By Anni Simpson on February 18, 2014 at 2:27pm
Ken Levine, founder for Irrational Games, announced the end of the company today in a statement uploaded to the Irrational Games website.
Irrational Games was created in 1997 under Levine, Jonathan Chey, and Robert Fermier, three former employees from Looking Glass Studios. Irrational is responsible for a handful of well-loved games including “System Shock 2,” “Tribes: Vengeance,” and most recently the “BioShock” series. “System Shock 2,” the company’s first game, received high ratings.
Besides the success of “System Shock 2,” the “BioShock” series has been incredibly popular with three separate games with “BioShock Infinite” grabbing a 9.4/10 review from IGN, 4.5/5 from Metacritic, and 9.75/10 from Game Informer. “BioShock Infinite” also received Forbes’ “Game of the Year” award in 2013.
Levine’s decision to close Irrational was a personal one motivated by the desire to work with a smaller development team moving forward:
While I’m deeply proud of what we’ve accomplished together, my passion has turned to making a different kind of game than we’ve done before. To meet the challenge ahead, I need to refocus my energy on a smaller team with a flatter structure and a more direct relationship with gamers. In many ways, it will be a return to how we started: a small team making games for the core gaming audience.
The last game Irrational will release is a “Bioshock Infinite” DLC, “Burial at Sea Episode 2.” The DLC will hit stores for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on March 25. Following the release, the “Bioshock” series will be turned over to 2K.
In the future, look for Levine at his next entrepreneurial venture, Two-Take Studios.
Irrational Games
