Irrational Games shutting down

Pushtrak

Just damn it.

http://kotaku.com/bioshock-studio-irrational-games-is-winding-down-all-1525186316

Levine will be moving on to start a smaller studio with only 15 people.

Oafley Jones

BioShock creator Ken Levine said today that he plans to move on to smaller, narrative-heavy games that will be released digitally

Good. Columbia was wasted on a so-so shooter. Such an interesting environment that deserved more exploration.

pixelburp

Sad to hear of the job losses (though given the industry they'll get picked up elsewhere no doubt), but the news Levine is moving to an independent space is exciting; Bioshock Infinite was too much of a compromise to mass-appeal, the idea of Levine being off the leash is intriguing. I wonder if he'll follow his peers and start a Kickstarter campaign ...

Benzino

Can't say I'm disappointed by this, found all the Bioshocks to be overrated average-at-best shooters. Sure they had great environments, but that can only paper over the so much of the huge crack that was the shooting mechanics.

I do feel sorry for the developers losing their job, hopefully they find another interesting position soon!

Josey Wales

Not really a surprise. He is supposed to be writing the screenplay for the Logan's Run remake, so this will give him more time for that.

heebusjeebus

Was it announced if BioShock Infinite made a profit? It was years in the making with a huge staff. It can't have made enough.

degrassinoel

I enjoyed Bioshock, thought very little of the sequals. For the company that made one of the highest scoring games with critics in the last decade i find it a bit surprising that they're closing shop. I guess buying off the critics (/conspiracy theories) doesn't always pay.

Potatoeman

Oafley Jones wrote: »

BioShock creator Ken Levine said today that he plans to move on to smaller, narrative-heavy games that will be released digitally

Good. Columbia was wasted on a so-so shooter. Such an interesting environment that deserved more exploration.

I wasn't a fan of Columbia it looked pretty but It was missing the claustrophobic atmosphere that made Rapture so engrossing. The enemies weren't as unsettling as the freaks and the handymen were no where near as interesting as big daddies.
The combat wasn't great and only having two weapons at any time I found I just kept the same two weapons. It felt like a bit like it was on rails whereas one and two felt like you had more freedom. Which is odd considering the hook-line gimmick.

dreamers75

No SWAT 5 (or cop 2015 whatever it was meant to be called)

papu

Pretty sad , thought infinite was a quality game , Have liked all the bioshock series . At times they catered too much to the console crowd but they were still enjoyable games.

Banjo

A sad day...

I know we were never going to see a second sequel, but there was always hope that Minute Man might don his tights one more time

Randall Floyd

I just hope 2K don't try to fire out a few more bioshocks.