
Bioshock Creator to Close, Some Employees to Join Take-Two
Bioshock creator Irrational Games is winding down as co-founder Ken Levine starts a new venture at publisher Take-Two Interactive. The Quincy, Mass.-based company, which had 200 employees less than two years ago, will be sliced down to 15, Joystiq reports without specifying the number to be cut.
Going forward, plans are "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,” Levine said in a blog post. Irrational Games is not the only games studio to close its doors or face challenges in the past couple of years. The Walt Disney Co. shut down LucasArts game studio, affecting approximately 150 people, Big Fish Games shuttered its cloud game-streaming initiative, laying off 49 Seattle workers and closing offices in Vancouver, B.C., and Cork, Ireland, Sony Online Entertainment cut 70 jobs from its San Diego work force and an undisclosed number in Austin, Texas, while struggling Zynga announced plans to jettison 15 percent of its employees — 314 total — after posting disappointing financial results.
