‘BioShock’ Finite: Developer Irrational Games Shuts Down

December 21, 2017 Business, entertainment, Gaming

Irrational Games, the developer behind the ‘BioShock’ franchise, has announced the company will shut down.

Image: Irrational Games

In an abrupt announcement, Irrational Games has decided to permanently close after 17 years. The video-game studio, whose most-popular gaming franchise is first-person shooter BioShock, revealed the news in a letter on the company’s website.

“I am winding down Irrational Games as you know it,” Ken Levine, co-founder of the Boston studio, wrote Tuesday. “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. 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.”

Irrational Games’ final project before shuttering will be Burial at Sea Episode 2, the final BioShock Infinite DLC (downloadable content) update that comes out on March 25.

Tuesday’s announcement shocked many gamers, as Levine’s letter offered a vague explanation for why Irrational Games will shut down. “Irrational Games” quickly became a worldwide trending topic on Twitter.

Sad to hear that Irrational Games is shutting down. Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite were monumental games that will live with us forever.

— Zack Scott (@ZackScott) February 18, 2014

More people are upset about Flappy Bird being taken down than Irrational Games closing or Marvelous going bankrupt.

I hate today’s industry

— Pinhead Larry (@SgtMettool) February 18, 2014

We’re sorry to hear about the winding down of Irrational Games & send our best to our friends & colleagues. We’re all big fans. Sad news.

— Volition (@DSVolition) February 18, 2014

Here is Levine’s full letter:

When Jon Chey, Rob Fermier and I founded Irrational Games seventeen years ago, our mission was to make visually unique worlds and populate them with singular characters. We built Rapture and Columbia, the Von Braun and The Rickenbacker, the Freedom Fortress and some of the nastiest basements a SWAT team ever set foot into. We created Booker and Elizabeth, the Big Daddy and the Little Sister, MidWives and ManBot. In that time, Irrational has grown larger and more successful than we could have conceived when we began our three-person studio in a living room in Cambridge, MA. It’s been the defining project of my professional life.

Now Irrational Games is about to roll out the last DLC for BioShock Infinite and people are understandably asking: What’s next?

Seventeen years is a long time to do any job, even the best one. And working with the incredible team at Irrational Games is indeed the best job I’ve ever had. 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.

Besides financial support, the staff will have access to the studio for a period of time to say their goodbyes and put together their portfolios. Other Take-Two studios will be on hand to discuss opportunities within the company, and we’ll be hosting a recruiting day where we’ll be giving 3rd party studios and publishers a chance to hold interviews with departing Irrational staff.*

What’s next?

In time we will announce a new endeavor with a new goal: To make narrative-driven games for the core gamer that are highly replayable. To foster the most direct relationship with our fans possible, we will focus exclusively on content delivered digitally.

When I first contemplated what I wanted to do, it became very clear to me that we were going to need a long period of design. Initially, I thought the only way to build this venture was with a classical startup model, a risk I was prepared to take. But when I talked to Take-Two about the idea, they convinced me that there was no better place to pursue this new chapter than within their walls. After all, they’re the ones who believed in and supported BioShock in the first place.

Thanks to Irrational and 2K’s passion in developing the games, and the fans who believe in it, BioShock has generated retail revenues of over a half billion dollars and secured an iconic place in gaming. I’m handing the reins of our creation, the BioShock universe, to 2K so our new venture can focus entirely on replayable narrative. If we’re lucky, we’ll build something half as memorable as BioShock.

Mashable‘s games reporter Chelsea Stark ranked BioShock Infinite as the third-best game of 2013 (see below), saying its “story and world are like nothing gaming has seen or will see again.”

Irrational Games’ portfolio also includes SWAT 4, Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich, Tribes: Vengeance, Freedom Force and System Shock 2.

2013 Games of the Year

10. Tearaway

The Vita has been an unloved handheld console for a long time. While the hardware has innovative features, it mainly featured games that are anemic versions of their console kin.

Tearaway begs you to use the Vita to its full potential. You’ll poke, swipe and mug it for the camera on a magical journey in a world that is far too adorable for its own good. You’ll swan-dive into a world that looks not digital, but lovingly cut from a pile of construction paper.

Tearaway‘s real achievement is making the player part of the story in a way that isn’t gimmicky. It will easily steal gamers’ hearts.

Image: Media Molecule
9. Tomb Raider

Reinventing a character as iconic as Lara Croft is a daunting challenge, even if half of the reasons she was so well-known were purely shallow. Square Enix turned the adventurer who spawned a cheesy Angelina Jolie movie into a real badass, and one who earned her place through her harrowing role.

Tomb Raider shows the Lara Croft we’ve always wanted. Her adventures on a dangerous tropical island transform her from unequipped idealist to a daring heroine, and we’re all lucky enough to be along for the ride. The game’s focus on exploration as you scramble over beautiful set pieces is clearly inspired by some of examples of action-adventure games. It also doesn’t abandon its roots entirely, as there’s still plenty of treasure to hunt. With a “next-gen” re-release on the way next year, it’s a really good time to be in Lara’s corner.

Read our full review of Tomb Raider.

Image: Square Enix
8. Animal Crossing: New Leaf

I scrimped. I saved. I upcycled everything at Re-Tail. I picked fruit off every tree and chased down every bug. Finally, I could buy a stone bridge for my town.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf involves a lot of this kind of decision making. But making a little town full of animal residents into whatever you want, your digital zen garden, is captivating. This latest Animal Crossing title evokes all the series charm, but still gives gamers something unique.

This game is even better as a handheld title, especially because of the 3DS’ features. Playing and trading with your friends is rewarding, and seeing the new things to buy from random Streetpass encounters make going back daily hardly a chore, unlike picking all my recently grown fruit.

Image: Nintendo
7. Saints Row IV

Saints Row IV knows what’s expected of it — the rules and tropes by which video games should abide. And then it laughs at those rules and makes up its own.

This open-world franchise might as well make “over-the-top” its middle name, and the newest entry is no exception. Whether you are bounding across buildings dressed as a giant hotdog, or battling aliens with your dubstep gun while delivering some of the sassiest dialog of the year, every moment of Saints Row IV is a thrill ride. And it’s not all flash and sizzle; the gameplay is fun and varied enough to provide a realm of challenges.

Read our full review of Saints Row IV.

Image: Deep Silver
6. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

Emotional experiences in games don’t come easily, and yet one of the most poignant games of the year can be completed in about four hours.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons snuck into our hearts this summer without much fanfare. The fantastical journey is ambitious in its storytelling — all the dialog is in a made-up language — and its control-schemes, as you navigate two players with one controller, using each analog stick to guide one sibling. While none of the puzzles are particularly stumping, trying to control two characters simultaneously is devilishly brain-teasing, and something we haven’t seen enough of. This is all set in a stage ripped from fairytale books, with jaw-dropping settings that the game actually encourages you to admire. The bonds you witness and create between two brothers will get you in a place few other games can.

Image: Starbreeze Studios
5. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

The Legend of Zelda is a franchise we all think we know, its conventions carried from title to title. Yet handheld A Link Between Worlds boldly twists them with design decisions that take us back to the series’ roots, but also fully takes advantage of new technology.

A Link Between Worlds has some of the cleverest dungeons we’ve seen in a long time, with puzzles that delight you to solve them. It drops the pretense of holding gamers’ hands too much, instead dropping them right into the action to explore for themselves. Not to mention it’s full of ridiculously charming characters and settings. While it is ambitious to create a direct sequel to a 20-year-old game like A Link to the Past, it paid off for Nintendo and made it an easy choice for this list.

Image: Nintendo
4. Super Mario 3D World

Mario is so familiar to gamers that it’s hard to imagine big innovations in his games. Yet Super Mario 3D World is one of the best Mario games we’ve seen in years, blending everything we love with small, enchanting surprises in each level.

It’s the small touches — like the way Mario’s cat costume loses steam while climbing a wall and slides to the bottom — that will plaster a constant smile on your face while playing. Each of the game’s levels offers enough challenge to encourage more than one playthrough, especially when you add three friends to your party. The 3D environments are more lush and beg to be explored than anything in the 2D games, and you’ll never see the same level design twice through all eight worlds. Super Mario 3D World is a perfect joy in gaming this year.

Image: Super Mario 3D World
3. BioShock Infinite

No game this year hit me with a sucker punch like BioShock Infinite. When the credits roll after the game’s electrifying ending, it’s not surprising if takes you sometime to recover from the unimaginable journey you’ve just experienced.

BioShock Infinite is a game that looks deeply at the inevitability of our lives, and how choices might not have as much impact as we believe. It helps the wild ride is set in the whimsical-yet-menacing floating city in the 1910s, where race and class issues have been whitewashed with fantastical inventions and religious fervor. The story and world are like nothing gaming has seen or will see again. It’s the kind of game you almost want to slow down so you can relish the amazing things it’s trying with narrative.

Read our full review of BioShock Infinite.

Image: Irrational Games
2. Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto V was easily the most anticipated game of the year, but it’s so refreshing when something lives up to — and shatters — the hype and expectations.

GTA V succeeds at being dauntingly vast and yet perfectly aware of the importance of every detail. It achieved a modern game world that takes a sardonic look at our own lives that still gave players a fantasy to get lost in. The addition of the three playable protagonists that you can switch between is not just a gimmick, but an amazing way to tell three connected stories.

Read our full review of Grand Theft Auto V.

Image: Rockstar Games
1. The Last of Us

Fiction has explored how society will continue after an apocalyptic event. Rarely has that hopelessness, depravity and the gray areas of humanity been brought into such sharp focus in a blockbuster game than in the The Last of Us.

What is truly amazing about The Last of Us is the paternal relationship that reluctantly blooms between Joel and Ellie. Joel has been irrevocably changed by the spread of a deadly fungus that turns humans into zombie-like monsters. Ellie, at 13, has never known a world before monsters and government quarantine. These aren’t one-dimensional puppets created just to pull your heartstrings; these characters have histories and back stories we slowly uncover through their casual conversations during the game.

But The Last of Us isn’t just good story. It’s well-planned gameplay that balances the difficulty in scrounging for resources, exploring a world left to rot for 20 years, and stealthily battling enemies both monstrous and human. It makes us reflect on what people will do to survive when everything has turned against them, and who is really good or bad in the darkest times.

Read our full review of The Last of Us.

Image: Naughty Dog