He is a creative mind that may have had trouble fitting into the rigid structure of a massive team. We will never know the full story behind Irrational’s “restructuring.” Infinite sold very well (roughly 4 million), but we have no idea what it cost to make that game – it was in development for a long time, and there’s a good chance that it broke even, or maybe even lost a bit of money. But in reality there that’s a total myth – the reason Bioshock Infinite was even made is because Bioshock made money. We want to believe that games have a sort of purity that we can’t find in film or music anymore. Obviously this could lead to mechanics that are entirely axed, hard work gone unnoticed and crippling delays in the overall process.Īs consumers of a product we sometimes forget that this is also a business. Levine, however, reveals in an interview with IGN, that he has unflinching scruples when it comes to his work: He tells them he always reserves the right to change his mind.

While there could be many creative minds within this scenario there has to me some sort of order. There are hundreds of people working on different things, and everything has to be woven together like an ornate tapestry for the game to work when it ships. The development of most games AAA have a somewhat rigid structure – they have to. IRRATIONAL when I say they'll be missed.** The high tides happen when a creative mind is charging head first into a concept, meanwhile the low tides signify a back-to-the-drawing-board scenario. Think of it like waves of water: There are high tides and low tides. Levine is, what I like to call a “creative mind.” When I say creative mind I’m referring to a sense of fluidity in how someone thinks. Levine, who was originally a screenwriter had complex ideas and a different way of making games. Irrational began with a fairly small staff. Levine announced that all but 15 staff members have been let go, and he will remain at Take-Two, focusing on small narrative projects with “high replayability.” When the news hit social media residents of the Internet did what they do best: Speculated rampantly and demonized Ken Levine for his apparent decision. Many fans and journalists, myself included, were dumbfounded by the news, as it seemed to have come from nowhere. In a letter on the Irrational Blog, creative director Ken Levine announced what is the end of Irrational Games as we know it.

I don’t think feelings like these closed Irrational Games, but I do think it contributed.

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