When the creator of an amazing franchise walks away, the franchise is dead.  Yes, there will undoubtedly be more BioShock games that will be released in the future.  They will be BioShock in name only.  BioShock is dead.

Ken Levine obviously has his vision and he has shown us that we should trust him.  Without going into any sort of detail, he describes his new pursuit as building games that are narrative-driven and highly replayable.  Those goals are surely shared by many other studios and you have to wonder why he feels like that cannot be attained by a large AAA studio?  Small teams can make great games, but the best games, the games that stay in your head for many years, are big budget, AAA games.

Another interesting idea gleaned from the letter is the type of company that Take-Two and 2K are.  As opposed to the incident and lawsuits when Zampella and West left Infinity Ward over contract disputes, or when Cliffy B. left Epic out of the shear boredom of being stuck to endless Gears of War sequals, or when Muzyka and Zeschuk crawled out from under the thumb of EA, this actually seems like a pretty amiable relationship.  Take-Two / 2K value Ken Levine’s talent and are willing to make major accommodations to promote his creativity.

It is worth noting the exact phrasing Ken Levine uses in the letter when he says that he is “winding down Irrational Games as you know it.”  Maybe instead of killing the studio as is being widely reported online, the studio is just scaling back and will refocus on his new project.

There certainly are a lot of questions going forward in regards to this new replayable and narrative-driven game, but Ken Levine has proven to be someone to keep an eye on.