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Irrational Shuts Down


Lavindathar
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If the next episode of Walking Dead and Wolf Among Us featured Kinect as an optional feature. Surely that would put a positive spin on Kinect long enough to make everyone forget about Fighter Within?

 

Pretending the next Bioshock game featured Kinect and it some how worked, I'd welcome it. Not sure how character movement would work, but none of that on rails shite thank you.

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Irrational Games have made some great games in my opinion.

 

I really liked Bioshock 1 and did not mind at all Bishock 2 even if the story wasn't as mind blowing. The MP was tacked on despite the little story they had going with splicers testing equipment. I never really disliked it but the balance was off and the grinding involved was over the top.

 

It is sad that they are dismantled but they ended everything with a bang I think. I really liked Infinite and hope the last piece of DLC will be great.

 

Not really sure as to why Levine had to gut his company just because he himself wanted to scale down. Hard to understand the logic behind this. I really hope that 2K getting the rights to the Bioshock franchise will be a good thing. I keep my fingers crossed that they don't start churning out games just because they can.

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However, those affected by recent events and time spent at the studio over the past decade have provided a sense of what led to the end of Irrational. According to those with whom we spoke, the closure was the combined result of unfettered creative freedom, lower-than-expected sales, the butting of heads between Levine and his employees and the unrealistic expectations of big-budget game development.

 

It was to many a disappointing end to a studio that sought, in the words of those who worked there, to make a mark on the world and that fostered, from its top level, a philosophical viewpoint that it could and should make the absolute best video games.

 

But in the end, the strengths of Irrational Games were inextricably bound to its weaknesses.

 

2K Marin was scheduled to create at least the first part of planned downloadable content. But just after BioShock Infinite's release in March 2013 — as Marin approached alpha on this first piece of DLC — it became clear to senior employees at Irrational that the final product would be unacceptable. Irrational had already taken responsibility for the third piece of DLC, then the second, and now it would need to handle all three pieces.

 

2K MARIN WAS SCHEDULED TO CREATE AT LEAST THE FIRST PART OF PLANNED DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT

 

The studio had, according to a former employee, about nine weeks to finish Clash in the Clouds, the first add-on to Infinite. It was a wholly new project — 2K Marin's work, which one source says could have seen Infinite's floating city crashing in some capacity into the ocean, was scrapped entirely.

 

The timing conflicted with the schedules of individual employees, who were scattered across the world: some at the annual Game Developers Conference, others still on vacation.

 

Most of the team learned about the closure on Tuesday, Feb. 18, less than two hours before the statement was made public. Some people within the studio knew in advance, namely those who would be moving onto Levine's next project, but they kept mum.

 

Everyone gathered in the kitchen slash common area where team meetings were regularly held, sitting on stools and fold-out chairs from the kitchen.

 

Levine, standing before the group, read from a piece of a paper. In most meetings, he spoke from memory or improvised. A pre-planned speech was atypical.

 

He transitioned from the introduction about the company's history into details about the company's closure. The room was quiet; there were no outbursts.

 

"There was a willful disbelief," says one source. "Some submitted to the idea that the company would live forever because they had shipped BioShock."

 

According to sources, Levine's hands were shaking while he read the announcement. He offered one-on-one time with employees and said he would write recommendations. "It was really nice and really sympathetic," says a source. "They gave us as much info as we could really handle at the time."

 

When Levine finished the speech, he quietly left and the operations team took over the meeting, explaining the logistics behind the closure.

 

http://www.polygon.com/2014/3/6/5474722/why-did-irrational-close-bioshock-infinite

Edited by Merch
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[qote]However, those affected by recent events and time spent at the studio over the past decade have provided a sense of what led to the end of Irrational. According to those with whom we spoke, the closure was the combined result of unfettered creative freedom, lower-than-expected sales, the butting of heads between Levine and his employees and the unrealistic expectations of big-budget game development.

 

It was to many a disappointing end to a studio that sought, in the words of those who worked there, to make a mark on the world and that fostered, from its top level, a philosophical viewpoint that it could and should make the absolute best video games.

 

But in the end, the strengths of Irrational Games were inextricably bound to its weaknesses.

 

http://www.polygon.com/2014/3/6/5474722/why-did-irrational-close-bioshock-infinite

Your BB code is fucked up. :p

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I wonder if Microsoft will make an approach to buy the studio, then decide not to and in a few years end up regretting it? They've done it a few times in the last couple of years, so it wouldn't surprise me.

 

I don't think that's possible; 2K owns the rights to the remnants of the studio & the Bioshock series.

 

If MS is buying anyone it should be Remedy & Undead Studios (when their current contract with MS is up).

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