Well, here's hoping that the people who get laid off find good jobs elsewhere, and that we'll still be getting some more Bioshock-esque games some time in the future.
Irrational Games to Close After BioShock Infinite DLC - Update
- Thread starter John Keefer
- Start date
I see this as more signs of a bloated and overly monopolized industry splintering and collapsing under its own weight.
at least i can be burried at sea in the mean time.
Well, that came out of the blue. Especially when they had such success with Infinite. Hopefully we find out more as to the reasons why because it seems weird to shut the studio down just to give Levine the chance to do something different. Put someone else in charge and continue churning out Bioshocks (which is going to happen regardless of whether Irrational are around) and let Levine do his thing elsewhere. And why couldn't he just make a splinter group within Irrational to develop new things whilst the core staff work under someone else? It is possible for a studio to do more than one project at the same time
Seems odd to me that he would lay off designers as part of some business-structured method of "knowing himself." Wouldn't the more ideal path be to form a bunch of the extra designers into a new team that focuses on its own projects? Seems like money wasted for nothing. But then I only know the surface details.
Actually, I'm betting what happened here is Levine got tired of AAA development in general and was just going to pack up and leave to go indie, but Take Two didn't want to lose their ace in the hole of course, so they convinced him to stay by providing him the (small) budget he needs now and probably give him more control over how he does things.
So this way, Take Two doesn't lose their top guys and their publishing deal, and Levine gets to go indie without actually going indie.
So this way, Take Two doesn't lose their top guys and their publishing deal, and Levine gets to go indie without actually going indie.
It's a PR move because they know not many people will take them up on it. Irrational was in Quincy, Massachusetts. It was also the only 2K studio in that state.uncanny474 said:
If they're offering an employee the choice to move their entire family to 2K Australia for a job, I can't help but think not many people will take that option.
One of my friends works/ed there, and working under Ken Levine definitely wasn't one of the more joyous parts of his job as a level designer. I wish everyone luck in finding new jobs, though I don't know that there's really all that much up there or the northeast in general, so I guess a lot of relocating is gonna happen for quite a few people. :c
Does this mean no more Bioshock games?
That would be unacceptable to me. Now if you excuse me, I must cry and there's a corner with my name on it.
That would be unacceptable to me. Now if you excuse me, I must cry and there's a corner with my name on it.
o...kay, that came out of nowhere. So basically Levine is dissolving the actual studio but everyone is being shifted around? This is all very confusing.
Why couldn't he have just made a new studio without laying people off? Or better yet, do a restructuring similar to what Double Fine did after Brutal Legend where they split everybody into four teams working on smaller games. Either of these would allow Ken to do whatever he wants, but without the collateral damage of making everybody move to a different studio within 2k (which would require moving a substantial distance, which is never desirable for obvious reasons) or risk trying to find a job at a different studio. I never like jumping to conclusions with stuff like this when we don't have the whole story, but I have a hard time thinking of any explanation that doesn't involve Ken Levine being a massive asshole.
That's exactly what I'm thinking. These people have been promised they will be looked after. But, what's to say the available jobs are 300-3000 miles away, may have lower pay, and might even be in a different position other than their expertise. It might even take a month or more of moving their families and waiting on unemployment for that promised position to open, and that's an optimistic scenario.Weaver said:
Also, it may very well be a worthless promise 2k said just to please those employees and the public. I've been directly lied to by several companies before. I was a shift manager at a movie theater for a couple years.( I was actually higher up in the seniority at that position. Seniority is just useless in almost even non-union job.) They said we all would keep our jobs after a big takeover, then 2 weeks later demoted most of us and turned the remainder into the top managers little bitches. Then, I got got job fixing new cars in a big tent across the street from a car plant. They told me they had a building being rented or purchased which is what made my skepticism go away. I found out they didn't even have a contract signed and the company that inspected the cars(and shared our tent) DID get a building big enough for both groups to work in. The guys in charge there liked me, but needless to say the big wigs of any company will screw over an low employee to save money or through business incompetence.(The funny thing about that is that company just went under because idiots they hired across the country screwed up several lots of new vehicles.)
Surprising yes, but actually very reasonable, bottom line is if you want a series to remain in good memory it needs to die young. I know nobody wants to hear it but Bioshock didn't have the most solid history so I say the right call was made.
Hopefully they look back at System Shock and try something in that vein, triple A is great for some time but gradually focus groups convince everyone that it's best to just wash the experience down to a samey sludge everyone can chew on and not notice a difference from anything else.
Hopefully they look back at System Shock and try something in that vein, triple A is great for some time but gradually focus groups convince everyone that it's best to just wash the experience down to a samey sludge everyone can chew on and not notice a difference from anything else.
My first thought was: Strange move.
But after thinking about it a little, it became more logical.
Most of the people who wont work with Levine after this would have a project-based contract i guess. Downsizing after a certain project is not uncommon. Look at construction, movies, and so on.
And as long as the people who go have a future at 2k, thats ok. Better than being fired by EA after they bought your studio.
And be honest, having Bioshock Infinte on your resume should open you a lot of doors.
Other companies do this, too. But maybe they do the reassigning not as openly? The whole thing seems more like a misunderstanding with the press release.
But after thinking about it a little, it became more logical.
Most of the people who wont work with Levine after this would have a project-based contract i guess. Downsizing after a certain project is not uncommon. Look at construction, movies, and so on.
And as long as the people who go have a future at 2k, thats ok. Better than being fired by EA after they bought your studio.
And be honest, having Bioshock Infinte on your resume should open you a lot of doors.
Other companies do this, too. But maybe they do the reassigning not as openly? The whole thing seems more like a misunderstanding with the press release.
Ok, if what is written here is true and Ken Levine is closing the studio so he can work on more personal products...
Does that mean that Ken Levine is firing an entire game studio's worth of people, probably amounting to hundreds of extremely talented individuals, for his own personal pursuits and desires?
Wow man, thats cold. Couldn't he have just left the studio and opened up a new endeavour separate from Irrational Games?
Does that mean that Ken Levine is firing an entire game studio's worth of people, probably amounting to hundreds of extremely talented individuals, for his own personal pursuits and desires?
Wow man, thats cold. Couldn't he have just left the studio and opened up a new endeavour separate from Irrational Games?
My guess is he is starting another AAA title that will take several years to develop, it's not a precedent or something if I remember correctly Deus ex HR was initially developed by a small team (consisting of 10-15 people or something) that was gradually expanded as the game was being developed. This move just shows that take-two management simply looks far into the future and realizes it's pointless to maintain a large team that won't be producing anything for a couple of years, they just want to keep the talent. Sure it's bad but this is how they will stay afloat while giants like EA will be losing cash on unprofitable BioWare divisions.iniudan said:
If you're going to give a diatribe about reading, you should at least, y'know, read: "...laying off staff...", first sentence of the original article. Dig a little deeper (e.g. read the referenced note), and you'll find that this vaunted support from Take-Two consists of your basic jobs fair:GarouxBloodline said: