Irrational Games "Winding Down", Ken Levine Sets Sights On New Studio

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”

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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