Irrational Games "Winding Down"

[Yoshi]

Sure there is...there are fewer than there used to be. This gen will have fewer than the last...note that I am taking about big budget stuff. I think in the indie source there will be a lot.

Why would a publisher take more than a chance a generation on a big budget SP-centric game that people will just wait for on PS+? Why is this team getting the axe?

I'm sure Sony will shutter Naughty Dog any day now, because they can't take any more chances on huge sales and awards raining down. The damn letter Levine wrote tells you why this team is getting the axe, and it's not sales or seemingly even the publisher's decision.

[Joust Williams]

Yes, TT is releasing a team that produced a big budget narrative game and replacing them with a small team. That's what I said. Then they will make some Bioshock game in China that will have a strong MP focus. Cool.

I don't know if they were a TT studio or fully independent though

[MechDeus]

Having a multiplayer component doesn't mean anything. Later entries of Assassin's Creed, Portal, Borderlands, Halo, Uncharted, Tomb Raider, and others all had multiplayer alongside a strong narrative singleplayer. If anything, the singleplayer in a number of those series were often substantially better in the entries that added multiplayer.

[Diff-chan]

Yoshi is right, Ken Levine probably wants to make some pixel graphics crap and TT is gonna let him. It's not indicative of anything other than the fact that Levine is bored.

[kingoffighters]

Icarus flew too close to the sun.

[icarusfall]

That's a pretty classy letter as these things go.

Especially with the departing staff stuff.

[Frogacuda]

It's a strange move to lay off 95% of a studio that successful, rather than simply let Ken and his choice of staff spin off to a new thing.

[gameoverDude]

BioShock 2 was done without IG's help, and turned out fine. So there's still hope. I'm enjoying it- simply, it's more of what makes the first one so good even if it's not a big graphic leap. Dual-wielding a plasmid and a weapon kicks ass- like showering a group of Incinerating splicers with MG fire or rivets so they go down quicker. Playing as a Big Daddy is nice for a change. I bought the PC version recently after hearing that 2K ditched SecuROM/GFWL and went with Steam.

A sequel set in a later time (probably 1970s- early 80s as Rapture starts to recover from the events of 1&2, or maybe a space colony in 2030) sounds great, but hopefully we don't end up with some halfass continuation by a completely different group. Hopefully 2K can hire some former IG staff to work with the Bay Area studio (where some 2K Marin staffers supposedly are headed) on a UE4-powered BioShock title.

[NeoZeedeater]

After Infinite, I'm fine with Levine making efforts to reel in & refocus his team. I look forward to whatever he does especially now that it might not be weighed down by the "AAA SHOOTER" label.

This is what I'm thinking, too.

I would more excited if he said "emergent design driven" instead of "narrative-driven" but we'll see.

[dave is ok]

I'm sure Sony will shutter Naughty Dog any day now, because they can't take any more chances on huge sales and awards raining down. The damn letter Levine wrote tells you why this team is getting the axe, and it's not sales or seemingly even the publisher's decision.

You're crazy if you think it's not because of sales or the publishers decision.