2K Marin Hit With Sweeping Layoffs

[Andy Chalk]

2K Marin Hit With Sweeping Layoffs

2K Marin, the studio behind The Bureau: XCom Declassified, has reportedly laid off the majority of its staff and may be effectively closed down.

2K Games has confirmed a decision to "reallocate creative resources" at 2K Marin, which worked extensively on BioShock Infinite and most recently developed The Bureau: XCom Declassified. "We can confirm staff reductions at 2K Marin. While these were difficult decisions, we regularly evaluate our development efforts and have decided to reallocate creative resources," the company said in a statement to Polygon. "Our goal to create world-class videogame titles remains unchanged."

The number of employees affected by the layoffs hasn't been revealed but a source said that a majority of the team has been cut and that the only ones remaining are slated to join the new 2K studio headed by Rod Fergusson, the former Gears of War executive producer who left Epic Games to join Irrational as the vice-president of development in August 2012, but then left that studio in April of this year [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123146-BioShock-Infinite-VP-Rod-Fergusson-Leaves-Irrational-Games], shortly after the release of BioShock Infinite. Another source claimed that 2K Marin has been closed down completely.

Source: Polygon [http://www.polygon.com/2013/10/17/4849484/the-bureau-xcom-declassified-dev-2k-marin-undergoing-layoffs]


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[Callate]

Okay... that's bizarre...

You shut down the studios that aren't profitable, right? Isn't that how that usually works? Tourniquet off the bleeding, keep the working parts?

Are they just doing away with internal development all together? I mean, it doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense to do away with your Bioshock and X-Com people when you're still responsible for publishing The Darkness II and Duke Nukem Forever...

 

[ShirowShirow]

Okay... that's bizarre...

You shut down the studios that aren't profitable, right? Isn't that how that usually works? Tourniquet off the bleeding, keep the working parts?

Not always. A lot of companies will close the smaller parts of their operation and merely try and get what worked for the smaller part going on a larger scale. It's pretty normal in business, including gaming.

Of course we're assuming The Bureau was a success here. I don't think it was.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Okay... that's bizarre...

You shut down the studios that aren't profitable, right? Isn't that how that usually works? Tourniquet off the bleeding, keep the working parts?

Not always. A lot of companies will close the smaller parts of their operation and merely try and get what worked for the smaller part going on a larger scale. It's pretty normal in business, including gaming.

Of course we're assuming The Bureau was a success here. I don't think it was.

Considering that EB Games in Canada dropped The Bureau to $39.99 only a week after it launched, and that it failed to reach the NPD's list of top ten best selling games the month it came out, I think it is safe to say that The Bureau was far from a success.

EB Games sale [http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2013/08/30/canadian-video-game-deals-sales-august-30th-september-5th-2013-the-bureau-xcom-declassified-already-39-99/]

 

[fix-the-spade]

You shut down the studios that aren't profitable, right? Isn't that how that usually works? Tourniquet off the bleeding, keep the working parts?

That's pretty much what's happening.

2k Marin are not the primary developers of Bioshock: Infinite, they weren't even the secondary. 2k Marin's lead development history runs like this: Bioshock 2, Xcom Declassified, a pair of duds.

It makes sense that they would get shuttered with that track record, California is an expensive place to run a studio and evidently whatever they contributed to Infinite wasn't nearly important enough to keep them open.

If 2k suddenly shuttered Irrational Games that would be an odd decision, but this isn't overly surprising.

 

[Abomination]

Thanks guys but due to corporate decisions you're all fired.
You're fired because our corporate decisions didn't return as much profit as we anticipated.
Corporate has made a decision to redirect funds saved by these layoffs into corporate wages.

Clean your desk out by next morning.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

If my memory serves 2K Marin is in part Australian. Australia filling up the App store since 2010 (i.e. Australia hasn't got any triple A studios left).

Now I know what your going to say; "Oh but indies mate, indies". Geuss how many big indie projects that do well on Kickstarter or Greenlight are from teams with no industry experience? Answer: None.

 

[Callate]

Right, right... Declassified. Enemy Unknown was Firaxis...

Still, there are certainly devs with worse track records still afloat.

 

[Sight Unseen]

Okay... that's bizarre...

You shut down the studios that aren't profitable, right? Isn't that how that usually works? Tourniquet off the bleeding, keep the working parts?

Are they just doing away with internal development all together? I mean, it doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense to do away with your Bioshock and X-Com people when you're still responsible for publishing The Darkness II and Duke Nukem Forever...

2K Marin didn't make Bioshock or Bioshock Infinite. Irrational Games made Bioshock, and Bioshock Infinite was primarily made by Irrational and supported by 2K Marin. 2K Marin made Bioshock 2, which is the worst of the bioshock games.

2K Marin also didn't make XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Firaxis Games made Enemy Unknown, whereas Marin made the widely panned The Bureau.

2K Marin is not really a bigshot developer studio, they're just one of those crews that all major publishers seem to have that just work on making ports and crappy sequels to games that their good studios made.

 

[FourCartridge]

It's sobering in these days when one flop can make an entire studio go 6 feet under...

Shame. I liked The Bureau. Hopefully they can get a Kickstarter or something up and running; these guys have the experience necessary to start one.

 

[Vivi22]

It's sobering in these days when one flop can make an entire studio go 6 feet under...

Shame. I liked The Bureau. Hopefully they can get a Kickstarter or something up and running; these guys have the experience necessary to start one.

Just going based on their development history consisting of supporting Irrational and making Bioshock 2 and The Bureau, I would personally hope that if these people did start a kickstarter that they wouldn't get any money. Not without some seriously good games prior to those that they have on their resumes, and even then, it'd be a stretch for me to consider supporting anything they do.

 

[Brian Tams]

It's sobering in these days when one flop can make an entire studio go 6 feet under...

Shame. I liked The Bureau. Hopefully they can get a Kickstarter or something up and running; these guys have the experience necessary to start one.

I don't know where you've been, but Marin has made more bad titles than just Declassified. They were responsible for the Bioshock 2 cash grab.

 

[Abomination]

It's sobering in these days when one flop can make an entire studio go 6 feet under...

Shame. I liked The Bureau. Hopefully they can get a Kickstarter or something up and running; these guys have the experience necessary to start one.

I don't know where you've been, but Marin has made more bad titles than just Declassified. They were responsible for the Bioshock 2 cash grab.

I actually enjoyed Bioshock II

Hasn't the multiplayer been revamped recently? It was pretty cool if it wasn't for the net code.

 

[Dr.Awkward]

Another big hit for Australia. Eventually, at this rate, there's going to be a lot of Australian developers, but no development houses to go to within the next two or three years.

One end is condensing, and the other getting too saturated. The gradual tip of scale is no more; the big companies are crumbling under their own weight, yet the grassroots are at severe risk of growing out of control and quickly dying within their ruins. This is not a situation we want to get in.

 

[ShirowShirow]

I believe Bioshock 2 is superior to the original Bioshock in pretty much every way other than that "Oomph" of discovery and surprise that you can't really get out of a direct sequel anyway.