Ken Levine Disbands Irrational Games, Studio Behind BioShock

[[Coi] Mr.CLuBBeR]

Turn out the lights, the party's over

Talk about a (Bio)shock to the system -- Irrational Games, the studio responsible for the BioShock series, is officially closing up shop after close to two decades of game development. Co-founder Ken Levine delivered the sad news to the gaming community in a blog post today, saying he's at a point where he needs to refocus his energy on a smaller team with a more direct relationship with gamers.
Irrational Games' parent company 2K Games, which is a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, is disbanding the team, save for around 15 people. The original team's last effort will be a DLC pack for BioShock Infinite that's about to be rolled out. Beyond that, the future of the BioShock series will be in the hands of 2K Games.
"I am winding down Irrational Games as you know it. I’ll be starting a smaller, more entrepreneurial endeavor at Take-Two. That is going to mean parting ways with all but about fifteen members of the Irrational team," Levine said today. "There’s no great way to lay people off, and our first concern is to make sure that the people who are leaving have as much support as we can give them during this transition."
Levine said he originally planned on going the "classical startup" route. However, Take-Two said it was willing to fund his venture and convinced him to stay within its walls.
"If we're lucky, we'll build something half as memorable as BioShock," Levine said.
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