In an open letter published to the official Irrational Games site this morning, Ken Levine has revealed the company will be shuttering its doors. The developers behind the massive hit Bioshock series (the latest DLC for Bioshock Infinite approaches soon), the studio will be closing with time for the employees to say their goodbyes, establish portfolios, and collect severance packages, as well as host a recruiting day for publishers and third party developers to interview departing staff for potential employment.
Ken Levine says he will be moving on to a smaller project at Take-Two Interactive, focusing on narrative-driven story telling through games that are "highly replayable". He also says they'll be focusing exclusively on digital distribution.
The post closes with thanking fans, 2K Games, and Take-Two Interactive for believing in Bioshock and securing its legacy in the history of gaming (with over half a billion dollars in revenue generated from the series).
What say you Bioshock fans, does this make you sad or is it a timely move? The series is probably better off as a trilogy, and Ken Levine will still be making games, so I'm more apt to go with the latter. It's encouraging to see how well they're taking care of their employees, and I look forward to seeing what these wonderfully skilled people will do on other projects in the future.