February 18, 2014 - The studio behind critically acclaimed Bioshock and Bioshock
Infinite, Irrational Games, is closing, according to a message published by company
co-founder Ken Levine today. The news is poor for all but 15 members of the
Irrational Games team, as the rest of the two-hundred plus developers will be let
go. These 15 members will be aiding Levine in his pursuit to create a new
studio that will focus on creating “narrative-driven games for the core gamer
that are highly repayable”.
Back in October of last year, Levine talked about a “thought
experiment” called “narrative LEGOs”.
“LEGOs”, Levine explained, are a bunch of “primitives”. They
begin as simple shapes, pieces that can be combined and recombined into
millions of different things. Levine hopes to iterate this concept in the video
game narrative space.
According to Levine’s message, to achieve “narrative LEGOs”,
he’ll have to refocus his efforts “on a smaller team with a flatter structure with
a more direct relationship with gamers”
.
Unlike the usual case of developer and publisher fallout
leading to the departure of studio heads, Levine remains in good standing with
his studio’s respective publisher, 2K. In fact, his next entrepreneurial endeavor
will operate, within the walls of 2K. Levine is also handing the reins to his
iconic franchise, Bioshock, over to the publisher. However, without the
franchise’s original creative director at the helm, who knows how successful 2K
will handle the future of Bioshock. Studio 2K Marin was appointed the task to
produce Bioshock 2, a project that paled into comparison to its inspirer.
It would appear on the surface that Levine is going for
something I’d dare to call indie, perhaps inspired by the nascent, yet
flourishing sector of the gaming industry. However, with 2K as its backer you’d
expect whatever title Levine chooses to produce to be one that is qualitatively
triple-A, and I use the word qualitatively in a very loose term to describe a
product’s aesthetics – like graphics, voice acting, audio prestige, etc.
I suspect the abandonment of nearly all of Irrational Games
is likely due to the fact that Levine’s “narrative LEGOs” remains still a mere
inkling of Levine’s imagination and that fueling over two hundred developers to
work on something intangible would be a waste of resources. The game design
veteran is also attached to write the screenplay for 1976 sci-film Logan’s Run
remake, which I would presumably take up much of Levine’s time. I posit that
when Levine’s inkling becomes more physical and less of an apparition, his new studio
will grow in size and scale to produce something that is relative in those
regards to prior projects like Infinite.
Here’s to hoping that ex-Irrational Games employees find a
suitable and deserving home and that Levine’s next project is one of success.
SOURCE: Polygon